Married To The Cursed King

I was lying on my bed, in my room, feeling very sad about my life in the palace when suddenly, I saw myself in a dark forest, in the middle of nowhere-surrounded by fire.

The fire was burning so intensely that I became dismayed and terrified and didn’t know what to do. There wasn’t an escape way for me.

I panted on top of my breath, almost screaming out my lungs for help.

“Help me! Somebody help!” I kept screaming but none came.

Gradually, my voice began to crack, then entirely seized. My lungs felt weak and I found it difficult to breathe again. I fell to the ground, then watched with horror as the fire came even closer.

I lost all hope of surviving until a creature emerged to save me. It had fiery looking red eyes and horns; black horns curving like the devils'. And also, it has the body of a human but has fur instead of normal human skin. The hands and legs were paws-like.

Crossing the consuming fire, the creature reached me and gently gathered me into its arms. It carried me towards a destination, and suddenly, we were on top of a high mountain.

I was nearly drifting off into an uneasy sleep when I heard it let out a loud cry that sounded like that of a wolf calling its pack.

I opened my eyes, then smiled meekly at its face. It was staring down on mine, some kind of passion blazing in its eyes.

“Thank you.” I said quietly while still in its arms. My heart instantly melted as I saw as its eyes brightened.

I straightened my shoulders up. I said, “Thank you for saving me," gently placing a palm on its cheeks. It closed its eyes to feel the warmth of my heart.

And all of a sudden, there was lightening in the sky followed by serious thunderstorms and a harsh breeze, which blew everything about.

I got extremely shuddered with fear but that wasn’t my fear, it was the dark, ominous smoke descending from the sky, creating a strong tornado.

“She belongs to me!” A strange being appeared from the tornadoes with a hoarse voice, holding a staff of fire. It looked like the devil, or perhaps, the devil himself.

“She doesn’t belong to you.” The creature carrying me in its arms revoked with an aggressive voice.

It talked as human? I was amazed, but that wasn’t the time to be amazed.

“You lie!” the devil being roared, his voice as firm as the thunder rumbling in the sky.

“You don’t have a stake in the land of the living,” said the creature carrying me.

“Give her to me!” The devil being ordered, stretching out his hands.

Give who to who? Me? To the devil? My heartbeat increased, hammering against my chest with force. I clung on to the creature carrying me, frantically.

“You can’t have her for as long as I live,” he said, affirming strongly.

“Give her to me!” The devil-being ordered again. This time, the voice was more serious than it had sounded earlier.

“She doesn’t belong to you and would never belong to you.”

“I can see that you’re prepared for what is about to hit you.” The devil-being threatened. Immediately, they began to fight over me.

The creature carrying me struggled to still keep me to himself while fighting the enemy-being, but unluckily, I slipped out of its hands.

“Nooo…!” I was falling off the mountain, about to reach the ground when suddenly, two hands caught me in the air and were now shaking me.

“My Princess. My Princess.” I woke up, seeing a pair of ocean blue eyes looming over me. I recognized the eyes belongs to my personal maid, Irene.

“Are you okay, princess?” she asked, her face looking very worried. She gave way for me to sit upright on the bed.

I hadn’t left the palace? I strayed my eyes around the room to be sure I wasn’t delusional. My entire body was shaking profusely. I was also sweating profusely and my head was aching badly.

That was such a terrible dream!

Suddenly, the door to my room flew open and a group of palace guards threw themselves in, holding out their swords, ready for an attack.

They looked at every corner of the room, lingered an examining stare at me before walking into my bathroom as if expecting to see someone in there.

Soon, they returned back to the room, standing on their feet before me, looking a little apologetic.

“We are sorry for the interruption.” One of them spoke on behalf of the rest. “We heard an unusual noise from your room,” he gave their reason.

Noises. It’s obvious that I must’ve screamed out from the dream to have gotten them here.

“I am… erm” I wanted to apologize for the noise, but I found it difficult to move my lips to make a simple speech.

“Don’t worry, the princess is fine.” Irene addressed them instead, allaying the doubts visible on their faces.

I nodded slightly in agreement with Irene’s statement.

