Abi quickly hid behind Alex, peeking out from over Alex’s shoulder at the man who had suddenly arrived and caught her words about him. After seeing Zeke’s dark scowl, she immediately ducked down again, trying to be as small as possible.
“Don’t scare my little lamb, Zeke. You can’t blame her for thinking that,” Alex said, smirking at Zeke, still amused at the little lamb’s words.
“I… I’m sorry. T-that was just a joke. I didn’t mean it,” Abi said, extremely apologetic, peeking out again over Alex’s shoulder like a little cat.
“So? Where have you been?” Alex asked as he looked at Zeke as if he didn’t really care.
Zeke, however, didn’t answer his question. Instead, he brought a strange order from the kingdom. “The King has summoned you, Alex,” Zeke said straightforwardly.
Alex merely raised his brow. “The King…” he echoed. “And are you going to order me to go?”
A short silence passed by as Zeke seemed to be weighing something up in his mind. “Yes. You and I will go back and answer the summon.”
Abi, who had been squatting behind Alex, suddenly stood up in surprise. She was shocked. What was going on? They hadn’t even been here for a full day yet and they were already leaving? What about their mission? Were they just going to abandon that?
She looked at Zeke with wide eyes filled with questions. She just couldn’t believe it! They came here to find the witch queen so that they could find some answers which they hadn’t found yet! Why the sudden change of plans when they hadn’t even started yet?
“Uhm… are we really going back to the palace?” she butted in and Zeke finally looked at her.
“Yes,” he told her. “I will head back first. You two have to be back at the palace by tomorrow morning. I will leave the car here for you,” he added as he tossed the keys to Alex, who caught it without batting an eye.
Alex didn’t seem to be phased by the change of plans but, of course, Zeke hadn’t told him the real reason they were doing this so he didn’t really care that they would be going back again. What he cared about was that he would have the whole day alone with his little lamb again, without this third wheel hanging around. Maybe he should thank Zeke for leaving them alone like this.
As Alex was thinking this, Zeke turned to leave.
Abi was suddenly jolted into action. She just couldn’t believe that they were leaving, just like that. It made no sense! Besides, Alex was above the King so he didn’t have to listen to him, right? So why was Zeke making them go back? Clearly, this was his decision. She had so many questions and she wanted answers. She knew what was at stake for this mission and she needed to know he wasn’t giving up. She needed some reassurance from him that their mission was still going to happen, that it was still a priority to him.
“Wait!” she called out after him as her feet moved, but she had barely taken two steps before a hand was wrapped around her wrist, stopping her progress. The hand then pulled her back and she ended up sitting on Alex’s lap.
A dark cloud started to hover over Alex as he saw his little lamb chasing after another man. He didn’t like it, not one bit! She shouldn’t be chasing after another man at all and not only that, she did it while he was around to see. Why did she call after Zeke? Did she want to go back with Zeke instead of staying with him? Was that what she wanted?
Alex’s face was dark with displeasure but Abi was none the wiser because she had her back to him. She was still watching Zeke’s back as he walked away, thinking that she really needed to talk to him about what the hell was going on!
Alex felt his blood boil with jealousy when he noticed that his maid was still watching Zeke even though he was right there. She was even sitting on his lap and yet, she still ignored him. Gone was the thought of thanking Zeke for leaving the two of them alone and now all he could think about was how to smash Zeke into smithereens and make him disappear. The green eyed monster had appeared and it had taken hold of him.
“He’s gone, little lamb,” he suddenly said, his voice as cold as ice.
His cold words made Abi jump, as if someone had snuck up behind her and said ‘Boo!’. Her thoughts were brought back to the present and she finally realised that she was sitting on Alex’s lap and that the temperature had suddenly dropped. Goosebumps crawled up her arms and she rubbed them subconsciously. Where did the sun go? she thought absently but then she realised that it wasn’t the lack of sun that was making her feel cold, it was this man she was sitting on top of.
“I told you, that guy will never like anyone so just give up on him,” he suddenly whispered in her ear, like a wicked devil on her shoulder.
Huh? What was he saying? Abi barely registered that this man might have been dark with jealousy because her mind was in turmoil. She felt so disheartened at this turn of events. She came here for a reason and that was to find something, some knowledge of how to stop Alex from dying. She wouldn’t allow that to happen. She couldn’t, because she knew that her life would mean nothing if he wasn’t in it.
“What are you saying? I… I just wanted to ask him why? He was the one who said we needed to catch a witch to get answers. He was the one who dragged us all the way here! It was all his idea and yet, we’re already going back without…” Abi trailed off, realizing that she was becoming too emotional.
