The Crown's Fire - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Turning Silver White
Tarah didn’t waste any more time. She rushed inside the meeting tent and barged inside after dealing with the ones blocking her.

“Tarah!” Princess Xenia burst.

“Danger,” Tarah murmured. After she was sure that everyone inside the tent was looking at her, she repeated, “Danger is coming.”

Xenia quickly stood up from her seat and approached Tarah, reaching out to her. Taking her hands to her own, the princess’ eyes widened as she whispered, “Your hands are so cold.”

It was not just Tarah’s hand that was cold, but also her entire body. The temperature of her skin was so low that it was as if she was blanketed by ice. Until now, she was still panting after putting her all into running inside.

Ezekiel’s eyes were fixated on her. Sensing how dim his expression was, Tarah gulped. She understood why his reaction was like that. After all, she barged her way in and even used magic to knock out the guards outside the tent when they tried to stop her from entering.

“What’s going on?” Ezekiel asked. “This is a confidential area, and no one is allowed to—”

“I know. I’m so sorry, Your Highness, but I saw danger coming,” Tarah apologized. Her eyes then widened as her gaze darted towards a commander who was about to drink some water from his cup.

“Don’t drink that!” she shouted, causing the commander to stop raising the cup to his mouth.

“What for?” the commander asked with a frown.

“I saw people dying here because of the water…” Tarah shakily whispered, her body shaking heavily as she then felt something strange happening inside her.

“Quickly! Tell everyone not to drink water,” Princess Xenia quickly commanded.

Tarah let out a weak sigh. She was relieved that Princess Xenia believed her and took the initiative to give such an order. She already told Cora to spread the news as well, but who was she for them to believe what she said so easily?

Princess Xenia’s eyes darted toward Ebodia’s head wizard, Lurio, and said, “Please check if our water supply is poisoned.”

Despite the chaos, Tarah couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed by how the prince was still glaring at her. Did he think that she was bluffing?

His expression was back to being stoic and stern, just like when she first met him. It was a stark contrast to how gentle he was in comforting her last night when she had a nightmare.

Ezekiel soon spoke, “If you’re lying, then I suggest-”

Before he could finish his words, Xenia was already on Tarah’s defense. “Stop it. I can feel that Tarah isn’t lying. Her hands are freezing cold and sweaty, and I can even feel her quick pulse!” Xenia firmly defended. “Let her rest.”

Without waiting for a reply, Xenia led Tarah onto a nearby seat.

Upon sitting down, Tarah recalled the vision she saw. Her eyes were welling up with tears as she whispered, “There are so many people dying in my vision… They were all vomiting blood, and… the dark witch…”

“It’s alright, Tarah,” Xenia reassured her. “You can tell us everything slowly.”

As Tarah reoriented herself, everyone inside the tent remained silent. All of them were looking at her and seemingly waiting for her next words…

“Who is she? A new Seer?” Princess Ezme from Valcrez Kingdom broke the silence. “Isn’t Ebodia’s seer dead?”

Tarah looked up at the princess. She had known her face ever since Cora started feeding her enough information regarding the high-ranking individuals in the encampment.

Ezekiel’s youngest sister, Mineah, was now the new Queen of Valcrez, a vampire kingdom. Because of this, King Nikolai of Valcrez sent his sister, Princess Ezme, to aid Ebodia in this war.

According to Cora, Princess Ezme recently sneaked into Ezekiel’s tent without permission in an attempt to seduce him. Cora was laughing hard as she told her about how the princess rushed back outside, looking scared while also hugging her neck as if she was afraid of being decapitated.

It seemed like the prince threatened the vampire princess of Valcrez for trying such a thing before kicking her out. For some reason, Tarah felt satisfied hearing about Ezekiel turning down the beautiful vampiress.

Tarah cut off her gaze and switched it toward Ezekiel. She immediately noticed his gaze that was still on her. He was frowning, and she could only wonder if he was angry at her for anything at all.

She had longed for this day to come – to meet him after three years of only seeing him through her visions and dreams.

“She’s Tarah, the one who healed Xen back to health back when she was heavily wounded,” King Darius helpfully stated.

“I see that, but where is she from?” Ezme suspiciously asked. “From what kingdom does she hail from?”

“She was a wanderer like Xen. At least, that was what she told us before,” Gideon, one of King Darius’s men, replied. “She heals people from one place to another… From kingdom to kingdom…”

“Huh, then…”

“That’s enough,” Xenia interrupted with a pointed stare. “As she told me before, she’s still trying to handle her gift. All your yapping isn’t making it any easier. And she was wandering around to look for answers, simply following the guidance of her gift as she wanders across the lands.”

Tarah could only bite her inner cheek as she quietly listened to the conversation while trying her best to figure out what was going on inside her body. She lied to Princess Xenia back then. Her gift awakened as early as the day she turned eighteen years old.

A tense silence settled after that. The occupants of the tent kept their thoughts to themselves as they waited for something to happen.

Soon, Wizard Lurio returned along with Commander Atlas.

“The water… is poisoned, Your Highness,” Atlas cautiously reported. “It’s a good thing that we detected it this soon. A few of our men who already drank the water are being attended to by our healers and mages as we speak. They said that they can still be saved since the poison has yet to seep into any of their vital organs.”

Then there it went again – the vision of that witch responsible for it.

“You must find him. He will escape,” Tarah murmured.

She then closed her eyes as she tilted her head. Everyone gasped as a white light illuminated Tarah’s body, her black hair slowly turning silver white…