Rayyana was being shaken, she could feel it. she could also feel the tight grip whoever was shaking her had. Rayyana winced and opened her eyes just to come face to face with Marium's moustache. She let out a large scream as she pushed herself back absolutely terrified with the way the girls were huddled so close to her. 

"Finally you're fucking awake!" Fatima said giving Rayyana some water. She gulped it down greedily sighing in relief as if she hadn't had water for years, which to be honest she probably hadn't. "What happened?" Her voice was hoarse and tired from the lack of sleep she was getting. "You passed out, cause of the lack of food." Marium explained breaking the bread in half and giving it to Rayyana. 

Rayyana bit into the bread trying to recall what had happened before she passed out. They were locked up and then the two princess came and...Rayyana froze looking around for the princess but they were gone. "Where's sunflower and Titan Arum?" God, that name was a mouthful. "They left as soon as you passed out." Rida said. 

"By the way, do you remember what they said before you passed out? We couldn't understand." Rayyana remembered all right, and she was horrified. "Titan Arum is the first wife of Alejandro, Sunflower is the second wife, but she is also Alejandro's step-mother." Rayyana explained as slow as she could trying to fathom what Titan Arum had said. "So...Alejandro married his step-mother and his step-aunt?" Marium said scrunching her face in disgust. 

Rayyana nodded sipping on her water that was running out. "God damn, does this mean we figured out what the huge secret is?" Rida asked perplexed. Fatima hummed in response, I guess they did figure out what it was. Fatima was beyond disgusted at this, and quite frankly uncomfortable.

"We did it guys, we figured it out. now what?" Rayyana said in-ridiculously. This information was worthless, Alejandro was a cheap skate and a liar...oh my god. "Guys that's it!" Rayyana jumped up but slowed down holding onto the wall, damn iron deficiency. "This is our big breakthrough! We need to escape from here and get to Alejandro's palace to tell Rumaisa the truth. Once she finds out Alejandro's a liar, she will leave him and we can go home!" 

The girls all excitedly cheered at the prospect of going home. For the first time since they had got here, they were happy. "Group hug!" Rida said opening her arms but Fatima and Marium shook their heads "Hell nah." they both said. Rayyana shrugged and hugged Rida, both of them jumping up and down. 

"What is all this hurtling?" They heard a voice bellow. They stopped jumping to see Sunflower glaring at them, her hands on her hips. "This hurtling is us celebrating." Fatima said but she quickly stopped when Marium hit her on the arm. "celebrating what?" Sunflower asked, her eyebrow raised. 

fuck, they couldn't tell Sunflower the truth. Rayyana thought quickly and said "Uh because we found you guys!" The girls looked at Rayyana who gave them a look that said play along. "what doth thee cullionly by hath found us?" Rayyana smiled walking forward until she was almost against the bars. She didn't want to get too close again in hopes she wont get her hair fucking pulled again. 

"You see, Alejandro had us go to the woods so we can find you and Titan Arum. He wanted to send his deepest apologies for neglecting both you and your sister, and wanted to make it up by inviting you to his and Rumaisa's wedding which is taking place in two months time." Sunflower stared at Rayyana, contemplating whither to believe her or not. "Uh he also wanted to invite you and Titan Arum to live with him along with Rumaisa, as a apology of course." 

At that Sunflower perked up "hat gent wanteth us to liveth with that gent?" She said as if she couldn't believe this. "Yes of course. Uh may I ask, how many weddings is one person allowed to have here?" In islam, they were allowed 4. Maybe the system was the same here, since Alejandro was moving onto to his 3rd wife. 

"!4." Rayyana gasped and took a step back. "One person is allowed 14 wives or husbands?!" She shouted. Sunflower nodded "is yond not did allow backeth wh're thou art from?" Rayyana shook her head "Not in Canada no." Sunflower hummed and said "So is yond wherefore thou art very much h're?" Rayyana shook her head again faster this time, pleased to have tricked the princess's. "Yes, that's really why we are here. Now please, if you don't mind let us go." 

