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**
SARAFINA
"Jamal" The queen gasped out in shock. I blinked in surprise and in fear.
Why did he come looking for me?
What will the queen think.
"Can someone tell me what's going on here?" She asked.
Jamal looked at his mother with an expression I couldn't quite read.
"Mother can you excuse us, I need to speak with Sarafina"
What!!
Did he just talk to his mother like that?
"Terai, Pooja leave us" she said, her eyes on Jamal.
I stood up. "I should leave too" I said lowly.
The queen gave me a cold stare.
"You sit right there"
I gulped in fear as I sank down on the bed.
I cringed inwardly as Pooja and Terai left.
"Now will you tell me what's going on Jamal"
"May I ask what you are talking about, Mother" Jamal asked feigning ignorance.
"Jamal" she said in a warning tone.
My hands gripped the bed cover as I bit my lips.
"You tell me then" she suddenly said turning to me.
"Uhm...."
"She is the one I saw at the ballroom" Jamal said, cutting me off.
The queen gasped moving back.
"What!"
"Now can you excuse me now, I need to speak with her"
She nodded dazedly and walked out of the room.
Jamal sighed as she closed the door.... He pulled over a chair and sat down.
"What are you doing to me, Sarafina" he said in a whisper that I almost didn't hear him.
I bent my head, fiddling with my fingers and acted as if I didn't hear what he just said.
"Why did you talk to your mother that way" I asked.
"Have you forgotten that I don't have feelings" he said blankly.
"Oh" I muttered and rested my back on the bedpost.
"I heard about your father" he said.
I sighed, unsure of what to say.
"In times like this, what do you feel"
"Pain.... Especially when it is someone special to you, someone you love"
I looked away as I felt the tears again.
"You loved your Apa" he said.
"Everyone loves their Apa" I replied.
"Is that so? Because I don't"
Surprised, I stared at him. "You don't?"
"Do I have to remind you that I'm cursed" he said with an hint of irritation in his voice.
I lowered my head, mumbling a 'sorry'.
There was silence for a while and then he looked at me.
"But there is a temporary way to forget the pain right?"
I shrugged. "That depends"
"Then what if I try?"
"Sorry, what?" I asked wide eyed.
"What if I try to take away the pain, just for a while"
" How will you that?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Isn't it for you to find out"
I wanted to disagree so that I could go home for the burial rites, but yet I knew he wouldn't take no for an answer.
Besides Kayla wouldn't allow me in that house, especially now that apa is dead.
"And you can also teach me, you know" he said.
I looked at him and sighed.
"Okay"
JAMAL
When she agreed, there was like a bubbling inside of me.
Elation...
I grabbed her hands and she immediately stopped, looking at our entwined hands.
"You can't hold my hands like this in the royal grounds"
It is true, but I don't care.
"Do I look like I care, Sarafina?" I asked rhetorically.
She tucked her hair away shyly and followed me out.
Immediately I got out of the room, the workers started running...
I sighed, marveling at how I have completely forgotten that I was feared by everyone.
"Why do you think they run from me" I asked her as we got out of the royal clinic.
"The tales heard about you supercedes your appearance" she replied..
"You kill without thinking" she added.
"Is that what they say about me" I asked.
She looked at me. "Isn't there a truth in what they say"
"I have never killed an human" I told her.
"And you are the first person to ever see me apart from the palace workers"
"If you don't kill? Why do they tell tales that are not true?"
"Picture it this way, a prince who neither laughs nor cry... Who always has this stoic expression on his face... Who never sympathizes with the loss of humanity... If you were to describe him, how would you do that?"
"A very cruel prince" she replied.
"That's what happened" I said.
We got to the front of my chambers.
"Get my carriage ready" I told Khan who was standing at the front of the chambers.
"Where to my prince?" He asked.
"My usual spot" I replied.
He nodded not without looking at Sarafina with a surprised look.
I sighed.
'I'm surprised to Khan' I said inwardly.
I'm surprised that I'm doing this...
All because of her.
Mila paced around her room in deep thought..
If Naja's daughter was the one at the ballroom.
Does it mean she is the Sheba?
Or is this some sort of sign?
If she is the Sheba, then why did she agree to look for the Sheba?
Is there something she is missing?
She was still thinking when she heard one of her maid from the front door.
"My Queen, there is someone here to see you"
"Who is that?" She asked.
"A lady my Queen but she won't say her name"
"Let her in"
The chamber doors creaked open. Mila turned, she gasped as she saw who was before her.
"Kayla?"
***