Aubade

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Zahir sat in the corner of the room, arms crossing his chest, knee bouncing up and down. He stared at the girl laying on the cot, skin a pale shade of blue. Barely alive. Gio promised she would wake in the next hour. She slept peacefully. He listened to the soft rise and fall of her chest, his hard gaze unwavering.

The door flung open, a young girl no older than eight barreling into Zahir.

"Hell, Raya. How many times have I told you not to run in the house?" She ignored his words, placing a piece of parchment in his hands.

"Look at what I did," She said proudly, her dark eyes glowing. Messy curls fell from her head, resting just below her chin, dimples on both her cheeks deepening as she smiled. Zahir allowed his lips to be tugged upwards slightly. He stared at the mess of watercolors across the page, then glanced down at her bright eyes. He crouched down to her height.

"It's really beautiful." She grins.

"I'm going to put it up on the wall." He quickly places it in a frame, hanging it on the wall, filled with rickety frames upholding every other drawing she'd sketched..

Raya walked to Ilaria's cot, pointing at her, eyes widening.

"That's the princess. That's the princess, Zahir!" She exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and down. He softly glanced at his sister, sighing.

"I know, Raya."

"Is she dead?" He shook his head. She frowned, poking Ilaria in the arm.

"Raya!" He chides, reprimanding her quickly.

"Sorry." He closed his eyes, sighing.

"Can you go ask Gio for some water and a tonic?" She gives him a thumbs up, quickly dashing out of the room.

He muttered something under his breath, watching over the princess. She stirred in her sleep, eyes flying open and sitting up immediately. Her skin went pale again, forcing her to fall back onto the cot.

"Shit," She whispered hoarsely.

Relief poured into his chest.

It was rare for an assassin to be afraid of death himself. And yet, he sat, hands trembling slightly.

"Don't move. You'll only make it worse." She scoffed weakly, attempting to shift onto her side and lying on her injured arm. A string of colorful words flew from her mouth, tears pooling in her eyes.

"You should have just left me." She spat. He clenched his jaw, sitting quiet and stoic.

"You had the chance to kill me twice. But you haven't yet.. Why?" He crossed his arms across his chest, scowling in silence. He rubbed his hands over the scar slashed from the tip of his eyebrow to the bottom of his chin.

"I asked you a question, dammit," She snapped, staring at him.

He declined to answer, hardly glancing at her eyes.

Before another comment slipped out of her mouth, Gio placed a bowl of steaming broth beside her cot, handing her a glass of water, having crept into the room unnoticed.

"How's the arm?" Gio asked softly. The young mage glanced at the small princess, worried doubling in his gaze as he stared at the bruises on her arm.

"Fine," she murmured, gulping down the water.

Gio stared at Zahir, concern burned into his gaze.

"Don't let her leave until the cut is healed. In case the poison has any after-effects., it's best to monitor her condition." He paused briefly.