“Okay, we shall be leaving at once,” the guard said, and with that, they left—taking a last look around the room before closing the door behind.

There was silence in the room and the only sound came from the hallways—the footsteps of the guards walking along the hallways.

"Is it one of your bad dreams again? ” Irene asked, fixing a stare at me.

I know I’ve been having a series of bad dreams lately, but not as serious as the one I just woke up from. Two unusual creatures, fighting over me?

“Do you mind talking to me about it?” She demanded.

“Did I leave the palace last night?” I asked, forcing the words out of my heavy lips. I stared up questioningly at her.

“Did you leave the palace last night?” she restated, seeming confused. "No, you didn’t. I was here until you slept off last night. ” She explained.

She is right. I can remember feeling hurt yesterday and she was here all night to console me. But if so, how could a dream be so real? Everything happened so real, as if it was in real life.

Averting my gaze from her face, I looked towards the window. It was morning already, although a little dim outside, and light was gradually sipping into my room through the curtains. A cool breeze came from the window, blowing some calmness into me.

Irene still stared at me, awaiting an answer to her earlier question.

“Erm, I think I had a… uhm,” I was about to explain to her but my throat suddenly felt dry, cracked and desiccated. She got a cup of water for me, and I gulped it down my throat.

When my throat became normal again, I sent her a cover-up smile.

“Are you sure you’re okay, my princess?”

“Don’t worry, I am fine,” I said, not wanting to bother her. Irene gets worried at the slightest provocation, especially when it’s about me.

“Are you sure?” she persisted. I nodded.

As if my answer was not enough, she came closer, bringing forth her hands. She held my forehead. The worries already on her face deepened, but then, she smiled.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a dream.” She spoke with a smug look on her face.

Did she see my dream? I wondered, skeptically looking at her.

I always knew that Irene could perform mystic things, predict the future, and read thoughts, but it’s quite new to me that she can also see people’s dreams.

Sometimes I even fear her. The last time she warned me against going to the woods, I stubbornly disobeyed her, and on that day, bad things happened.

“Your bath is ready," she informed me, breaking my thoughts.

“Ok.” I said, alighting down from the bed.

She helped me get out of my nightgown, then I walked straight into the hot bath. Getting into one of my gowns, she sat me in front of the mirror.

“You look beautiful,” she said while dressing my hair.

“I do?”

She nodded her head with a bright smile.

I have always known that I am beautiful. It is said that I’ve inherited my beauty from my late mother. She had this straight hazel brown hair, silver eyes, and a lovely face frame that got the king infatuated.

After dressing my hair, Irene put some scents on me. I stood up straight then went to sit on my bed, but just then, a courteous knock came on the door.

“Come in,” I called out, taking a seat on the bed.

A maid entered carrying a tray of food, which she dropped on the nightstand. She had prepared a hot tea prepared with honey and a loaf of unleavened bread to eat.

“You can go now.” I told her. She smiled and left.

I didn’t eat much out of the breakfast. I was still worried, spooked and disturbed by the dream. Why were those strange beings fighting over me? Why was the other so keen on protecting me? And why will the devil be claiming possession of me? So many thoughts went through my mind at the same time, making me feel more uneasy.

“You don’t want to eat your food?” Irene noticed.

“Erm -” I was about to speak when a knock on the door interrupted my voice. “Who is it?” I asked.

“The king demands to see you,” a guard informed me on entering.

Irene and I exchanged glances. The king, my father, demanding to see me? The king that I know hates to know that I still live and exist.

“Where will I find him? His courtyard? ” I asked, hiding my surprise.

“At his Majesty’s private gazelle near the garden.” He informed me further then left immediately afterwards.

My eyes went back to Irene.

“Go and see the king,” she said when our eyes met. She was busy arranging the roughed bed sheets, placing the pillows on their proper places.

She finished, smiling encouragingly at me.

“You’ve a guest,” she said gently again.

A guest? I stared at her with wide eyes. I usually don’t have guests in the palace.

“Don’t keep the young man waiting,” she added, looking very certain.

A young man? I didn’t doubt her ability to know. I felt my heart skip a beat, but I ignored the feeling before leaving the room.