Tabit was very excited to lead the string of servants who were carrying the gifts for Princess Lerna. She was sure that she was going to be great friends with her. Her first impression of Lerna was that of a timid girl who was scared of the world and trying to fit in. When Rigel told her about how he rescued her and what her life had been all this time, she sympathized with her. And that was why Tabit was looking forward to having a great beginning with Lerna.
However, as soon as she reached the exit, guards stopped her. Her mother came from somewhere and pulled her by her hand. She took her on the side and slapped her across her face. "That man humiliated your father, the King of Orion, and yet you have the shamelessness of going and presenting these gifts to his sister who he adopted to save her face!" she spat. "I won't allow it!"
Tabit was shocked beyond comprehension. She held her cheek which burned with a sharp sting. "Mother, it was father's wish to send these gifts!"
"Guards!" Alina shouted.
When Tabit turned to look at them, it was too late. A guard had covered her face with a cloth that smelled of poisonous powder. Tabit tried to free herself from his grasp, but she soon succumbed to darkness.
"Take her to her bedchamber and see that she doesn't leave!" Alina ordered the guards. Then she turned to look at the servants who were terrified as hell. "Go and keep these gifts in my room!" she barked at them. The servants scurried away from there.
Alina gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes. She was going to send that man a message that will shake him to the core. How dared he insult the king and queen of Orion in their own court?
---
"What are you thinking, Eltannin?" Tania asked, watching her husband pacing the tent they had occupied from her bed. She was lying on and eating grapes while one of her legs was dangling over the edge.
Eltanin stopped and came to lie down beside her. "King Mintaka has always been so good and wise. I wonder what happened to him... When I used to visit Orion, I was welcomed by him and we discussed so many things over goblets of wine..."
Tania turned her face towards him as she cradled her head in her palm. "Sometimes, people become irrational. In all my years of being with Menkar, I always found him to be extremely calculating, but he would often give weird commands to us. They used to be so frustratingly foolish, but we all had to carry them out. Whims of the higher-up!"
Eltanin sighed. "Maybe..." He turned to her and kissed her forehead. "Do you know what I have been thinking for a while?"
"What?" she asked, tipping her chin up.
"I want to make babies with you," he said and glided his fingers down her side to the dip of her waist.
Shivering like a flea under his fury, the guard rushed away from there.
Eltanin roared, "We will march inside Orion in one hour. Gather your forces and send Fafnir to meet me!"
"Eltanin!" Rigel called him when he strode inside the tent. Lerna and Tania too walked in after them.
"Your father has gone beyond all boundaries, Rigel!" he growled. "Don't ask me to stop the war. He has insulted my flag, my spirit. I will not leave him! Mintaka shouldn't have invited my wrath!"
"How about I go back and talk to him. Alone?" Rigel suggested.
"No!" Eltanin shouted. "The man who doesn't want his own son on the throne is not the right man. Besides, it is too late!"
Fafnir walked in the tent at that time. "My king," he bowed to him.
"Gather all the troops. We will be attacking Orion in an hour!"
"Eltanin, my sister Tabit is inside. I have to protect her. She hasn't done anything. She only supported me," Rigel argued.
Eltanin said to Fafnir, "See that Tabit is unharmed."
Fafnir bowed and left.
When he left, Eltanin asked Rigel, "So whose side are you on, Rigel?"
Rigel knew what he was saying. "I am with you, Elty. Always."