Bewitched By The Demon Prince

A Suspicious Thief

She woke up to the sunlight claiming inches of her face. It took her a few seconds to revive back from the valley of ignorance and trip over the rock of reality. She sat up and blinked repeatedly trying to get rid of that droopy feel of her eyelids.

Something felt off but she didn't know what. Thinking that it may be due to sleeping for too long, she stood up and made her way to the attached washroom that she didn't see earlier in the night. But her feet halted as her eyes took in something that laid on the floor.

"Nooo!" A choked gasp escaped her throat as she fell on her knees near the ripped book.

The cover of the book had marks as if scratched by something sharp or maybe the paws of an animal. Half of the pages were intact but the other half were brutally ripped and scratched from the inside leaving it unreadable from the middle and only a few parts of the writing visible on the top and bottom.

"Oh God, it was the only original manuscript from history. I was supposed to take care of it." She felt her eyes watering as she started gathering the remains of the old book trying to adjust the torn papers in their correct sequence.

Luckily the front page that was the key of translation from the symbolic writing was intact and the first volume that she had finished reading as well. The other one was ruined beside a few first pages. There were prints of original poems that Thabit wrote for Nefreti and their translation in the end but most of them were torn.

While gathering them she read a few verses that said,

"A love lost in beguiled vent,"

"Right where the Earth and sky end,"

"Where an unsaid promise apprehend,"

Nothing made sense after that,

"I....again,"

"My...never...,"

"...beautiful…"

"Because eternity…"

Sighing, she closed the wrecked book and put it in her bag under everything else. She didn't have enough courage to look at it again. With a heavy heart she dragged herself away. She thought she would never be able to know the rest of their story.

But how wrong she was…

~

"Hey you! Stop right there." A soldier commanded a man who appeared quite suspicious to him. His attire wasn't normal and he had himself and his face covered under a baggy jumper and its hood up.

There were blockages on all the main roads that left the city on the orders issued by the Royalty, after the Princess went missing. It was made sure that no one left or entered the city without proper observation and investigation.

The suspicion of the soldier was confirmed when the man instead of showing himself started walking away from the exit, pretending to not hear the call.

"Get him!" The soldier shouted immediately and upon his call, others alerted as well.

As soon as some of them tried to reach him, the figure's pace fastened and the next moment he started running away, disappearing in the herd of people around the streets.

"Spread out, shoot if he doesn't stop." The commander ordered and everyone obliged, spreading out in all the streets.

A hustle erupted as the figure was quick to turn around many corners and hide behind or overturning the stalls in an attempt to hide and dodge the men following him but suddenly when he stepped into an empty alley, he bumped into a soldier's chest who immediately grabbed him from the collar.

"There there," The man who was twice bigger in size from the boy he caught, said in a mocking tone.

Soon they were surrounded by many soldiers, their weapons up in the air aimed right at him. The one who caught him bent over and with a jerk he exposed his face from underneath the fabric, revealing a pair of scared brown eyes and an innocent looking face of a teenage boy.

"What are you up to, child?" The soldier frowned at him as he didn't seem like someone who could cause any harm.

He noticed the boy was slightly trembling out of fear and for a moment he felt bad for him because he looked somewhat like his own son back at home.

"Take him to the commander." One of the soldiers remarked from behind and reluctantly the first one pushed the boy in front of him with a handful of the fabric of his jumper in his fist.

"Please have mercy on me. I didn't have a choice. My mother is very ill. I needed money. Please I-I…" He stuttered before bursting into tears in front of the commander who was scrutinizing the petite boy who had fallen over his knees.

"I will be lenient if you confess to your crimes yourself." The commander said, tapping his fingers over the chair arm.

"I just s-stole this." The boy immediately took out a small silk piece intertwined into a knot from his pocket and placed it on the ground before him. "I didn't do anything else. I swear."

Upon the gesture of the commander's eyebrow, a soldier moved forward and picked up the little silk handkerchief. He opened the knot and put it forward for the commander to see.

The man picked up the delicate looking gold chain in his hands trying to remember where he saw it before. There was a round pendant in it that opened with a click after a little struggle. As soon as his eyes landed on the small picture inside the pendant, he stood up from the chair abruptly.

"Where did you get it?!" He roared.

~

Back in the cottage, Claudia stared at her reflection in the mirror above the basin. In just two days, her face had started appearing dull and skin drier than ever before. She could see patches of dry skin near her nose and lips chapped.

Maybe I can go out and get something to put on my face from the market, she thought to herself while running her hand down over her neck but then for the second time in that morning she felt her heart skip a beat.

"Where is my necklace?!" Her eyes widened at her reflection and she immediately ran back to the place where she slept.

After a long while of searching everywhere including her bag, she slumped on the bed. That was when she noticed the opened window in front of her and the muddy shoe prints on the base of it that extended towards her bed and disappeared above the carpet.

"No…"