Sunflower hesitated and then looked around as if she wasn't sure if she was allowed to say anything, but sensing the coast was clear she moved forward and whispered "I'm not sure if 't be true i'm did allow too." Rayyana's shoulders fell dissapointedly. Maybe her trick hadn't worked after all. 

Rayyana turned around to tell the girls the bad news when the ground shook making them all fall down. A loud boom bounced off the walls not too far from the jail cell. "What's going on?!" Fatima yelled as rubble fell on her. Another boom sounded making everyone scream. When Rayyana opened her eyes again she gasped when she saw a large hole in the wall. 

Through the wall, into the night she could see tons of guards next to...cannons? Holy shit Alejandro sent fucking cannons to take them out?! "WHAT THE FUCK?" Sunflower yelled also noticing the huge wall. She dug into her pocket taking out a set of keys, flipping through them angrily. 

"RUN!" someone yelled from the outside. Rayyana ran towards the wall stepping over the fallen rubble "RUN!" She screamed again. The girls took no time in following Rayyana outside. Rayyana turned around to a fuming Sunflower and now Titan Arum as they angrily flipped through the keys, still trying to find the one that would open the jail cell. 

"Moveth not!" Titan Arum said desperately. Rayyana yelled back "Remember, the wedding is in 2 months time, I shall see you then!" Rayyana dipped and ran as fast as her fat legs could carry her. She narrowly missed a canon ball that went right past her ear, she could feel the wind and the blow as it hit the wall making the princess's and guards flinch and back away. 

Rayyana felt a smile touch her as she ran faster through the trees, the silhouettes of the girls her only indication that she was going the right way. Rayyana couldn't help it as she started laughing, tears falling from her face from the force of the wind, or from happiness she couldn't tell. The wind was strong, blowing her hair this way and that but Rayyana had never felt so...free before. 

The girls all howled with laughter as they ran through the woods like crazy women, running until they landed safely into a carriage that Alejandro had sent for them. As they piled in, Rayyana wiped away her tears realising that maybe this wasn't all that bad.

"Wh're w're thee?"  Alejandro said as soon as the girls tiredly walked into the throne room. Rumaisa got up and surprisingly hugged Rayyana tight "Where were you?!" Rumaisa also asked,  inspecting them from head to toe. "We were kidnapped." Fatima said glaring at both of them. "KIdnapped by who?" Rumaisa asked turning to Alejandro as if he knew. Well, he might. 

"Sunflower and Titan Arum." Rumaisa let out a bark of laughter "Sunflower and...are you mad? Who the fuck are those people?" She again turned around as if asking Alejandro the question. Rayyana watched as Alejandro's face didn't change, but his eyes betrayed his real emotions. Rayyana tried not to smile at the absolute fear in Alejandro's eyes. 

"They're princesses. Apparently, there's another kingdom not far from here. We ended up on their land by accident and they thought we were threats to them. They were actually about to let us go when we mentioned Alejandro," Rayyana looked up at Alejandro, a gleam in her eye "They seemed very...familiar with him." 

Alejandro clenched his jaw but quickly hid his frustration as Rumaisa walked up to him. He got up and grabbed her by the waist pulling her close, his hand wrapped around her hair curling a lock. Rumaisa relaxed under his hold asking more lightly then she should "Alejandro, what do these woman mean to you?' Alejandro smiled and kissed her cheek "those gents cullionly nothing to me mine own loveth." Rayyana wanted to scoff at him, as if they meant nothing to him. 

Rumaisa smiled, believing his foolish words. She turned to Rayyana and the others, still entrapped in Alejandro's eyes. "Go and take a bath and get some rest. We have wedding planning to do tomorrow." The girls stopped turning around. "Wait tomorrow? Why are you planning 2 months early?" Fatima asked confused. Did it take this long to plan a wedding? "What? No, my wedding is next month." Rumaisa said as if the girls were dumb. 

"What do you mean next month, you told us a few weeks ago it was 2 months away?" Rida said. Rumaisa slapped her forehead "Oh yes! silly me, I forgot to mention that you guys had been kidnapped for an entire month." 

