Diana Of Alcotta (Yrsoreth Chronicles 1)

43 ♛ Guts and Gods

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Crabs as huge a two feet could crush a bone. Luckily, Doctor Topenhagen, Miryam's husband, said that only the sharp pincers pierced a part of Xander's skin, one to the flesh. The room sighed in relief, including Diana.

An emperor's body is considered sacred, even for an empire not religiously inclined. The thought that Xander was wounded on the toe by a crab of all creatures, would still worry citizens-especially those who viewed him as more of a hero than a tyrant. The fact that it happened in Alcotta, the territory would be frowned upon.

"Let no word gets out," he said casually during the treatment.

Diana already left even before his foot was lightly bandaged. She went straight to the kitchen and declined servants who volunteered to help her cook.

She stared at the buckets, hers with only one and a crab, while Xander's almost full of Barsewaz. She untied her hair, gathered the loose strands as her hands combed her hair back, and retied it better. Then a knock came at the door just after she washed everything, thanks to water from the indoor well.

"Can I help?"

It was minutes later when the kitchen was filled with silence between faint splashes of water and guts removed from the fish and a knife against the wood.

As Diana chopped the vegetables for the soup, she glanced at Xander, demonstrating how not to gut a fish. His face held back distortion as he squeezed and pulled the innards of Barsewaz.

The man volunteered, and Diana accepted. Pushing him away is cowardice. She refused to acknowledge her long-buried feelings rising to the surface by pushing him away. The circumstances did not allow it, nor she'd run from it.

However, isn't it a time for her to step in? Unable to bear his struggle, she did.
"Your Majesty, how about you take a rest?"

"...No, I'm fine." He looked away and held himself from retching as the innards were pulled from the sliced stomach of the third fish.

"You're not."

Despite his lengthy gold hair tied to the back as well, a few strands were in disarray, and sweat glistened in his crumpled forehead. She had never seen him physically struggle, aside from the time he carried a cargo the first time he visited.

"I'm not," he finally admitted.

"Then why are you trying so hard?"

He looked at her, solemnly deep into her soul. "Is it too late, Diana?"

The way he called her name brought her back to the time she called his. Alexander.

"Is it too late to try so hard?" he repeated.

"...I don't understand what you mean," she said, her jesting voice slowly becoming a whisper.

"You-" Xander could not finish. Red and greenish fluid from the fish squirted right into his face. He closed his eyes with a defeated expression.

"Your Majesty... are you..." She could not finish the question, suppressing the bubble of tickles in her throat.

Not only attacked by a crab, but the tyrant emperor was also gutting fish. And now, fluids of blood and bile with their nasty scent spread on his face.

"Are... you alright... I'm sorry." She said in between her rich laughter.

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Even if the windows were partially open, the daylight was enough to illuminate Bastian's room. With the help from Miryam, they put him in a sitting positing, leaning back on his headboard.