Episode 36

Salem

All of us are assembled In the main palace. I am clean and in a different dress but I notice the stares and fear in the eyes of the people around me. Somehow I think I should be used to being feared but it's usually when I wear my mask. Being exposed like this makes me ultra sensitive, I understand that I still see this place as an enemy's quarters.

Erin holds my hands like he notices my thoughts.  I relax a bit but Paula doesn't.

Her gaze is fixed on Queen Nuke who is looking right at me.

"Why on earth did you save her life?" Paula whispers to me.

I shrug and smile at Queen Nuke.

"Everyone else leave the room." King Mona barks.

The servants leave except Paula. King Mona glares at her, she keeps her head down but she refuses to budge. I don't tell her to leave either, she's the only ally I have in the room. I trust Erin but this is his family. If it comes to it, I don't expect him to choose me over them.

"Control your maid or I'll do it myself." Samael growls.

"She's more than just my maid, she's my guard; right now I don't feel safe enough to be by myself." I reply.

"You'd defy my orders for a maid?!" King Mona thunders.

"Actually she's not a maid. She's a member of the night guard which is the highest rank in the Roelum's army. In other words we are practically the sam. She only likes to play maid but she is not a slave so she can do whatever she wants. I have no power over her, and neither do you. Remember the treaty?? The night guards shall receive the same respect as your royal guards. They are still in the room and so she will remain as long as she wants to be there." I respond.

Paula raises her head up in pride and I roll my eyes on the inside.

"You brought a mercenary into the palace and kept her by your side?" Samael asks.

"No, she is a warrior. Do you really think my father will let me go into a country that has been at war with his for more than a hundred years without some sort of protection? And is that the issue? You have traitors everywhere in the palace. The family's hold on power is waning, the Queen nearly died last night because her own guards turned on her. Do you think Paula being here is the ultimate problem?" I glare at him.

"Enough!" King Mona sits on his throne.

"This is a mess, if anything should happen to the royal family, you won't be safe either. The people in this room are the ones I trust. We need to come up with a way to save ourselves or we are dead." King Mona sighs.

"Who are you?" Queen Nuke's voice was a little bit over a whisper. Her eyes never left me since I walked into the room.

"Salem, Princess of Roelum." I reply.

"No.... What kind of princess fights like that?" She shakes visibly.

"I had a lot of free time, I spent a lot of time learning how to fight from the best." I say even though I'm not convinced she'll believe me.

She laughs like a mad woman."You killed over fifteen men today and you are not even shaken; your eyes when you fought... It was like it was dead. You are not human, are you?"

I take note of Ayo's sudden movement, "You must be really shaken up. It's still me- Salem"

"Can we focus on the real issue here?" Erin remarks distracting them from Queen Nuke.

"Nuke, you have your spies in house of Ini. How can you not have seen this coming?" He questions her.

She glares at him. "You also have your spies, why didn't you see this coming? Or you just didn't care enough to do anything about it?"

King Mona sighs "I haven't heard from them in a month, they are probably dead, which means Ini knows about them."

"Same here. It's been a month since I got any reports from them." Queen Nuke puts her hand on her face.

"How is this possible? How could they have had access to all of our spies?? It would be impossible unless..." Samael figures.

"They have figured out your keywords and patterns and that would only be possible if they have someone on the inside, someone who can have access to this without calling for attention. Which brings me to this, Ayo... What did you say you did before getting married?" I smirk at her.

A guard comes in and whispers something to King Mona, he looks at me and frowns.

"Let them in" he orders. .

My night guards come in dressed in Rale attires and glares at the King.

"Oh shit." I hear Paula say