"WHAT?" They all said In unison. 

"A month?! And you sent help today?!" Marium said stepping forward as if she was going to go up to them and strangle them both. Rayyana secretly hoped she did, it would do them all a favour. "Yeah we uh...kinda didn't notice you guys were gone. We have a lot of servants so..." Rumaisa said brushing them off like they hadn't just been taken for a whole fucking month. 

"I need a nap." Rida said spinning on her heels, storming out of the throne room. The girls silently followed her, not believing that a month had gone by and they hadn't noticed. How hadn't they? 

"Did they tell you anything?" Sir Balisto asked ignoring the girls protests as they all climbed into bed. They had been too tired to discuss the lie Rayyana had told the princess's, or taunt she had thrown at Alejandro. Instead, they had changed into pajama's and had turned off the light ready to slumber for all of eternity, only to be interrupted by Balisto who looked distraught. He had grown a little beard which was sticking up left and right, his eyes held very deep eyebags and his breath smelled like beer. 

He had demanded to know if either Sunflower or Titan Arum had spilled the beans but they all refused, choosing to take the safe option. "For the last time Balisto, they didn't tell us anything." Marium said already half asleep. "Tell me the truth, I won't be able to sleep unless I know." Balisto mumbled sitting on a chair. He held his head in his hands, tired from the mental torture he had for the past month. 

No one had noticed the missing girls besides him. Yes, they had threatened him making him spill out his secret he had kept for 15 years, but the girls reminded them a lot like his daughters. After Balisto had discovered about Alejandro's ever lasting love for Sasha, he had gone to his parents house to set his mind free from Alejandro. 

While he had been there, his mother had arranged for him to meet a lovely woman. Olivia was everything Alejandro desired, but in female form. She was sweet, caring, and funny at just the right moments. Under pressure from his family, Balisto had tied the knot with Olivia. Not because he liked her just a little, but because he needed to hide his "gayness" Balisto was nervous about being gay and he didn't want anyone to know about it. 

Balisto had returned as a married man, but Alejandro had just congratulated him and told him about his plans to marry Sasha. Balisto had no romantic feelings for Olivia at all, but he still had needs. and thus, Olivia gave birth to Balisto's four daughters. Adriana, Fiona, Diana, and Celeste. 

Balisto while not happy with Olivia, loved his daughters like nothing else. As soon as he was done with his duties at the palace he rushed home to his daughters. He bought them whatever he wanted, making them his whole lifes priority. Olivia, however caught on to Balisto ignoring him and they got into a huge fight. Balisto had saved himself by not telling her he was gay, but Olivia had had enough. 

Balisto awoke early one morning to see Olivia and her belongings gone. He should have mourned his wife leaving him, but he instead felt...relief. relief for not having a wife around that he couldn't love. Relief for not having someone's daughter around who wanted love and desire from him. Relief that he wouldn't be sucking the life out of someone's daughter. From that moment, Balisto had become a single father. 

He had a lot of support from Alejandro who was willing to do anything for his right hand man. Anything but love him, but Balisto shook off those thoughts focusing entirely on his daughters who were growing up to be beautiful woman. The girls had mourned their mothers loss, but quickly forgot about her also focusing entirely on their father. 

One day, Balisto was working overtime at the palace when the warning bells rung. Balisto had been petrified, the last time he had heard those bells was when his father had told him about Alejandro's father challenging a nearby kingdom. That was also the last time enemies had ever entered the kingdom. Balisto had done everything he could to get home to his girls but the palace went into immediate lock down. 

Balisto had begged Alejandro to let him go but Alejandro waved him off "t's too dang'rous f'r yond balisto." Alejandro held concern in his eyes but right now he was pissing Balisto off tremendously. Balisto sighed in relief when he remembered he had prepared his daughters for what to do when they were under attack, hopefully they remembered what to do. 

Hang in tight girls, dad will be with you soon. 

Six hours. 

It had taken them six hours to get the enemies out of their land. Alejandro was lazily lounging in his room telling everyone who passed by that he was bored out of his mind, making Balisto want to rip Alejandro's hair out. 

