The Dragon Prince's Bride
Chapter 119. Chocolate tea with the queen.

Chapter 119: 119. Chocolate tea with the queen.

"How is the tea today princess?" Queen Rakavi asked her. She took the cup to her lips and breathed in the aroma once again. Sweet heavens, how she loved the pleasant smell.

"As always, the chocolate tea Your Majesty personally makes, smells and tastes exquisite." Neriah sincerely and truthfully responded. For a while now, she had been visiting the Rana palace every Wednesday without missing a single one of those days.

It had become an unspoken routine after Rakavi had invited her over one afternoon and at that time had made her taste the chocolate tea she made. Neriah was awed by the fact that they could actually make tea with chocolate. Not because she didn’t know that tea could be made using chocolate, but because she knew how expensive chocolate was.

Back in Avelah, even in the palace, they only used chocolate for baking and that was not an everyday thing. It was for special occasions like birthdays, festivals, anniversaries and other rare occasions. Which meant that chocolate pastries were not eaten more than once or twice a month in Avelah.

So to see the queen make tea with that same precious chocolate, it left Neriah in awe.

And sweet heavens did it taste delicious! The queen had served her the tea when it was hot and when it was ice cold, both had different tastes but chocolate tea was delicious either cold or hot.

But Neriah personally loved the cold version more especially on hot sunny afternoons.

"I am glad you enjoy it." Rakavi said with a beautiful smile that very much mirrored that of her son as she picked up a piece of biscuit, dipped it into her chocolate tea and ate it afterward. Neriah smiled and did the same, relishing in the beautiful taste as she sucked and chewed the softened biscuit in her mouth.

On one of her visits, the queen had taught her a fun trick for having chocolate tea and biscuits. Neriah had first been shocked and completely disgusted when the beautiful, dignified, goddess-like queen dipped her biscuit into her cup of chocolate and ate it afterwards, telling Neriah of how delicious it tasted when eaten that way.

Of course Neriah was very adamant about trying such disgusting method of eating. Why would anyone dip biscuit into tea?! But then after much goading, she had taken her biscuit and followed the steps of the Queen, and her expression of disgust almost instantaneously switched to wonder and awe.

After that, as long as they were both alone, Neriah could not have her biscuit and chocolate tea any other way. If she didn’t dip the biscuit into the tea, she felt incomplete and very unsated.

"Do you want more?" The queen asked and Neriah’s eyes opened wide, trying to decide between choosing her cravings or her filled stomach.

"Oh I do want more, but I already had two cups. I cannot stomach anymore, Your Majesty." She truthfully confessed.

Chocolate tea and biscuit had at some point become her Wednesday lunch. It was like an unsaid rule between them, ’Come and I will fill up your stomach with chocolate tea and biscuits.’ Neriah did not mind at all visiting the queen every Wednesday. She knew what awaited her so she really enjoyed visiting. The queen no longer had to send invitations for her to come on Wednesdays. When it was close to noon, Neriah would stop whatever she was doing and head to the Rana palace.

The time she spent with the queen had become one of her favorite hours of the day in the royal castle.

"Princess, it has been over two months since you stepped foot on our soil how long do you intend to call me Your Majesty for? Do you not wish to call me mother?" Neriah’s eyes widened at the sudden question. She had never really given it a thorough thought before. Calling her Your Majesty just came out like that. She never thought the woman would want her to refer to her as mother either.

But she was right, it had been over two months since Neriah had entered Trago, adding the week’s they spent at sea to get to this place, she had been married to Barak for more than three months now and she was still living fine. Who would have known?

"Your Majesty, you still refer to me as princess." Neriah pointed out with a slightly muffled giggle and it brought a smile to the woman’s face.

"That is because I am not daft. I know you never wanted this marriage, I have not forgotten how you tried to get out of it by planning to use my son whom according to the information I heard, you did not know was the prince. I know you might not be comfortable with us as at yet. So I call you princess because I am still patiently waiting for you to open your heart to us all and I am waiting for you to call me mother."

Neriah found it funny how the queen could raise such a matter about her trying to use Barak back in Avelah and trivialize it as though it was nothing. Neriah had come to understand one thing while visiting the queen every Wednesday. Unlike what she had thought when she first met the woman, the queen was actually more easy-going than expected. Much like Neriah’s mother.

And sometimes, just sometimes, it made Neriah fill bad about what she had planned to do to Barak back in Avelah... And what she was still planning to do to him now.

"Oh do not look at me with those eyes. Your methods were extreme, but I understand you were desperate. Of course I can only talk like this because my son is still very much alive. If your plan had pulled through I would most definitely have hunted you down and torn you limb from limb." Rakavi said and Neriah gulped down hard. She could not begin to imagine what it would be like for this woman to hunt her down with death in mind.