The Dragon Prince's Bride
Chapter 177. You amaze and baffle me.

Chapter 177: 177. You amaze and baffle me.

By the way they were all acting and talking, Neriah suspected that Rakavi had shared the news of her baby with them and Rakavi confirmed her suspicion when she whispered to her just as she was about to enter the carriage. "" I could not keep it to myself so I told Bashan and well, you know what happened next."" Neriah giggled to herself as she remembered her mother-in-law’s words just before she left. "" And don’t forget, any position is fine."" Her mother-in-law had winked at her as she said those words.

Remembering them made Neriah blush. She always thought the queen was a refined and poise woman, she had not realized that she was mischievous too. It was clear who the twins got their character from.

"You have been smiling all this time, may I ask why?" Barak asked and she moved her eyes from out the window and faced the man who sat in front of her in the carriage. She tried to straighten up her face, but it only twisted into a contorted smile. The look on his face was funny.

He was a smart man, she knew he must have sensed something amiss with the many weird greetings she had received from his family. His head was probably spinning with many questions he wasn’t going to ask. And it only made her anticipate his reaction to the news of her pregnancy.

He would be happy, like the rest of the family, he would be happy. He would not doubt her. He would scoop her into his arms with extreme joy. He would not doubt her.

Neriah said those words in her head over and over again that morning, as she woke up, as she bathed, as she ate and as she saw the family’s reaction to the news of their child. She prayed again and again that he would believe her. He had to.

"Does your Highness forbid his wife from smiling?" She asked while trying to force her smile to fade, but it only grew bigger.

"Oh, certainly not. The gods forbid the day that I shall ever forbid my wife’s smile." He said, "Smile my dear Spitfire, you shine brighter when you have a smile on your face."

From the very first night that they had met, he always knew how to pull out the most beautiful words from nowhere, always causing her to blush foolishly. He had not changed at all since that time... The only one changing was her and he was the cause of all the changes in her life.

Who would have thought she could go through such changes? After all thee ruckus she caused just to get away from him. If only her parents saw her now, they would probably laugh.

Just before they left she had handed over the letters she wanted to send to her parents to Aria.

It was the first letter she would send to them since she arrived in Trago.

She was angry at them for marrying her off to a Tragonian that she ignored all their letters. But things had really changed, her anger had somehow disappeared.

All she wanted now was to share the news of her unborn child with her family, so she had taken her time to write out separate letters to her mother and father, expressing her remorseful heart for the troubles she had caused them but not without pointing out that they had indeed wronged her by forcing her to marry.

However, she expressed how much she had come to cherish the man she married, not knowing what to call the feeling she had for him, but also knowing that she no longer saw him as a man beneath her feet. She went on in lengths to explain about various members of the family and how she was treated kindly by them all.

Then the last part of her letters carried the news of her unborn child, which she had written down with so much pride.

At first she had wanted to just write one letter, addressing it to both her mother and father, but then she changed her mind, stating that they had both never stopped sending her separate letters, so being the first time she would write to them, she wanted to do it properly. So she had written her letter and handed it to Aria. It was probably in the middle of the sea at the moment, heading towards her parents.

"What are you doing?!" Barak almost yelled as she suddenly stood to her feet. "You should not move around in a moving carriage." Barak scolded her, quickly reaching to take her hand as as she dangled and made her way to him

"Are you crazy? If we had taken the flying carriage, it would not have been so bad but you were the one who insisted we used the normal carriage and now you are moving up and down." He scolded her as he carefully pulled her to sit on his lap.

Her arms wrapped around his neck as he face drew closer to his, "Well, I asked around and I found out that only the royal family uses the flying unicorns for transport. Now remember, we are not going there as prince and princess, but as duke and duchess. This fine four-horse carriage will do just fine." She shrugged.

"You know sometimes you amaze and baffle me." He says and steals a quick kiss on her lips and she grinned.

"Should I amaze you further?" She asked and his lashes rose as did his eyebrows.

"And how will you do that?" He asked.

"Well," she smirked and then she moved on his body and his hold on her waist became firmer as he was scared of her falling off his body. But she was only readjusting her position atop him.

Now she sat on his lap with her legs straddling him and his head did the math’s and his eyes widened and so did his smile. "Ah, I see." He said and she playfully raised her brows. "Now this is quite amazing." He said with a smile and his hands began to crawl into her dress while his lips reached for hers.

However, a hand on his mouth and another on his hand that was trailing into her skirt. "What are you doing?" She asked with a rather puzzled look on her face.

"What you want me to do." Barak said through her hand that was still on his lips and with an equally puzzled expression on his face.

"And what do you think I want you to do?" She asked in turn, a hint of laughter could be found in her voice.

"The things we do when we are alone," He said, and tried to remove her hand from his mouth but she wouldn’t let him. "Is that not what you wanted? That is what this sitting position means."

"Who made that rule?" She asked, not being able to hold back her laugh anymore. "There are other things we can do in thus position." She said and he did not need to speak to explain the question that was on his mind at the moment, but he still opened his mouth and asked...

"What kind of things?"

"Talking." She said and shrugged.

"Talking?"

"Aye, talking. I want us to talk."

"To talk?!"

"Aye."

"In this position?"

"Aye."

He squeezed his lips, closed his eyes tight and took in a deep breath, and let it out at length before opening his eyes again, "Take your hands off my neck and climb down from my body this minute before I throw you out the window." He warned and she burst into laughter.

"No." She laughed, holding him more firmly by his neck.

"Neriah, get down from my body I am not a chair. Normal people sit on a normal chair while they talk, so sit on a chair." He said, pulling her hands from his neck but for some reason she was remarkably strong!

"Get down, Neriah."

"No." She refused.

"Riah, get down."

Unless they were planning a marathon ride, it was a three day journey and it was starting out perfectly fine. The smooth beginning of their journey was a glimpse of how blissful and playful their entire trip was going to be and Neriah was there for all of it. His faked anger, his pouting, his grumbling, and every other thing that he would do. She was there for it all.

But while they playfully argued in the carriage and dreamt of a blissful trip with just the two of them, someone somewhere had other plans for them. Plans that were much more wicked than either of them could think of.

They had no idea of the evil that followed them, masked as the shadows of the woods, waiting patiently for the right moment, for the perfect opportunity to strike. The evil that was waiting for their joy to reach its peak, waiting for the two of them to be so happy that they would wish for nothing more.

And then, at that moment when they felt like they could both wish for nothing more, it would strike because nothing was more sweet than taking the joy of a person. Nothing was more fun than watching the pain, the disappointment, the hate and the anger on the face of a man when the one who gave him so much happiness strips it all away from his grasp.

So Lyle was waiting... For the perfect moment, he was willing to wait. For nothing was going to ruin his perfect plan. Barak Der Drache would know betrayal and Neriah would know loss and he would know nothing but sheer victory!