Finally, a guard walked in and did a quick somersault. "The enemies have left my king." Alejandro stretched and laid back down "finally." He said but Balisto ignored everything running out of the palace only wondering about his daughters and their safety. 

He ran past the rubble around the town square, he ignored the dead bodies and the bodies still alive yelling for help as much as they could. He ignored the smell of rubble and blood wafting up his nose, only one thing stuck in his mind. 

My daughters, my daughters please be okay. 

Balisto ran to where houses were laid out side by side, his heart sank as he ran past broken houses that once held memories and laughs and families. where had they all gone? Kidnapped, or perhaps killed?

Balisto stopped running when he made it to his house, except it wasn't a house anymore. It was trash. A fallen, broken down house, fallen like dominoes. Balisto ran into the rubble, removing brick after brick yelling his daughters name's. Townsfolk gathered around, watching as the single father of the town yelled out his possibly dead daughter's names. 

The strange single father of the town. 

The single father that may have banished his wife from the land

The single father that may have had his wife vanished

The single father that may have sold his wife

The rumours were endless really.

Balisto hadn't stopped yelling his daughters names until he had finally caught sight of a ring. a ring he had given his oldest daughter Adriana on her 16th birthday. "a-adriana?" Balisto said a sob breaking out. He removed bricks from the hand until he saw the lifeless dead body of Adriana connected to the hand. 

Balisto carried Adriana to the side of the road, running back to find his remaining four daughters. When Balisto carried out youngest lifeless Celeste last, he fell down to the ground just watching as his once very beautiful daughters now laid frozen and lifeless. 

He felt tears running down his cheeks as he realised that he had failed. 

As a father

As a husband

As a human being

Balisto had yelled loudly that day, he had yelled until his voice had lost him as he had lost himself. 

He buried them a week later with his mother and father. Balisto had lost everyone in the span of a week. He had lost his wife too, who was alive but somewhere out there probably re-married with a man who loved her properly. 

A man who wasn't lying to her every waking moment.  Balisto had returned to the palace, obviously distraught. But Alejandro had his own problems. His main concern wasn't that the townsfolk wanted him dead for being a terrible king, no. His anger was towards Sasha who he had just caught making out with another girl. 

Balisto had never felt as angry as he did now. His anger grew day by day and kept on growing, even the day of when he threw Sasha and her lover into the cave never to be let out again. Balisto took it out on everyone who was near him. He had taken it out on Alejandro who had brushed him off and told him to relax. 

Relax as if he hadn't just lost everyone he loved. Balisto had found it peculiar how he could still love such a red flag. He killed himself everyday for eben having a bit of feeling toward that heartless monster, But he also was clueless of who to turn too. Balisto had no one but Alejandro. He kept his feelings to himself, not letting them escape for 15 whole years. Until these 4 mysterious girls appeared out of nowhere. 

They had reminded him a lot like his daughters, which was why he had vowed to hate them and to stay away from them. When they made him spill his secrets, he realised that really now he couldn't leave them alone. Hell, his own daughters hadn't known he was gay, what right did these four random girls have? 

Balisto had gone ballistic over the past month though when he noticed that the girls were missing. He had searched far for them but he had absolutely no wind of where they could have gone. He asked the driver but he said when he went back he didn't see them, he went to the neighbouring kingdom where Princess Sunflower and her sister Titan Arum lived. They demanded him to leave, threatening to lock him up. 

He had just about given up when the girls walked in, tired and unharmed. He had never felt such relief before in his life, of course he should have known Sunflower and Titan Arum had something to do with this. 

He watched as Rayyana got up from her sleeping position to look at him. She smiled and said "I promise you Balisto, we are fine and we do not know anything. Now please, go get some rest you look horrible." 

Balisto nodded and let out a small smile as he closed the light and closed the door behind him.  Right then at that moment, leaning against the girls door he made a vow. 

He was going to protect these four strange girls. 

He was going to protect them like he was supposed to protect his daughters. 

And this time, he wont fail no matter what happens.