-HIM-

"I'm alright," I gritted, but the healer continued to examine my arm. The veins were more prominent now, especially when my cursed blood coursed through them. I winced as another surge of pain traversed my arm before shooting straight towards my heart.

"No, you're not!" Lars gritted. "Your negligence is making you suffer!"

"It's a curse, Lars," I reminded him, "No matter what I do, it's not going away,"

"Still, taking those herbs regularly would have stopped you from—" Before he could finish, I bent down, and blood gushed out of my mouth and splashed on the floor. I heard Lars shouting in the background as I heaved more blood, feeling that jabbing pain in my abdomen.

I was feeling slightly bad previously, but it got incrementally worse until I felt trapped in my own body. I wasn't aware of what was happening in my surrounding. I could focus exclusively on the taste of blood on my tongue and the pain of that curse coursing through my veins.

Someone was screaming... I realised it was me. I was the one roaring in pain, screaming to be set free from this body, but I doubted leaving this body would help me. The curse wasn't on my body. It was on me— the soul. I was paying the price for a crime I had never committed. There was no way out of it. It was my only destiny.

Gradually, the pain subdued. I was able to calm down and see the world around me. I was surrounded by a dozen healers scrambling around to save me. Meanwhile, Lars looked down at me with apprehension and anger.

"You've gotten worse," Lars noted.

"I know," I mumbled, my voice broken and barely recognisable. Lars looked at me with frustration and shook his head.

"You don't take this seriously enough," He complained.

"I take it seriously, Lars," I lied. He looked on the verge of punching me and hugging me at the same time. "But there's nothing anyone can do with this. It will happen to me one day. I could only delay it," I reminded him.

"But still, you got worse this time... was it because of her?" He asked. "You let her go again,"

"She is supposed to be like that, Lars," I tried to explain to him, but he shook his head. "And she said she hates me,"

"How do you know?" He asked.

"She told me herself..., and she calls me a mutt king," I cried out, half in pain and half in agony.

"Wait for a second. Does she know that you—"

"— no, we were talking, and it came up. She told me she hates me without knowing she's talking about me," I lamented, and Lars sighed deeply.

"Your life's so fvcked up," He told me, "But somehow, I'm the one who feels frustrated,"

"Brother!" A familiar cry interrupted us. Lars sank deeper into his seat after hearing that voice, "Brother, I heard you're unwell!" Dervis barged into the room, shoving some of the healers away to see me.

"I'm alright now. You don't have to get worried about me," I told him, composing myself to hide my weakness.

"That's a relief to hear," Dervis replied sarcastically, eyeing the tube in my arm, draining out the poisoned blood from my veins. "I'm sure you'll be good as new in no time,"

"All because of your well wishes," I smiled sardonically, flashing my canines at him. He narrowed his eyes at me, smiling back slyly.

"Then I'm guessing you'd be attending King Khazar's anniversary celebration. I'm sure he sent you an invite," Dervis said. I exchanged a look with Lars.

"It slipped off my mind," I told him.

"Then you must thank me for reminding you. I'm sure you wouldn't want to decline his invitation. He's an important ally to us, after all,"

"You seem to be keeping updates," I commented, "I wonder what's getting you so interested in my matters all of a sudden," I wondered out loud.

In response, Dervis gave out a dry humorous laugh. "I was ensuring you don't miss out on Celsa's baby shower next month. She'd love to have you there," He winked at me. I smelled Lars' blood boiling, but I spoke up before he could open his mouth.

"That's lovely. I'll make sure to be there with more expensive gifts for her," I assured him, knocking the smile off his lip.

"Do whatever you want but don't upset my wife!" He warned me before leaving the room.

"You're something for putting up with him," Lars complained.

"Anyway, when is the celebration for King Khazar's anniversary beginning?"

"A day after tomorrow. Don't tell me you'll be going there like this!"

"I don't have a choice, Lars. He's an important ally I cannot afford to upset,"

"An alley who's also good friends with the Somirean King," He reminded me.

"That's why he's more important,"

~

I felt like a walking corpse with stitches and gauze on the day we left for King Khazar's anniversary celebrations. Lars was unhappy, but I dragged him with me regardless. Misery loved company, after all. King Khazar welcomed grandly.

I was pleased to see the old man after such a long time. I had a lot of hopes from him. I wasn't interested in the anniversary celebration but the people that Khazar had invited. It was an opportunity to meet some of my oldest allies with whom I couldn't regularly keep in touch.

"King Nanda, what a pleasure to see you after so many days! You look a lot longer than the last time, I swear," I joked. He laughed before hugging me tightly.

"If you think those compliments would make me forgive you for not visiting me often, then you're wrong," He told me grimly.

"Then tell me, how could I earn your forgiveness?"

"It's not that easy, but if you keep me company for the rest of the celebrations, I might think about it. I don't like most of the people here," He whispered the last part before giving a loud, pretentious laugh. I joined him, having the same sentiments.

"You don't have to ask for that," I laughed before we settled in our seats at the giant diner table loaded with all kinds of food. The official dinner hadn't begun yet because the Khazar was yet to arrive with his wife. We caught up with each other in the meantime.

All was fine until the Somirean king arrived. Either coincidentally or deliberately, King Theoron had his seat not far away from mine. It was close enough for us to see each other.

Our eyes locked for a brief, tense moment as one of the hosts guided him to his seat. I stared him down unblinkingly. He was the first to look away and speak to the other guests beside him. Nanda snickered beside me.

"The puppet emperor is here," Nanda spoke under his breath.

"Whose puppet?" I asked. Nanda subtly pointed to the man beside Theoron.

"Herran. He's been their advisor for a long time. Now, he's the one who controls everything. Theoron is just a facade. I'm sure he had something to do with the princess's death,"

"You seem to know a lot about them," I commented.

"Not many people know this, but we're related. Someone from my father's maternal aunt's in-laws' side married into their family,"

"You must be getting birthday invites then," I gasped.

"I wouldn't go there even if I got invited. I despise them, especially after he took over the throne. His mother died, and his sister disappeared at the same time,"

"How convenient,"

"Exactly," He sighed, "It hurts knowing that things could have been better had his sister taken over the throne, but she disappeared,"

"What was so special about her? I've heard quite a few people talk very highly about her," I told him, recalling the few things Mad told me about her. He seemed pretty impressed as well.

"She was brilliant. I've heard she was one of the last people who could read the Voynish," I straighten up at the mention of Voynish.

Valdemarca's book is written in Voynish— a language few people could read and decipher. Too bad she wasn't alive, and I lost the book. I tried not to think about it.

"They say she had magical powers. I've heard...." Nanda trailed off, leaning in to whisper, "She could talk to dead people,"

"That cannot be true," I mulled.

"It is true," He whispered, "They have a legend about her being blessed by the gipsies when she was born. There's a huge painting of it somewhere in the palace. I'm not making this up. I saw it with my own eyes when I was there for the queen's funeral. The queen is said to have been close to gipsies. They attended her funeral as well, but only after all the guests had left,"

"Nanda, Alexandros," Khazar appeared unannounced, startling the two of us, "I've been looking for you two for quite a while," He smiled.

"We have been waiting to see you for a long time as well," Nanda said, "But we got distracted by all the arrangements. Your celebrations are always the best,"

Khazar laughed.

"I'm pleased to hear that. Please, would you two allow me to introduce you to King Theoron of Somirea?" Theoron walked up to us as he spoke, his gaze nailed with mine.

"Khazar, you said you wanted to introduce me to some people," Theoron said, staring down at me.

_