66: Sting of the sand

Sting of the sand

The following day, in the early morning, Anastasia packed Princess Emily's clothes into her trunks, which were later loaded onto the carriage cart. Her own four garments were folded and placed in a cloth bag and added to the other luggage.

Right now, Anastasia stood in front of the old palace next to the brown horse, while Prince Aiden and Princess Emily talked to their mother, who had come to see them off along with Lady Noor and young Prince Victor. Lady Sophia warned her children, 

"Make sure not to upset the new king and queen. A single mistake or instance of defiance can cause a lifetime of imprisonment or even death." 

"We will be careful, Mother," Princess Emily assured her mother. 

"It would have been good if we were allowed to communicate through letters, but nonetheless, it is good that the three of you visited us," Lady Noor smiled at the prince and the princess before saying, "Prince Dante isn't here yet."

"There he is!" Prince Aiden shifted his gaze past the older women to the entrance. Emerging from it, Prince Dante made his way towards them, with Aziel closely following behind him. Prince Dante had gone to visit his mother, who couldn't walk too far, and now stood in front of one of her bedroom windows, watching them from afar. 

"Is everything loaded up?" Dante asked a servant, who bowed at him. 

"Yes, Prince Dante. Everything that was in the rooms has been packed and placed in the carriage cart," the servant answered. 

"Then we shall take our leave from here and head to the main palace," Dante informed Lady Sophia and Lady Noor, offering them a respectful bow that the women returned in kind. 

The princes quickly mounted their horses, and next to follow was Princess Emily, who, after settling on her white horse, turned to look at Anastasia and said, 

"What are you waiting for, Anna? We should leave before the sun rises high in the sky."

Anastasia placed both her hands on the saddle, ready to place her foot in the metal stirrup, when Lady Sophia said, 

"What are you doing?" 

Anastasia paused in the middle of mounting the horse and turned to look at the lady, while the others also turned to look at the unfolding scene. 

"Anna is going to ride with me, Mother," Princess Emily pointed out. Even Lady Noor looked genuinely surprised by the princess's words, and her eyes cautiously moved to look at Lady Sophia, who wore a deep frown of disapproval. 

"Just because your father is dead and I have been exiled to the old palace doesn't mean you should forget basic etiquette. A maid cannot ride on a horse, especially not with a princess."

Anastasia took a step away from the horse, feeling Lady Sophia's shrewd eyes on her. She heard the princess say, "The way back to the main palace is long, and she would be tired from walking for such a distance."

"Why don't you allow the other servants to sit on your horse, too, while you carry the luggage? Maybe even take over their work in the palace by being reduced to a servant, which is what the others are waiting for," Lady Sophia was a lady from a wealthy family who was taught the etiquette of palace life, and she wasn't going to allow people to point their fingers at her daughter because of the situation they were in. "Have you learnt no lessons from the deaths of your previous maids, Emily?" 

Princess Emily turned pale, having momentarily forgotten about it. She stayed quiet at her mother's question. 

Lady Noor spoke in favour of their position and said, "Lady Sophia is right, Princess Emily. You are a princess, and having a maid ride with you will raise questions. Unlike this servant, you aren't from the lower class, but King William's daughter."

It wasn't just the princess but also Anastasia who turned embarrassed upon hearing this. As she had come here riding with the princess, she had forgotten her place. 

Aziel then said, "Let me join you for half the ride, as I am heading in the same direction." The minister mounted his horse, and when everyone was ready to depart, the horses' hooves began to move forward. 

As the carriage cart started to move, Anastasia offered a bow to the two women, along with the other servants. As she began to walk, she turned to look at the old palace, and her eyes fell on Lady Lucretia, who stood at the window. 

On their way to the main palace, the villagers emerged from their houses to watch the approaching entourage, and upon noticing the princes and the princess, many onlookers gathered along the streets. The people extended their bows, wishing them well on their return journey to the old palace, while a few didn't dare to say a word. 

Anastasia had tied her hair into a tight bun, firmly pinning the sides of her hair, not wanting it to come loose. One of the villagers she noticed standing ahead on their path was the young man named Issac, who stared at her with his friends standing around him. He had a bandage covering his nose, and he quietly glared at her. 

The two princes and the princess rode in front while the carriage cart and the servants walked behind them. 

"What did you even see in that woman?" Zain questioned loud enough for Anastasia to hear as she walked right past them, but not loud enough for the royal family members to hear. "She looks like any other ordinary woman in our village."

"I was mistaken, thinking she was a pure woman," Issac responded, keeping his words short because he could still feel the pain in the arm that Dante had dislocated. He had no intention of getting beaten up by him again. 

"This is why you cannot trust palace servants. You don't know how many people they have opened their legs to," someone next to them whispered. 

