Zuri had never laughed so hard as when she saw the expression on Caiden's face, which was now contorted in frustration. He looked like he was ready to fight her, especially when she laughed.
"Stop it, there is nothing to laugh about! That's the fact! You need to admit that I am very attractive!"
"You look like a petulant child now," Zuri said between her laughter, her heart was going to burst with delight. It had been a long time since she teased someone this way, usually, she only acted like this with Rhett. She was close to him, but after her union with Xaden happened, she had not been in contact with him. "Don't worry, my friend has a good mother's instinct."
"I don't need that!"
However, Zuri's laugh died down almost immediately when she saw him. He was standing there, not too far from where she was, beside one of the stalls, staring at her.
"No!" Zuri screamed, as she stood up and staggered back.
Caiden was immediately on alert, as he turned around and followed Zuri's line of sight, but he couldn't see anything. There was no one there or anything that could cause her expression to turn mortified in a matter of seconds when she was just laughing happily, teasing him until a moment ago.
"What is it? What happened?" Caiden went to calm her down. They were drawing attention from people around them. However, Zuri clawed his hand when he tried to touch her.
Blood dripped down from the wound. The wound was not fatal, but it was deep enough that made Caiden hiss.
Seeing the blood, Zuri realized what she had done and that voice started ringing in her head again, but this time, she could see him. She saw Xaden say those hurting words, as if the voice came from him.
'See? I told you you are crazy.'
"No!" Zuri covered her ears, she didn't want to hear that, but how could she stop hearing the voices that came from her own head?
Zuri closed her eyes tightly. She didn't know whether she was crying or screaming, but when someone touched her, she tried to fight them off, until his scent engulfed her.
And when she opened her eyes, she saw those beautiful gray eyes staring down at her, they were laced with concern.
"What happened?" Khaos asked.
He noticed when Caiden pulled Zuri here to clean the stain on her dress. He watched how happily she smiled and laughed freely. The lonely image of her when she hugged herself under the maple tree slowly dissipated from his mind, but suddenly, she cried out.
And without him realizing it, Khaos had marched toward her and hugged her.
"What happened?" Khaos repeated his question. He told Caiden to get the carriage there. They were going to go back to his palace.
People were staring at them, because Zuri was crying right now. Because the executions were still ongoing and people knew who Zuri was, they thought she was crying at the loss of her mate and her parents, only for her to actually be in another man's arms was frowned upon.
Meanwhile, Zuri didn't answer his question, she looked around as if she was trying to look for someone. Out of instinct, Khaos did the same, but he found no one. There was no one suspicious enough around them.
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