Chapter 75

Claudia's POV
When the kings had been leaving through different portals to go back to their kingdom, Westley had whispered,
"Glad that everything is working fine between you and Maxwell."
The thing that was on my mind was how? How did they know? No one knew of what Maxwell had said except for me, I didn't even tell Clara!
"Claudia." I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around when I heard my uncle's voice. My first instinct was to apologize for what had happened in the meeting but when I looked at his expression, his soft expression, it confused me.
"Yes?" It was a statement more than a question. Uncle Mark took a few steps forward until both of us were close. Staring at his eyes, I knew that he wanted to tell me something but something was holding him back.
"I don't know how to say this-" He paused mid sentence. My eyes widened. The first thing that came into my mind was the thought of someone dead. I was about to ask him what had happened but he beat me to it.
"I'm sorry Claudia." I furrowed my brows. Sorry? For what?
"I'm sorry for dragging you into this, the war, everything." My expression softened.
"It was bound to happen uncle Mark, you cannot change what happened in the past." I gave him a warm smile trying to lift up his mood, which surprisingly worked. Uncle Mark hugged me and kissed the top of my head, it reminded me of when I was a little girl, he had always used to do that.
"I just don't want you to get hurt princess." He pulled away, looking down at me with sad eyes. I knew what he was referring to, the war. He didn't want me to get hurt while fighting the demons. I looked down at the ground trying to think of a way to reply so tWell, I couldn't promise him that I wouldn't get hurt because I knew I would, it was a war and everyone was bound to get hurt but on the other hand, I had been trained very well. I knew how to control my powers, how to surprise the enemy with them and most importantly, how to summon my powers. I walked back up to my chamber. My uncle said that he had a meeting with the witch council, that was why he had to go. I opened the door and slipped into my bedroom.
The day passed quickly and I spent it talking to Clara on the phone. Like every time I had been talking to her during this week, Clara always told me about how she was worried sick about me.
"Ugh Clara, I said I was fine."
"You always tell me that Claudia but I can't help but feel worry over you." I rolled my eyes at her. I still didn't really know why she was this worried. I was in a castle surrounded by more than a hundred guards for Yul's sake!
"I told you Clara, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."
That was how both of us spent the day on the phone, Clara worrying over me and me trying to calm her down. Any other person in my place would've been annoyed but seeing her so hyper and nervous was kind of entertaining actually.
I nearly fell of my chair when I heard Clara moaning. We were talking on the phone and she told me that she would be right back and then boom, I heard moaning and groaning. I mean, dear Lord
Clara, you wanted to have some 'bonding' time with someone, don't call me! I hung up.
I looked down at my phone and saw that I had received a message. A smile quickly made its way to my face when I saw it was Maxwell. Yes, I did say Maxwell. Before Maxwell left the academy, we made an agreement. Since we can't actually see each other, we had decided that texting or calling each other when no one was around was the best solution. So every day, either I texted or Maxwell: You alone?
I was quick to reply.
Me: Yupp
Maxwell: So how is my babydoll today?
I rolled my eyes, that way so cheesy.
Me: Hmm, good. How is my hotshot doing today?
Maxwell: Touché ;)
Me: I know right?
That was how we continued texting. Teasing each other and joking with one another until he decided to call me.
"So prince charming finally decided to call." I teased. His chuckle vibrated through the phone making my heart flutter.
"You could say that." I could hear the smile in his voice.
"So what've you been up to?" He asked.
"Oh you know, the usual; browsing through pictures of hot models." I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing. The line went dead.
"Maxwell? Hello?"
"Are you serious?" He sounded agitated and jealous. I couldn't help it anymore, I couldn't hold it in so I did the next best thing, I burst out laughing.
"Not funny Claudia."
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Forgive me?"
"I don't know, you sounded like you weren't really sorry. Maybe you could convince me otherwise?" I raised my eyebrows.
"Oh really? How?" I played along grinning.
"I can think of a few things that can heal my bruised ego."
"You're such a kid Maxwell." I shook my head smiling.
"You didn't think that when you kept on drooling over my sexy abs." He snorted. My face turned crimson. Thank God Maxwell wasn't here with me to see my beat red face!
"I so did not!" I tried denying but of course, it didn't work.
"So you're saying I'm not sexy? I thought you love me Claudia," He tsked making me roll my eyes.
"I do love you, that's why I'm actually talking to you."
"I would like to do more than just talk." His smirk could be heard in his voice.
"Wish I were there right now to get your mind of those models with my abs.
"Being perverted as always." I chuckled.
"And you wouldn't want me any other way." Both of us settled into silence after that. Me blushing as hell and him… wait, what was he doing anyways?
"Claudia?" He spoke, breaking the silence but his voice wasn't as playful as before; this time it was serious.
"Hmm yes?"
"I have to go but I want to promise you one thing." He sounded confident.
"Go on."
"I'm going to make sure, when this ends, we're going to be together."
The line went dead after that. I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared down at it smiling but then, there was a feeling growing inside of me, warning me that something bad was going to happen.
I pulled the dress over my face and fixed my hair. I looked at the clock and it read twelve in the afternoon already, hell, it was the reason why I was in such a hurry. Gosh, I didn't know why I woke up so late. Actually, why didn't any of the maids here wake me up?
I sighed rushing out of my chamber and walking down the hall leading to the crown room. With every step of me getting closer, the buzzing noise that came from halls became louder.
What is happening?
It was when I reached the crown room that I heard the commotion coming from it. I took a deep breath and opened the doors, my heart beating wildly sensing that something is wrong. The first thing I saw was my uncle sitting on the crown chair and not too far away from him was a person on the floor with blood oozing down his face. The person looked sideways, staring up at me with guilty eyes and I instantaneously gasped.