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“There is this new stand we should try out,” Penelope yelled over a man advertising his rodent poisons. “They have got the best sweets!”

“And I am the one acting like a kid!” Neera yelled back. Penelope’s ears caught the words, and she laughed, her arms coming protectively around Neera when two dogs ran past them in a mad chase.

The stand announced itself with its colourful sweets that beckoned like a bright light in a distance. The woman, a human whose beauty could have swept men off their feet in her youthful days, welcomed Penelope like a long-time customer. Neera gave her friend the side eye, and Penelope pursed her lips in mock guilt.

“I know, my teeth would suffer from this unholy relationship I have formed with these sweets,” Penelope confessed her crime. “But you need to taste it first.”

The woman held out two bags of sweets to them. Neera peered inside, and an assortment of sweets of different colours, shapes, and sizes made her mouth water. She reached for an orange balled one, and popped it into her mouth. It was chewy, and its sugary flavour burst alive.

“This is so good”, Neera moaned. The woman smiled at the compliment, and the two friends ate every last bit of candy, making comments about each of them. Tangy, spicy, chewy, sugary, the woman had a wide range of tastes that Neera was very willing to explore.

“I wish I brought money”, Neera said, looking at the sweets hungrily.

“I wish I had enough to cart away the entire store,” Penelope said.

.....

Neera laughed, and as Pen selected the sweets for both of them, Neera studied the surroundings, noting the new sheds that had popped up since she had last been to the market. A floral material that poured from a cloth shed beckoned to her, and she promised herself, one of these days, she would have enough money to sneak out once again and buy whatever caught her fancy.

She looked behind her at the store that sold gold, its design more security firm with iron bars on the entrance. The man held up a chain when he saw her eyes, seducing her with its design and glitter. Neera moved closer to inspect it, but froze midway.

Next to the man’s gold store was a figure dressed in all black, and now, it was staring at her.

Fire glowed where the eyes were supposed to be, and the rest of the face was covered in black. It was the same figure from the wedding, and it was real, not a figment of her imagination. She backed away, her chest rising and falling at a rapid pace, and she reached behind her, hoping her hand would touch her best friend.

The figure moved, or so she thought. It stood there, and she was the one drawing closer and closer to it like a magnet.

“No!” Neera screamed, digging the heels of her feet into the ground to stop herself. It was a futile move. “No! No! Get away from me!”

She was almost before it now, and her head banged with a pain she had never felt before. She tried to reach for anything, Pen behind her, the gold store, anything, but she could feel the thrum of foreign energy enshroud her, and sap out her own energy.

“Zavian!” Neera screamed. In a flash, the figure disappeared, and she was on the ground, her mind swimming, her head pounding. She was vaguely aware of a hand shaking her awake, or the distance calling her name, or the swarm of faces she didn’t recognize crowding around her. The pounding in her head continued, and with one sharp hit, it took away her consciousness.

….

When Jasmine had seen the maid and the concubine leave the castle grounds, obviously not knowing they were being watched, she didn’t stop them. She understood Zavian’s stand on keeping Neera locked up within the castle walls, but even when she herself was contesting as Queen, she needed a break from that life from time to time by connecting to the outside world. It was a human thing as well as a demon thing; the need for connection.

But when the gates opened and an unfamiliar carriage rode in, she stared from her window as guards came forth to a panicked maid flailing her arms. Jasmine’s eyes flew open when they carried out an unconscious Neera, and at once, she hurried out of her chambers.

When Jasmine reached her and laid closer eyes on the concubine as she was carried past her, Neera’s colour was washed out. She looked drained of blood.

“What happened to her?” Jasmine asked the maid.

Penelope wiped her face, but the tears kept coming. “I don’t know. She was fine and the next thing I knew, she was screaming. I don’t know why, I don’t know why. I didn’t see what she saw, I just…”, Penelope covered her face and sobbed into her palms. “Someone please get her the Doctor.”

Jasmine watched as the maids and guards around her work in frenzy, as if their King himself was the one hurt. They all panicked, and scrambled about, not knowing what to do. She was sure the Doctor was on his way the minute those two came inside the gate.

Jasmine placed a hand on Penelope’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, she will be fine.”

“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know.” Penelope was stuck in her own little world of misery and blame.

As if things could not get any worse, the gates flew open, and the King rode in, followed by the Commander General. When he saw the crying maid and the state of the palace staff, warning bells went off in his head.