"I won’t ask you again!" He said in such a low tone it might as well have been a growl with how much force it shot out of his throat, his gaze on Harriet only deepened more than before.
It sank into her skin like heat from a furnace, unwavering and sharp. Enough for the air between them to get warm—unbearably so—until sweat began to slide down Harriet’s back, sticking her dress to her skin as she looked back at him with wide, cautious eyes.
"I’m human!! What else could I be?" She asked him, voice shaky, her throat tightening with unease. But instead of getting a normal response—something she could rationalize, even if hostile—what she got instead was a frightening gaze. It wasn’t just intense; it was suffocating. A gaze that made her instinctively scoot back, her legs struggling to move against the tremble that seized them.
At that very moment, Harriet had not the slightest doubt in her mind that if she so much as took two steps toward Jared, he would move to snap her into two very straight pieces. There was no question in it. He wasn’t threatening her—he was warning her. And there was a terrifying difference.
His gaze was animalistic, feral even, and there was something fierce about it. Something unhinged. A wariness that someone as powerful as him shouldn’t have, which only made her even more wary than she usually would be. Her skin prickled as if caught in a web of invisible thorns. Her mouth had gone dry.
Jared tried to breathe calmly, having already accessed every part of Harriet with his senses, yet all he could feel was that she was still a human. Her heart was beating like one—fast and erratic. Her scent was right. Her body temperature, her aura—everything pointed to her being exactly what she claimed to be.
There was nothing abnormal about her, which made him think that he might actually be overthinking things. Maybe the paranoia was poisoning his logic.
’Did the monster I saw make me wary and too cautious?’ He thought to himself, trying to steady his breath, though the tension in his chest still refused to ease. He was aware that nothing scared him—he was one of the strongest beings in any land, feared by kings and rebels alike. Especially since the monster itself was something that any one of his council members could have taken care of with minimal effort.
What worried him wasn’t the monster—it was the feeling of danger he still felt. One he had no clue of, but couldn’t seem to ignore no matter how much he tried to rationalize it away.
He was just about to open his mouth and speak to Harriet again, perhaps even apologize for the intensity of his suspicion, only to glance to his side and note that the surroundings of the carriage had changed. They had been moving at full speed—something he had ordered the driver to do—which wasn’t surprising, but it did make his focus shift instantly from Harriet to the other two members who sat on the outside of the carriage.
Xeera had just been returning back to the carriage when he did, and it quickly became clear that it was only the driver that had remained by the carriage, standing with a silence that felt eerie in its stillness.
The frown on Jared’s face only worsened as his suspicions heightened even more. A thick unease stirred in his gut as he instantly moved to get down the second the carriage stopped. His boots hit the ground with a dull thud, the air around him tightening with every movement. He wasn’t surprised to see that Xeera had instantly gotten down to open the door for Harriet, dutiful as always.
But Xeera, who had just been innocently moving toward the door—which had also instantly flung open—was suddenly shocked to see King Jared dash in her direction. Too fast. Far too fast for him to be coming toward her for a little chat or even a scolding.
Before she could draw another breath, he grabbed her by her clothes, lifting her like a rag and flinging her right to the ground. The force was brutal, enough to cause dust to rise as her body hit the earth hard. A scream ripped from her mouth as she felt her hand twist in a manner that meant it was definitely broken. Bone cracked against bone beneath her sleeve.
"King Jared!" Harriet screamed, eyes widening with horror as she sprang from the carriage, even as she began to speak while also keeping adequate distance between her and the king that was clearly not normal anymore.
"...This is King Zyren’s kingdom, and Xeera is under his care!" She screamed, voice trembling, sprouting words she didn’t believe—she couldn’t afford to. Especially since it was either that or watch her maid die right in front of her.
King Jared wasn’t even trying to hide his bloodthirsty aura that blared out of him, enough for her to be aware that he had every intention of separating the head of her maid from her neck. His fists clenched. His jaw ticked. He looked like a man on the brink of slaughter.
"Xeera has done nothing wrong!" But while Harriet was screaming, and Xeera lay on the floor, her arm throbbing madly with pain, she heard Jared speak to her. His voice cut through the rising panic like a blade.
"You left the carriage? Where did you go?" He asked her, calm in tone but sharp with implication. Even as confusion flooded her gaze, Xeera stared back at him with a pained, bewildered look on her face.
She heard the words coming out of his mouth, but that didn’t mean that she understood it, as she scrambled to respond with a desperate stammer.
"I—I went to pee! I just found a place to pee!" Xeera responded, her voice cracking, tears forming in her eyes, trying to understand how such a small, private act was suddenly causing her pain the likes of which she had never felt before.
But she had just spoken when she saw Harriet dart in front of her with a stubborn expression on her face—one that showed just how determined she was not to allow King Jared’s reign of terror to continue unchecked.
King Jared stared hard at both of them, and they both stared hard at him back. Harriet, feeling more confident now that they had more spectators, made sure to keep her distance from him—just in case his fury snapped again.
"If we’ve done something wrong, just say it! There’s no reason to attack us in front of His Majesty’s castle!" Harriet said, feeling the need to drag King Zyren into it—even though she didn’t dare to open her mouth and say his name aloud.
King Jared was just about to open his mouth to speak again when his gaze landed on the driver, who stood by the carriage with a blank expression on his face and a soulless look in his eyes. A heavy, unnatural stillness.
It was only for a split second, but Jared couldn’t help but feel his entire spine tingle, his instincts screaming at him even as the driver met his eyes and bowed instantly, sticking to the character Jared was already aware of. Too aware of.
The next moment he was moving—but by then, Harriet was already breathing a sigh of relief as she lowered her knees, body trembling slightly, even as she watched King Zyren slowly make his way toward them from the distance.
He wore black signature clothes like usual, but they were every bit majestic, with the huge coat he had on flowing behind him like a mantle of shadows.
Zyren didn’t care for whatever was going on in the castle—much less a commotion—since it was something the guards should be able to take care of. What he cared about was the fact that it was Jared making it. Something Jared wouldn’t do without a reason. That alone was cause for attention.
"What are you doing?" Zyren asked the second he got closer, in a commanding manner—one he didn’t even try to hide—and a stony expression that showed that he was displeased, his eyebrows shooting up when, instead of responding, Jared attacked the driver of the carriage instead.
The attack was hard enough to rip the man’s arm out of its socket—something that made everyone there gasp in shock and horror. Blood coated the ground in thick splashes, even as the innocent man began to scream.
Yet while everyone was shocked, Jared was the most stunned of all—especially when the man he expected to see turn into a monster still looked completely human.