Gabe and Rico were unsure how to react when Shuriki set Isa down safely behind her and put herself between them and the girl. They'd half expected her to use the child as a shield.
The witch lowered herself down into a crouch and snarled at them as if daring them to advance on her. Gabe noted her prehensile tail, how it swayed back and forth in anticipation of the pending fight, slow and deliberate, reminiscent a feline toying with its prey.
"Something's not right," Gabe told Rico as they kept their distance.
"You think?" Rico retorted, motioning to Shuriki. "She's a literal nightmare!"
"We can't fight her."
"Oh, we can fight her," Rico replied, "We just can't win."
"Not like this," Gabe conceded. "We can't just give up either. I mean...think about it. There's no telling what the witch'll do to the princess and the chancellor if we leave them here."
Rico glanced down at his broken blade then back up at the creature in front of them. "We may not have a choice. She's too powerful for us. We can't match her strength or speed."
"I think she knows that," Gabe replied, "and that's why she isn't attacking. The witch is waiting for us to make the first move. She wants a reason to retaliate."
"Why?" Rico asked.
"She wants to save face. If we advance, we'll be committing treason. Attacking a ruler is punishable by death. Shuriki is the queen of Avalor by Rite of Conquest. If we attack now or try to escape, she'll have just cause to execute us."
"Aren't we already committing treason by helping Esteban and Isabel escape?"
"Not yet. Avaloran law states corporal reprimand doesn't apply unless we've already absconded. We're still on palace grounds."
"So if we stop trying to escape and refuse to fight her...she has to let us be, right?"
"Only one way to find out..."
Gabe threw down his sword.
Rico's eyes widened. "Gabe, what are you doing?"
"Just do it," Gabe snapped.
Villalobos grimaced and muttered under his breath. Whether it was a prayer or a slew of obscenities, Nuñez couldn't tell, but Rico reluctantly followed suit giving up his weapon, and they waited for the witch's reaction.
Shuriki glared back at them waiting for any sign of possible pretense, but it was Isa who ended their intense stare down, by latching onto the witch's tail.
Shuriki's eyebrows furrowed then she shifted to look over her shoulder at the child. Tears shown in her eyes and her hands trembled.
"Please...no more. I don't want anyone else to get hurt. I'm so tired...everyone I love keeps on dying and I just want it to stop..."
Shuriki's demeanor shifted. She turned her attention to Isa and her back to the guards letting Gabe and Rico know that she no longer cared enough about their presence to view it as a threat. Isabel's needs were all that mattered to her as she knelt down to give the princess a much needed hug.
Esteban, Gabe, and Rico watched Isabel crawl into Shuriki's lap. Esteban swore he heard Isa mewl and Shuriki softly purr when the girl rested her head on the witch's chest.
Shuriki stood, and with Isabel nestled safely in her arms, began walking up the stairs and back down the corridor to her solar.
She paused at the top of the stairs to dismiss the guards and ordered them back to the palace barracks. "You will remain there until further notice."
Gabe and Rico both nodded. "Yes, Your Grace."
Esteban wasn't sure what to do or where to go. He was shaky and tired and didn't think running away or hiding would do any good. Not after seeing what Shuriki could do. She'd find him. His only option was to return to his apartment and wait for whatever came next. So that's what he did.
If Shuriki meant to punish him, so be it. He'd been through a lot. The loss of loved ones, betrayal from the woman he once loved and so-called friends, decades of loneliness, gnawing guilt over his role in her coup, and years of imprisonment in his own home.
What could Shuriki do to him now that she hadn't before? What could she do that he hadn't done to himself already?
Nothing, he thought as he peeled off his clothes and crawled into bed. Absolutely nothing.
Esteban was far too exhausted to care if she killed him. He'd spent his entire life fearing death. Now all he wanted to do was get it over with.
Let him die sleeping in his bed. Perhaps, if he was fortunate, she'd trip over the clothes he'd left on the floor and break her neck afterward. Esteban expected to laugh at the picture in his head, but the sound that came out was caught between a chuckle, a wheeze, and a cough. Odd to hear and painful to make. He rubbed at his sore throat.
"I'm too old for this shit," he muttered.
Esteban fluffed and punched his pillows in a useless attempt to make them more comfortable before closing his eyes. Let the witch come. He was wasn't long for this world anyway.
Isa refused to stay in her own bed, so Shuriki let the girl sleep beside her in hers while stroking her hair and back.
"No one's going to take you from me," she murmured. "I won't allow it. The only reason Nuñez and Villalobos are alive is because of you, but know this, sweet child...if they ever cross me again, I won't be merciful."
"I understand," Isa replied. She pressed up against Shuriki's side and curled into a ball trying to soak up as much warmth and affection as she possibly could after what had happened earlier that evening. "Gracias, Mamá."
Shuriki's cupid bow lips curved up into one of the soft, rare smiles she reserved for Isa and Esteban alone. "Pozhaluysta, doch'."
She stroked Isabel's hair and back until she was certain the princess was asleep then slid off the bed and out through the doors into her solar. The door leading to the corridor would have to be repaired. She made a mental note to send for the royal carpenter and joiner first thing in the morning as she padded barefoot to Esteban's room.
With Shuriki's fear and fury subsided, her fangs and nails had receded, whilst her legs had shifted back to plantigrade giving her back her human appearance. She paused to view her reflection in the round gilded mirror hung on the door to Esteban's wardrobe. before tiptoeing over to his bed.
Shuriki had to look her absolute best if she wanted to bind Esteban to her. His fear of her needed to be quelled soon or it was bound to begin effecting his work. She couldn't have that. Esteban had to be placated in order for Avalor to keep prospering.
She knew just how to appease the man. He yearned for her, his arousal palpable despite his fear and the passage of time, whether he realized it or not.
Shuriki shivered at the memory of their first - and their last - intimate encounter before her takeover of Avalor. He'd just barely been of legal age to call himself a man, inexperienced in life and love, but oh so determined to prove his worth and virility to her and to all the others who'd dared to doubt him. And prove it he had. Her feminine loins pulsed at the mere thought of that long ago night while her empty womb ached from the agonizing consequences that had followed.
Had Esteban known the outcome...if she had told him of the lengths his relatives had been willing to go to persecute her to hide the truth of their own misdeeds and wrongdoings...
Shuriki shook her head. None of that mattered anymore. She'd struck down Raul, Lucia and all of their accomplices with her own hand. Alacazar was dead as well and rotting in the ground of a foreign land on the opposite side of the EverRealm.
She'd won. She was queen of Avalor. No could stop her now or stand in her way. Shuriki would take back everything the Castillo royal family had stolen from her. And she'd start with Esteban.
Shuriki was sick of waiting. Whatever patience she'd had was gone. He'd put off the honeymoon long enough. It was time for Esteban to step up to the plate and pay the piper.
