Maame Water: The Legend Of The Fish Queen

The Price

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Well, well, well. Our Queen is aaaaaangry! How will the King calm his wife down enough to tell her of his sacrifice. Read on to find out! Don't forget to vote and comment;  feedback really encourages me! Just show me that people actually love what I'm writing and I'm not spending hours typing on the small keypad of my phone- for I still have not procured a laptop- all for naught. I hope you love this chapter, as it revolves around the King and Queen and perhaps the fate of their new born child. Enjoy!!!

"Who told you this?" the King asked his wife, bewildered.

"When the Princess did not come to my side to comfort me on the night I birthed her nephew, I knew something was wrong," the Queen whispered angrily, still too weak to speak any louder. "And when I came to and asked the medicine man for my husband, I was told he had embarked on a quest, so I ordered my handmaidens to summon the Princess."

"My, love-," the King started.

"When did you know?" the Queen asked, her voice quivering in fury. "When did you first suspect that she was behind those murders?"

The King lowered his head.
"Since the night Adotey died."

"And you did not think to tell me? Your own wife?" the Queen asked bitterly. "Did you not trust me enough, Sire."

Sire? Then I have truly hurt her.

"Or did you think I would betray you to her, because of the bond we shared?"
The Queen touched her husband's face and guided his eyes to look upon hers, now rife with unfallen tears.

"You should have known! You are my husband, my lord, my king...," she cried.
"...my love. I am yours and you are mine. You should have known enough to trust me! You should have known n-,"

The King kissed his wife full on her lips, muffling her sobs. He run his hands through her hair and whispered:

"Yes, I should have known. Forgive me for doubting you," the King apologized, kissing his Queen passionately, oblivious to the pain of his wounds.

"How much do you know?" he asked, when he finally pulled away.

"Just what my handmaidens told me. When you found out she was the Night Killer, the Princess invoked an evil power and rebelled against the kingdom," the Queen replied. "I know.of her fish army and of the battle that occured in her cave."

The slaughter that occured in her cave.

"I see," the King said. "Of course, that is all the handmaidens will know. However, there is more."

The King closed his eyes and sighed.
"I have been to see the Oracle, my love."

The Queen turned as sharply as her weakened state would allow.

"She knew of a way to defeat my sister. A seal, to be precise. I sent Kabutey and six other men on a quest to recover it," the King said. "You should read it."

He took out the capsule and opened it, handing the scroll over to the Queen.

"I have told no one about this," the King said, "for the Fish-Queen has the power to read minds. Consequently, even the medicine man who presently brews the potion knows not of its purpose."

"Yet you will tell me? Can the Princess not read my mind. Has she not the power to read yours?" the Queen asked, unrolling the scroll.

"No," the King replied. "Her powers cannot affect those she loves, provided they know she loves them. In the cave, my sister revealed that she had seen the mind of your medicine man, but she made no mention of seeing your mind. I think it is because like me, you are immune to her powers. There is no danger in you reading the scroll."