Bitter Hearts: A Dark Cinderella Retelling

Nine

Present Day

Makani's heart was pounding hard against her rib cage and she thought that it might just burst through her chest with the way it was pounding. She was seated in the presence of the mighty King Volker and her body was trembling, she had been in the presence of the King before but never this close. Up close the wrinkles on his face were more prominent and his gaze more stony. Makani trembled in her seat wondering when General Pricha would arrive, the King's hard glare was terrible to receive.

As if on cue, the young General walked into the room, his dreadlocks bouncing behind him.

"Your highness, I'm sorry I'm late." General Pricha said bowing a little before King Volker then taking a seat, not asking permission.

Makani marvelled at how at ease he was around the King, her resolved hardened and she thought to herself to just clear this up and proceed with her plans of getting him to court her. Zenaida would be proud of her taking rein over her life, she thought. Tears filled her eyes but she blinked them back, now was not the time.

"Sire, can we start?" General Pricha asked facing King Volker.

"Go ahead"

"Thank you, Sire"

"Makani." he bellowed, sending shivers down her spine and heat to her belly.

"Let's begin." he said and she could only nod.

"From our last discussion you said that the deceased was your best friend, right?" he asked.

"Right."

"Can you tell me about your relationship with her, what were the dynamics to your friendship?"

"Well she was a good friend, I could always run to her to cry and she could do the same, we shared jokes and secrets together."

"What secrets." he probed.

"They are called secrets for a reason General."

"I know that sweetheart but unless you want to be branded a murderer, rot in a smelly prison and do back breaking work for the rest of your life you better start talking." General Pricha threatened with a sickly sweet smile on his face. Makani could swear that she saw his eyes twinkle at the prospect of her going to jail.

"Now I ask again what secrets did you share."

"Well we mostly talked about boys and village festivals and I liked to talk about clothes and the latest fashion trends and..."

"Makani." General Pricha barked. "Do not test my patience, what did Zenaida talk about?"

"She was always talking about Mia and how much she hated her, they were never on good terms." Makani admitted, sighing in defeat.

"Hmm, from the last time we spoke you mentioned a stepsister, Mia, is this the same girl?"

"Yes, it's the same girl"

"So why did she hate her so much, weren't they supposed to be sisters?"

"Zenaida never saw her as sister but rather as a threat, she felt that Mia was always taking up all their father's attention when he was alive and the final straw was when their father was on his death bed he kept asking for Mia even when his other daughters were present, he had asked them out of the room and let only Mia remain, he passed away in her arms, his soul rest in peace." Makani concluded bowing her head in respect.

"How long has it been since their father died?"

"Eight years"

"The hate was it a mutual thing or was it just Zenaida?"

"I used to think that because Zenaida and her sister hated Mia that she must surely hate them back too but there was a time back when we were six, Mia had just finished sweeping the compound (property) and Zenaida, Zenobia and I decided that it would be fun to mess it up and so we did, we scattered branches, leaves, flowers, grasses, even food particles right where she had just cleaned and we laughed when Duvessa made her go the rest of the day and the next without food. You want to know what she did? " Makani said staring the General dead in the eye.

"She cleaned it all up and went two days with no food in her stomach, she didn't even tell her father about it. I thought her to be weird, because she didn't shed a tear or report us but later that day when I was wandering about their house, I saw her, I saw her crying and talking to a lamb. I felt guilty, I thought she had gone mad and so I tried to become her friend but Zenaida and her twin sister wouldn't let that happen. It was after that incident that I knew that Mia didn't hate them too." Makani concluded, guilt evident in her voice.

"You said Zenaida wouldn't let you be this Mia girl's friend, right?"

"Right"

"Were there other things that Zenaida wouldn't let you do?"

"Well yes, there were things I really wanted to do but she would talk me out of it and give me reasons why I shouldn't do them."

"Did you ever think that Zenaida was controlling?"

"Controlling! No, sure she was hard headed but I never thought of her as controlling." Makani said, surprised that the General would use such a word to describe her best friend.

"So you're a people pleaser?" General Pricha taunted. He had insulted her to her face and she did not know what to reply so she kept mute and stared at him blankly.

"You said her stepmother did not feed her for two days, was that a regular occurrence?"

"Now that I think about it, it was regular, almost all the time in fact, every time I went over to their house she never ate with us, only when her father was around did she eat with us." Makani replied, deep in thought.

"Hmmm." General Pricha hummed also deep in thought.

"Did Mia ever report to her father?"

"Not that I know of."

"Did Mia and Zenaida have any recent altercations?"

"Yes, sort of."

"What do you mean by sort of."

"Well Prince Jamal married Zenobia even though Mia was the maiden with the black and gold necklace he had declared he would marry." Makani said a solemn look on her face.

"What?" King Volker said, speaking for the first time since the interrogation started.

"What do you mean by what you just said." King Volker said a tremor in his voice.

"Your son went against his own decree because he found Zenobia more attractive and she and Zenaida had feed him lies about Mia."

"How do you know this?" General Pricha asked his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Like I said, we shared secrets, besides it's common knowledge. Everyone in the village knew about but no one opposed the Prince because no one liked Mia, something about her mother being rebellious and now she was paying the price for her mother's sin. I don't really know," she said shrugging.

"So Zenobia deceived my son and no one bother to tell me?" King Volker asked Makani finally finding his voice.

"Yes your Highness, I'm sorry your Highness."

"Makani" General Pricha bellowed his rich baritone voice bouncing off the walls.

"Yes General"

"You can leave."

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