Her Dawning Empire: The Prophecy

Chapter 74

"Maya. Negus." I greeted with a smile, waving slightly when Negus lifted his head from whatever he was doing to smile at me.

Maya huffed loudly before crunching across the debris on the floor and to me.

"Hanna! I'm glad you're here, can you tell Father to sit down and relax. We're here to clean this up." She spoke harshly, turning her cold glare to Negus and I smiled at how her tone didn't match to the amount of love she felt for him.

I raised an eyebrow as I neared towards him.

"Negus, you know your daughter isn't one to take no for an answer. Come, let me get you seated. They're serving hot tea over there from that small stall." I gestured to where the elders were sat and Negus merely smiled again, shaking his head.

"How wise to use tea to lure me away." He mused and I laughed as Maya shook her head at him, a small smile on her face.

"Well, is it working?" I said through giggles and Negus closed his eyes before taking a deep exhale and turned to look at Maya.

"Only because I wouldn't want you to worry." He said gently before reaching an arm out to usher her over and she rolled her eyes before making her way over to him and into his embrace.

"How sweet!" I cooed to which Maya snorted at my words and Negus smiled before reaching his other free arm towards me and I stilled at this.

"I wouldn't want either of you to worry." His voice was a gentle whisper carried by the wind and Maya watched me silently as I processed his words. I smiled widely then before moving forward and into his fatherly embrace, the smell of new books and cardamom seeping into my nose. His arms rested against both Maya and I, making a lump of tears form in my throat, but I didn't let them fall. Never once, did I feel like I had a fatherly figure and, now, stood in his embrace I felt the warmth that was missing from my life for 20 years. It made me wonder briefly to who my actual father was, but Negus moved back then and my mind fell back to the present.

Maya walked him over to the tea stall area, but not before sending me a warm smile that was so uncharacteristically bright. I smiled back before deciding to make my way over to where I could see Ayla tending to work in the kitchen.

I walked slowly, smiling as I passed the villagers who gave me bright smiles and, often, a small squeeze of the hand. It was both odd and comforting to have this attention on me and I looked around at their kind faces.I could see Arun with all the children gathered as he spoke animatedly, no doubt telling his captivating stories. He was stood on a stack of hay and holding a long branch, acting as though it was a sword and I watched as he slashed, making the children laugh.

Abrax was fixing a merchant stall as he talked to a middle-aged man beside him. His hands worked gracefully and he smiled kindly, still paying attention and being mindful of the conversation.

My eyes fell onto Demir who was talking to a male villager around our age. His arms were folded as he spoke and his glaive was absent, something that seemed so foreign. As though he could sense it, his gaze snapped to mine yet again and then he was smirking as he did before, making me still. I was about to thank the fact that he was otherwise occupied, but he turned quickly and voiced something to the male in front of him before turning to make his way towards me. I let out a small gasp at this, watching his form as he moved towards me like a lion would to a gazelle.

He was about a meter away from me then and I could see the playful glint in his eyes clearly now. Thankfully, it was then that Safiya called my name and I turned to see her coming towards me. She stopped in front of me with a few pants of breath as though she was running.

"Hanna, I was looking for you." She breathed out and I turned to see that Demir had stopped in his steps to me. I had thought he would be disappointed about someone hindering his efforts, but he was smirking all the more as though the challenge excited him.