𝑩𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅

chapter sixty-seven

Drakkar 

"Good morning, Princess. Good morning, Princes," the young guard said as he waited by the forest's edge. None of us replied to him, even her, which was alarming. I noticed how Zeke even glanced back to see if she was still behind us.

Zeke was walking ahead of us. He hadn't said a word since we left, not made a snarky comment, nothing. I knew he was waiting to get back to the castle to drown himself in liquor like he always did whenever he was hurt. It wasn't a good way to cope with his shit, but it was his way. He didn't really want to become King as much as Zander and I did. So for him, it meant he was risking losing his girl for something he didn't even really want.

I glanced behind me at Zander, still carrying Emriana on his back. We hadn't made two steps into the forest, and she was already wincing in pain. Zander grabbed her right away, hoisting her up on his back. She held on to him like a baby koala the entire time, never once complaining. I knew she must have been very uncomfortable, but she never said anything.

Her arms were loosely wrapped around his neck for support as she glanced around us. Her hair was flowing gently with the breeze making her look ethereally beautiful. Neither her had said a word. She was deep in her thoughts the whole way back.

The guard must've sensed the tension between us as he looked visibly uncomfortable and led us back to the castle. It was about noon when we finally entered the tall doors of the castle. The guards watched us with concern as she didn't greet any of them like she always took the time to do. A guard even asked me if she was okay, to which I replied with a nod.

We hadn't even been in the castle for a whole minute when Akira came running down the hall toward us, toward her especially. He seemed to notice something was wrong as she barely acknowledged him, giving him a small smile that seemed a little too fake.

We walked toward our wing, noticing the maid carrying large bags as they had started packing for tomorrow. Zeke yanked the door open without a care in the world as he headed straight for the bar, grabbing the whole bottle of whisky, not even caring.

My eyes flickered to Emriana, watching him with unreadable eyes. She stared at him as he started gulping down the bottle before gently tapping Zander's shoulder to be let down. He hesitated before lowering her to her feet.

She walked away from us, heading straight to the bedroom, closing the door behind her, not locking it. Akira, of course, had followed her inside, and I watched him with a slight annoyance.

"You think it's because of him?" Zander was the first to speak, saying what I had been thinking about.

"Maybe, you heard what she told him when she thought he was going to die. She wants to give him a good life and shit," I replied, and Zeke scoffed as he let himself fall into the sofa.

"Bullshit! She's choosing a tiger over us?" He slurred, clearly already intoxicated, as half the bottle was gone.

I sighed, knowing not to engage too much with Zeke when he was like that. He was impatient and impulsive, and too violent. Although I knew he would never hurt her, I didn't feel comfortable with Emriana being in the next room while he was like that. I didn't want her to witness this version of Zeke.

I was about to say something when a knock made me look back at the door. It opened slowly after a few seconds, and my mother slipped inside the room. Her eyes immediately hardened as she saw Zeke gulping down the bottle. Her eyes moved to Zander before moving to me.

"So it's that bad?" She asked, walking toward us with concern. Zander and I watched as she walked to Zeke, grabbing the bottle out of his hand. He tried to yank it back, but his movements were too slow and sloppy for my mother, who was very used to his shit.