Her.

Chapter XVI

"Haya!" Erik screamed from her father's room, awakening the girl from her deep slumber.

Haya didn't hear it at first, but the second time he urgently screamed into the early morning, she thrusted on a robe, one that was made of fine silk her father had procured from a friend of his. He'd made lots of friends, and from that specific one the beautiful, white silk she wore was now beautifully hugging her tan body. She threw a few pins into her dark curls and hoped they looked presentable, as she tied off her robe to finally run into her father's room. Haya couldn't have walked in revealing herself in front of Erik, for no matter what state of distress her father was in, he would murder her.

"What is it?!" She asked frantically, her heart racing a league a minute.

When she looked rightly at her father, he looked deathly pale, his breathing shallow and hardly there at all.

"Oh, papa," she cried weakly, her knees buckling under her and making her fall to his side. "My poor father."

She took his cold hand and began to stroke it, placing gentle kiss after kiss on the skin.

"I wanted you to be here, for I think he-" Erik nearly cried before letting out his words, but he got through them, "I surmise he is upon his last moments."

It was then Haya broke into a very loud crying, still clutching to her father's hands as he held onto the last thin strands of life.

"Hay-Haya," Henry suddenly whispered, bringing Haya close to him as he struggled to speak, constantly wetting his lips, "I love you... But I want to see your mother again."

He rasped heavily when Erik kneeled down next to Haya and removed the cloth on his head. He shook it out to cool the water making it damp and replaced it upon his forehead to make his last moments comfortable.

"I know I'm dying. So, thank you, Erik," he stuttered and began to flutter his eyes until there was an expansive knocking on the door.

It was harsher than Haya had ever heard it before, as if someone was attempting to knock down the door. They pounded on it until Henry looked at Erik with wide eyes and told him to retrieve a letter from them but not to let Haya lay a single glimpse upon it. Erik argued vehemently that she should it see it while fighting to stay alive, and fighting to keep Haya at bay with her own persistence. When Henry began a coughing fit, Erik got the door and brought back what Henry expected it to be.

And suddenly, a whole new argument arose with the dying man.

Haya was even shoved out of the room.

"How could you keep such a thing from her! What is going to happen when you pass, have you thought of such a thing? Has it been this severe the whole time, or was it just when his guards began to follow you? Henry! You idiot, you complete imbecile, did you even think of Haya and her safety?"

Erik seemed to breathe harshly as Henry coughed back an answer that Haya didn't want to hear.

"I did, until things got out of hand. Please, let her in... I can feel myself fading..."

Haya rushed past Erik when he opened the door for her. She didn't even try to pry the letter from him to know what was going on.

"I love you," he managed to say clearly, "And Erik, promise me she shan't read that letter," Henry demanded weakly.

"I love you, too, papa," Haya cried as she hugged Henry around his neck. The man was too weak to reciprocate, but she could feel his smile.