To Bewitch a Devil

73 It is not your fault

Lyra pinched the bridge of her nose;

“Why can’t Delilah just remain dead? Everything was perfect until she appeared. Kitana is right in some way, if Zavian starts seeing her as Lilah, then we have a bigger problem to contend with.”

Emma groaned at her words and stood up.

“Oh goodness, I’m tired. Let’s just leave this for now; the more I think about this, the more my head hurts. What I’m sure is that Zavian won’t want another war. Taking the girl as queen would lead to a war, so I’m sure it’s not as serious as Kitana thinks it is. Let’s just see how everything goes. I’m going inside, My head hurts from listening to all of this.”

Emma stood up and she shook her head, walking back into the Castle.”

...

Zavian carried Neera to his chambers, amidst the peering eyes of the maids and servants. He carried her carefully, as though carrying a porcelain, and when he reached his room, he entered and shut the door.

Walking to the bed, he placed her on it, and that was when he saw the bruises on her face.

Neera’s both chins were red and swollen, her lips were bruised and tears poured like a river from her eyes.

.....

He gritted his teeth as he stood up. Rage built inside of him and he walked to a standing vase and threw it against the wall, and it scattered into several pieces.

Neera shook in fear as she watched him pace about the room, terribly mad.

Was he mad at her? She wondered. Was he angry that she went out and caused a scene? Neera bit her lower lip and quickly fell to her knees;

“I’m sorry your majesty, I only wanted to fetch some water, I did not know the Princesses would see me. I promise to be careful next time.”

At her words Zavian stopped as though a bucket of wate had been emptied on him and he turned to her; even when she had been beaten to stupor she still found a way to turn everything and blame herself.

His heart melted instantly and the anger that had been raging inside of him swept away.

A low sigh left his lips as he walked to where she knelt and lifted her up to her feet;

He stared at her beet red face and he sighed. Raising his hand, he pushed her hair away from

her face;

“It is not your fault; none of this is,” Zavian consoled her and Neera looked at him in surprise;

“Do not blame yourself, okay? It is not your fault,” he spoke tenderly and Neera couldn’t stop the tears that dropped from her eyes. She had lived all her life telling herself that she was the reason why all these things were happening to her.

It was the only way she could cope with the fact that bad things kept happening to her without any reason, but hearing him tell her now that it was not her fault, tore her apart.

It was better if she believed that she was the cause, it was better to live with it. Did he know how hard it was to know that you did nothing wrong but yet you get punished for it?

Neera cried out, tears pouring uncontrollably from her eyes. Zavian stared at the girl in front of him, and without wasting a second, he pulled her closer to him and hugged her, patting her back.

“It is okay, everything is going to be fine.”

Neera cried for a long while until she got tired. When she was done crying, Zavian made her sit down.

“Do you still have the ointment I gave you?”

He asked her and she nodded;

“Okay, go in and change your clothes and bring it, okay?”

He spoke tenderly and Neera nodded, standing from the bed, she went back to her room.

As soon as she entered her room, she walked to the mirror;

Her lips widened when she saw the hand prints on both cheeks and the slim bruises on them. Her lip was broken on one side and her eyes were very red. Her eyes watered again, and she walked to the bed and sat down;

She had heard that Princess Kitana was wicked but she did not know how wicked she was until now. She knew if she was given a chance, she would kill her without blinking an eye.

Neera wondered if there was an enmity between her and Delilah because the hate she saw in her eyes seemed like something she had borne for a while.

Neera shut her eyes when she remembered that Zavian had carried her in front of everyone, and a low sigh left her lips. At this point, she did not care anymore, no matter how much she tried to avoid trouble, she always without fail, fell right into it.

She was not going to think about what anyone said about her again. Nothing she did matered, if she would die, there was nothing she could do that would change it, so why should she keep beating herself up?

Neera stood up to take off her clothes but she heard a knock on the door. Walking to it, she saw three servants carrying drums of water.

“The king asked us to bring them to you.” They said and Neera moved to the side, letting them in.

Her heart softened when she realized that he took note of her saying she had gone out to fetch water.

“We would come every two days to fill it up.” One of them said as they placed the drums near the bathroom, and Neera nodded with a faint smile.

After they left, she went in to have a bath. Her cheeks burned so she avoided it entirely. After bathing, she changed into another dress and took the ointment, and walked to Zavian’s chambers.

Neera breathed in before she knocked lightly on the door, she waited to hear Zavian’s reply before she pushed the door open and walked in.

Zavian was sitting on the ottoman when he saw her walk in. She had tied her hair up in a loose bun and the bruise on her both chin was clear as day.

”Come; ” Zavian spoke and Neera blinked before she walked forward.