Above All

-Fifty-Four

Struggles of lovers

Open door guarantees bliss

Stories told slowly

Layton:

        "Just take a few deep breaths, baby... you're fine, I'm right here." I whispered to her as I placed light kisses against her face. I couldn't blame Amani for freaking out, our intimate moment had been abruptly cut short after finding a lone present sitting on her bed...

           A dead dove.

           I was quite shocked when I looked over her shoulder and saw the innocent bird just lying there lifeless; someone willing took its life just to prove a message to her and her family. I was utterly disgusted, but also secretly terrified because I wanted to protect her but was completely useless at the moment because I had no idea who we were fighting with in the first place.

            The best I could do for her at the moment was comfort her which was what I was doing. Right now, we were in Empress Mother's temporary office, outside the doors as well as inside was heavily guarded with men who were ordered by Amani's uncle and father to sweep the entirety of the palace for any signs of intrusions; currently the cameras were also being checked into. The party was dismissed early, the guests sent home in order to clear the place of any potential suspects relating to the unknown gift.

            Right now, in this room were only Rose, Éliane, Johnny, Fionn, Inyene, Nyarai, and Amory. After hearing of the news, they were quite alarmed; today was supposed to be a joyous day to celebrate Amani's twenty-six birthday was now flooded with chaos and worry form everyone who knew of the past the previous Royal Family had to endure.

            It was making more and more sense why Amani's parents took her out of here.

            Her life was clearly in danger if anyone knew of her existence.

            I looked down at Amani who had her eyes closed her face pressed against the suit of my jacket. I could tell she was still awake; her eyes were shut tightly as if she were trying to erase the memory of that dead bird from her mind. "Are you okay?" I whispered to her discreetly.

            Amani peaked her previous eyes open, her warm gaze immediately melting me as the frown on her face deepened with anxiety. "I hadn't seen a dead animal like that since I was nine years old." She said to me.

          I arched my eyebrow in curiosity. "Really?" My inquisitive tone urging her to elaborate further, she nodded slowly adjusting her head as she spoke, "I was walking in a park with my mother one day, not really paying attention to the ground below me and I stepped on something." She cringed as if she were reliving a memory.

         "A bird's nest had fallen from a tree above and cracked the baby eggs open... I ended up stepping on one of the corpses... I still remember the feeling of my shoe against its little head... I was traumatized." There was only a light tint of humor within her voice, but she immediately grew serious. "But this is sickening, Layton... and I'm so scared right now. This has to be a warning, right?" She asked me.

            I looked back onto her waiting eyes and I struggled to find an answer, there was no way I could answer that right now with limited information, but I felt in her eyes that she were counting on me; I didn't want to let her down. I never wanted the love of my life to think I wouldn't be there to protect her when she needed me the most.

            "Mani... you know I can't answer that right now, but I can only make an educated guess and say it's something along those lines." I watched as her face rose with even more fear and I quickly covered my words. "But you don't need to worry, you're safe and protected right now, no one is going to let you out of their sites." I reassured her.