Anastasia ignored the people's malicious words because she knew she would never reside in this village. She would continue spending time in the main palace before returning home and paying heed to what these villagers thought of her was pointless. 

As the journey continued, Anastasia walked on the sand-covered terrain that stretched in all directions, spotting a few cacti and trees along the way. She pulled on her shawl to hide the sides of her face and her forehead from the harsh, gradually intensifying sun rays. She caught snippets of conversation between the royal siblings and the minister, who said, 

"There is a chance that Queen Maya might not host the celebration. With the matter of Lady Evin's health, the guests are hesitant to attend any event in the palace. After all, there has only been bad news following one after another."

"Do you think that Grandmother gave them the right antidote?" Prince Aiden asked the minister. "Maybe it was something that healed the spots on the woman's skin but left the underlying condition unchanged?"

"It was the right antidote," Dante responded, whose horse moved to the front. His grandmother was aware of the situation the rest of the family members were left in, with little to no power other than their titles. He said, "Maybe it wasn't enough. A small portion of what she originally carried in the pendant was missing."

"Had she used it before?" Princess Emily asked, turning to look at him. 

"The Mother Queen had previously used it on Lady Lucretia," Aziel answered. The princess didn't go on to ask any further questions as the lady's health was a delicate subject for her brother. 

Dante said in a nonchalant voice, "When Mother fell ill and started throwing up blood for the first time, Grandmother used the antidote to see if it could heal her. She had two of them, and she used up one and a half vials before realising it was of no use." 

"What if the antidote's power has diminished?" Prince Aiden asked thoughtfully, adding, "I mean, the antidote was made more than a century ago, right?" 

"That could be true, Prince Aiden," Aziel replied with a frown. The minister said, "The antidote is for the poison of the Blackthorn rose, and it is reasonable to assume that the antidote must be plant-derived."

Anastasia pushed her feet firmly against the sandy desert as she walked. The blue, translucent shawl hid most of her face, and when the wind blew, the shawl came to hover in front of her eyes, and she began to adjust it. 

And while she did this, Anastasia and the other servants failed to notice something emerge from beneath the ground's surface. It was the Deathstalker Scorpion, camouflaged against the yellowish-grey terrain as it crawled along the hot sand. 

The scorpion climbed on one of the male servant's shoes before climbing onto his clothes. Prince Aiden remarked, 

"It's getting hotter. Where is the water satchel?"

"Brother Dante, did they say when the desert carriage will be ready?" Princess Emily asked. 

"Maybe a week, at most. It will need to be tested before it can be used," Dante replied, turning his head, and his eyes fleetingly moved to the maid fixing her shawl. "The carriages are ready to be used within the kingdom, so you can take a ride in one within the walls instead of the palanquins whenever you want to." 

The male servant pulled out the water bag and quickly made his way to the third prince; stretching his hand, he handed the water to him. While moving back, he felt his arm tickle and dusted it with his hand before resuming his position. 

As the male servant brushed off the scorpion, it landed on Anastasia's dull red skirt. She failed to notice the little creature hitchhiking on her as they continued the journey. 

Once they reached a small town, they decided to take a lunch break there. It was also where Minister Aziel had some business to attend to, and he didn't wait to eat but went on his way, leaving the royal siblings and the servants with the guards. 

The town's magistrate addressed the royal siblings, "Princess and Princes, I have arranged a room for you to dine in comfortably. The food has been prepared just to your preference, and a selection of cold drinks is waiting to be tasted by you. I will personally be there to ensure that the service is to your satisfaction." 

"Thank you, Mr. Roper," Princess Emily thanked him. 

"This way please," the magistrate said, showing the way to the room. He added, "The servants will be taken to the back, where they will be served food."

Prince Aiden and Princess Emily were talking to each other while being led by the magistrate when they heard a faint commotion outside the inn they had entered. The young prince and princess stopped, turning towards the source of the noise, along with Dante, who stood behind them. 

"Did something happen?" Princess Emily asked, with her eyebrows drawn close to each other. 

"You both go ahead and start eating. I will see what happened," Dante stated, before walking back to the front of the inn. He looked around before noticing the servants and the guards in the alley beside the inn. 

Dante's eyes fell on Anastasia, sitting on the ground with her face scrunched up in pain. One of the servants said, 

"Prince, we don't know what happened. She suddenly fell on the ground and appeared to be in pain. It is hard to know what happened as she doesn't speak." 

"Maybe it is the heat," whispered one of the guards. 

Anastasia's hands were tightly clenched together, and her eyes were squeezed shut as she felt pain radiate up from her foot. When her eyes met his, they were filled with unshed tears, reflecting the agony she endured. 

Dante ordered the servants and the guards sharply, "All of you go and have your meal. We will be departing from here soon." Everyone quickly went to the other side of the inn while he sat on his heels and asked Anastasia, 

"Where does it hurt?" 

