The Dragon Prince's Bride
Chapter 138. I miss him.

Chapter 138: 138. I miss him.

One thing was clear to Neriah by the time she returned home, bathed and went to bed without food... She now cared more of what her husband would feel and say, than what Lyle would want or say. She could not tell when things began to switch like that, but tonight had made it clear.

For all she could think of as Lyle tried to force himself on her was what Barak would say if he saw the bite mark or the kiss mark of another man on her shoulders that were covered in his own markings.

She didn’t like the image she conjured in her head, whatever image she conjured, one of him being angry, another of him being sad, another of him being disgusted... She did not like either picture.

And even as she laid in bed, she had never felt more lonely than she felt that very night. After having such a nasty evening, Neriah thought to herself that it would have been nice to have her husband around to rock her to sleep. To lull her to sleep with the mere sound of his breathing.

She missed all those little things... she did not miss the man. So she had been telling herself, but that night, she had to admit it, even though it was just to her bed and her pillow, "I miss him." She indeed missed the man himself. Because she didn’t want to but she had realized that missing every single thing he did was the same thing as missing the man.

"I miss you... But you will never know."

...

Thanks to her involvement in the upcoming birthday party, Neriah had no chance to think back on or dwell on the things that had transpired between her and Lyle in that small room that night. She was too busy picking out the right color of drapes to suit the King’s taste and the perfect flowers that would go with the drapes she picked. And when she was not busy with decorations, she was busy with her embroidery.

There was just no time to think about Lyle. The only person she always had time to ponder on was her husband. And that was all the time. While she slept, while she bathed, while she worked. Every single thing she did, his thoughts always came up.

She had no idea when things became like this, when her thoughts slowly started getting infested by him. He was in everything she did, she could no longer deny that fact. Was her mother-in-law right? Had she really opened her heart to her husband? That seemed to be the only reason why she found herself smiling like a fool sometimes and then growing at the thought that no word had been received from his end.

At least she was certain now that Lyle had not gone to ambush her husband, so her mind was a bit at ease. He would return... But he was taking too long.

The days went by slowly, the day of the event was drawing nearer and nearer, everything was being out in place. Invitations had been long sent, choice of food had been made, Neriah had concluded on the decorations and they were put in place, always cross-checking with Rakavi to be certain it met the royal standard of Trago. And the queen always reminded her that she had given her freehand to handle the decorations however she saw fit, but still helped Neriah where the younger lady needed guidance.

After much joint effort, it was finally the d-day. The birthday of the sun of the kingdom. The great King’s birthday. In the morning of that day, all the available family members had gathered together, Neriah included and they had wished their father and husband a happy birthday, before he could even wash that morning.

Bashan was happy about their congratulations, stating that it would have been even more complete if his other sons were home too. And the statement made Neriah look around her. The only son missing was Barak, did the king make a mistake by saying sons? But she had no time to dwell on the question as Rakavi had chased them all away and asked that they return for breakfast after the king had his morning bath.

They had breakfast, and the talk was all about the ball that was to hold that night. Bashan even praised Neriah, saying that his wife had told him she had been working hard toward the ball. She blushed at his words of appreciation and she loved that he appreciated her hard work even though he was yet to see it. It made her anticipate what he would say when he actually saw the decorations.

And again, her thoughts shifted to her husband. She would have loved for him to see her hard work. It was the first time she was doing anything meaningful in this place since she had arrived. She would have loved to brag about it to him.

After breakfast, Neriah went back to her palace and went on to put the finishing touches to her embroidery. She kept retouching and retouching till Aria and Riri affirmed that it was perfect enough and any other retouches would ruin the work. Satisfactorily, she placed her gift in a box she had purchased and went down to the hall where the ball was to take place. She was going to do one last check on the decorations.

Her checkup was not supposed to take more than a few minutes, but she ended up repositioning flower vases, restyling the drapes, using her powers to cause some flowers to shine brighter and look more fresh.

It wasn’t until Rakavi came and chased her did Neriah return to prepare for the occasion. "Neriah, the ball will be starting in an hour’s time, go, get ready. You have done enough. Everything is beautiful. Now go." Rakavi had ordered, Neriah tried to protest but the older woman would not hear of it and sent her away.

And just like that, it was finally the night of the birthday ball and as Neriah sat in the tub, with Aria and some other maids washing her body, she thought to herself, "If only he was here tonight."