War of the Roses

13. The death of the King

Samira walked down the hallway with long and firm steps, the door to the king's chamber already visible at the very end. The two guards at the door opened it for her and she entered the quiet room, the king will die soon, she could tell by the energy in the room. The healer was already gone, another sign that it will be only a matter of hours for the king to depart this world.

The moment she entered Philip and Henry's eyes landed on her, she walked to the queen and bowed.

"Good morning your highness."

"Good morning Samira, thank you for being here at this early hour."

Samira noticed the black circles around the queen's eyes while red in the inside, it was clear that queen Helena didn't sleep all night.

"Thank you for coming princess Samira." Henry now approached .

"Wasn't I clear enough when I order you to stay away from her?" Philip angrily spoke, very close to his brother in order to keep his tone low.

"You don't order me shit." Henry replied.

"What is wrong with you two? How dare you disrespect your father, fighting with each other in his deathbed. You two are both prince of this kingdom, act like it, or leave this room."  The queen whispered gritting her teeth and giving a hard glare to Samira.

Even though she tried as hard as she could to keep the tears, little by little she felt how her eyes begun to get more and more watery, to the point where her vision was in a blur, the last thing she wanted was a scene in front of the queen at her expense before the king's last breath of this life. A single tear rolled down her left cheek and she quickly whipped it off with her hand, then she cleaned her other eye preventing more tears from falling, she took a deep breath and hoped nobody had seen it but Philip saw it all, because for some reason he found himself unable to lift his gaze from her since she entered the room. An odd feeling in the center of his stomach took over the minute he saw that tear rolling down her cheek, and the urge to comfort her was all he could think of. Samira's back was facing him now and he didn't think twice before staring walking to her. He had no idea what to say or do,  and for the first time he was just following his instinct. She was awakening something in him and he needed to figure out what it was.

"Philip..... where are you?"  The king's faint voice was heard and Philip stoped despite the proximity he had already reached towards Samira. He ran to his dad, kneeled down next to his bed and held his cold hand.

"Father, I'm here."

The king smiled, making an effort to control the unbearable pain in his stomach, that unwelcomed companion who came one day and never left, and little by little increased over the course of one year. He did a great job hiding it from everyone, even the queen, and when the court physician informed that his life was vanishing each day he had only three things in mind. Number one, to not tell a soul about his unfortunate health condition, he ordered the healer to maintain absolute discretion or will pay with his own life if anyone became aware of this condition. Second, find a wife for his heir, but not just a wife, he needed a queen, someone who had the firmness and compassion to rule his kingdom and his rebellious son, whom he was certain one day will be a great king, he just needed the right support. King James never accepted the hundreds of marriage proposals other kings sent out for their daughters to marry Philip, he had a clear image of who the bride will be,  but when king Odo denied his offer and then his three counter offers he had no other choice but to attack  them with the excuse to gain textiles and spices. Third, he requested the healer for a poison to hide the pain, and that was how he managed to look healthy and composed all this time. The small glass container never left his side and in the event of pain just a few drops were enough to fade away the torment.