"M—my left foot…" Anastasia heaved and said, "I think something bit me."2

Dante took hold of her foot, taking a closer look, and he noticed the red sting. He said, "Looks like a scorpion stung you. Did you see it?" 

"No," Anastasia shook her head and looked around, and so did Dante, before his eyes returned to her. He said, "I need you to stand up and not move, no matter what. Do you understand?" 

Anastasia nodded and carefully stood up with Dante's help. At the same time, the town's magistrate came looking for Dante, and upon seeing him with a maid, he asked, 

"Is something wrong, My Prince?"

"Bring two glasses of water," Dante ordered the magistrate, who nodded while casting a suspicious glance at the maid. 

"Right away!" The magistrate returned to the front of the inn and disappeared inside it. 

In the deserted side alley, Dante clicked his tongue and remarked, "Always getting hurt. Do you enjoy pain that much?"

"I didn't ask for the scorpion to bite me," Anastasia retorted, digging her nails into her palms. 

Dante stared at her tear-filled eyes and said, "I need to make sure the scorpion isn't still on you, so don't be startled, and stay still."

Anastasia watched Dante place his hands on the sides of her waist before he slowly ran them over her skirt, moving downwards with a concentrated expression on his face. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt his large hands moving across the lower curves of her body, and once they reached near the hem, the scorpion fell to the ground. 

Dante was quick to catch hold of the scorpion by its tail. The magistrate appeared with the two glasses in his hands. He ordered Anastasia, "Take the glasses and pour the water on the spot that stings." 

The magistrate quickly offered it to her, and when the maid was about to pull up the hem of her dress to pour the water over her foot, Dante ordered, "My siblings might need your assistance." 

"Oh, yes! Let me go see to them right away, Prince!" The magistrate bowed and left them. 

Anastasia removed her shoe and poured one of the glasses of water on it. Before she could pour the water from the other glass, Dante stood up and dropped the scorpion into the empty one. He then turned the glass upside down and placed it on the ground, trapping the creature inside it. 

"Give me the other glass," Dante said, taking the glass from her before sitting on one of his heels while the other knee touched the ground. "Don't fall. I will leave you in this village if you hit your head," and with those words, he caught her foot and pulled it towards him.

It took a great deal of balance for Anastasia not to fall, and realising what he was about to do, she protested, "Prince Dante, let me do it!" And when she was about to pull away, she felt his grip tighten. 

"The scorpion that stung you is venomous. If you don't want to live, you can pull your foot away and die here. There are a lot of vultures around, and you can be their food," Dante deadpanned. He poured the water on her foot to clean the dust and sand off the top before leaning forward. 

Anastasia's lips parted when she sensed something soft touch the spot where she had been stung, causing more pain. 

She gritted her teeth, feeling Dante's teeth biting into her skin and sucking the venom out with the blood before spitting it on the ground. To divert her mind, while hoping no one stumbled across them, she asked him, 

"It has been more than two minutes since I got stung… does that mean the venom has spread?" 

After a few seconds, Dante pulled away from her foot, with traces of Anastasia's blood on the corner of his lips. He let go of her foot and remarked, "It would be a shame if it was so."

What did that mean?! Anastasia didn't want to die. Not from the sting of a scorpion!

Dante jerked his head and said, "Go have your food. We will know if you are travelling with us by the time you are finished." 

Anastasia hoped that the prince was joking with her, but then Dante wasn't someone people knew to joke at all. She bowed in worry and walked in the direction the other servants had disappeared to. 

Dante watched the young woman wobble as she walked, and his eyes then shifted to look at the scorpion. His finger ran across his lips, and noticing a trace of blood on it, he put it inside his mouth to lick it clean. 

He grabbed the glasses and placed the second glass above the first one, trapping the creature between the glasses. 

When Dante headed inside the inn, he met the magistrate on his way, who wore a polite smile. But when the magistrate's eyes met the first prince's eyes, the smile quickly fell from his lips upon noticing Dante's red eyes. 

"Mr. Roper, take this and have it packed up," Dante gave the trapped scorpion to the magistrate, who continued to stare at him. 

The next second, the colour of the eyes switched back to pitch black, and the magistrate blinked. Did the light in here change, or was his mind playing tricks on him? The older man questioned himself. "Y-yes, I shall do that!" He said, watching the prince enter the room his siblings were in, and when he turned to look at the glass, his eyes widened on seeing the trapped scorpion.

Once everyone finished their meals, the servants and the guards quickly took their positions, waiting for the princes and the princess, who finally stepped out of the inn. 

Anastasia watched Prince Aiden and Princess Emily walk towards their horses when Prince Dante came near her, handing a little box to a servant. 

"It looks like it can't be helped," Dante's eyes moved to look at Anastasia's feet which were hidden behind her dress. He declared, "You will be riding with me." 

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