Chapter 39

Zenovia

I froze in my tracks, my heart pounding in my chest. I had assumed Callahan hadn’t noticed my presence, but his voice shattered that illusion. Slowly, I turned around, my eyes meeting his intense gaze.

Callahan’s expression was stern, but there was a flicker of curiosity in his eyes. My mind raced, desperately searching for something to say, a plausible reason for my presence in his office. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words escaped.

I gulped when I heard the voice of King Callahan. My heart began to beat so fast that it was galloping at the speed of a thousand horses.

I feared it would fall out of my mouth at this rate. Slowly, very slowly, I turned around to see Callahan looking at me.

He still had the marker in his hand and gave me a small smile before returning his attention to his file.

“Come here.” He said and went back to sit on his chair, the file in his hand.

I gulped nervously as I slowly made my way towards him. I reluctantly approached Callahan’s desk, my eyes darting nervously around the room.

As I reached his side, he motioned for me to take a seat in the chair opposite him.

He pushed the chair in my direction without looking up and highlighted something with his marker.

“Are you going to speak at all?” He asked without looking at me. I sank into the plush chair and hoped that it would just swallow me whole.

“I…I am sorry…” I muttered weakly. He flipped the page, took a pen, and scribbled something on the paper.

Callahan did not say anything and kept reading intently for the next five minutes that felt like an eternity to me.

There were a few files scattered along the table and a huge map of the kingdom strewn across the length of the desk.

There were a few stains of teacups, showing that he had been really working hard on it, and a few pins that marked certain important spots.

“Do you not know that it is a bad habit to eavesdrop on someone?” Callahan asked as he pulled the cap off a pen with his mouth and threw it on the table as he took another pen to write something.

I thought of what to answer and could not come up with an answer. Luckily, I was spared of answering him when there was a knock on the door.

The servant I had met on my way to Callahan’s office had returned with another round of tea.

“Yeah, come in,” Callahan muttered as he began pacing through the room while reading the file.

He flipped a few more pages and was done with the file as he tossed it on the table and picked another one.

The file had landed on the edge of the table and it was going to fall down, so I stopped its fall. A few loose pages came out of the file, which I began picking up.

As I collected all the papers and put them in a stack, Callahan’s voice reached me.

But it was not directed at me. “Zenovia will prepare the tea. You can leave.”

He said to the servant who had just poured black tea into the cup and reached for the sugar. He did not say that to me, felt like it was an order directed at me, nonetheless.

absorbed in work and it did not look like last night had

but I

had already been stupidly fantasizing about him, but he had been working all day and was

he would do upon seeing me again. Either

he did neither, and

glad to not be around the

towards the tray. Placing the

“Sugar?”

He curtly answered, and I put one cube of

“Milk?”

the cue and poured the

11.01

Chapter 39

clinks of the spoon against the ceramic cup were the only noise in the big office. I would have argued with him that I am not his maid to serve him tea/coffee, but he had found

moment.

was supposed to obey him because his mark meant I was under his protection. I meekly handed him the cup, which he took from me without even looking at me, leaving the saucer in my hand. Callahan took a sip, and I watched his face for a

on the table, spilling it all over the

startled cry and

cup on the

ink was

the desk and I felt scared of his anger at my

am sorry, I did

grabbed my wrist and held it in front of me. My hair was askew

was firm.

stop

met his and I quickly looked down, not wanting to see the rage directed at me.

didn’t do it purposely…” I cried, but he simply plucked me away from

the way he had grabbed me and then placed me on the chair and my body had not even gotten time to react to his touch

not moving, he went to the cupboard and

to himself before taking off the lid. I peered intently and realized it

going to disinfect the

box beside me and squatted down. Without saying a word, he took my hand in his and pulled out

was doing before he wiped away some of the dried bits off my hand and I saw redness spreading through my

my hands. He wiped it off and then grabbed an ointment from the box and began applying it on my reddened skin.

face, covering it partially.

was doing things to me, and he was not even the

another plaything

a lump rise in my throat, but I quickly swallowed it. The silence was too much to bear and seeing him not yell at me made

and be done with

all over the place, the ink of the marker and pens spreading through even more papers,

sorry,” I muttered

ointment on my arms and I tried not to gasp when his hands softly caressed me, his fingers trailing down my

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