The Dragon Prince's Bride
Chapter 190. The surprise.

Chapter 190: 190. The surprise.

Half way into the meeting that he was supposed to head, Barak could not explain the feeling of restlessness he had suddenly begun to feel. Of course he was quite nervous since he would be receiving her response that day. His sleep the night before had been short and filled with dreams of her sometimes accepting him and sometimes rejecting him, so he was definitely nervous.

However, somehow the feeling of restlessness that he felt at that particular moment was different. There was no certain way to explain it. He just felt uneasy for some particular reason. And also he felt afraid.

Again, he was certainly afraid because today was the big day, and yet there was this foreign fear that suddenly sprung up halfway into the meeting. It was as though at some point in the meeting, he was two in one and one part was worried about the answer he would be receiving while the other part was worried, scared and restless about some other thing that he could not point out.

""Is this from Neriah?"" It took him the other second half of the meeting to finally reach that conclusion that the foreign feelings were from his wife. He realized that it was the connection between them that was at work. It made him really wonder how that thing worked. It seemed to only work when it wanted to.

He had asked his father about it after that one time he had tried to connect with his wife and it didn’t work. But Bashan had told him that the connection between a dragon and his mate was personal. Which means how one dragon’s connection works is different from how another will work. So there was nothing like teaching a person how to control it. The Dragon and his mate just had to figure it out.

He was yet to do so. But he was certain it was the connection at work again.

However, he thought to himself that the feeling of restlessness he was getting from her was probably because she was going to give him an answer that day and she was probably scared because of the confession she said she was going to make.

Barak was no fool, he could imagine what her confession would be all about. She probably had no idea that he was aware that she still met with the lover of hers before they came to Fortia. He knew everything about her, the only thing he didn’t know exactly was the identity of the lover himself and that was only because he did not wish to know about it.

With this mindset, Barak thought it was normal for her to be scared of what his reaction would be. But she was unaware of the fact that he was willing to let it all go if she was also willing to confess she loved him. He had forgiven her even before she asked for it, but she did not know this, and that was probably why she was scared while waiting for him.

With her in his heart, Barak brought the very long meeting to an end, postponing all further discussions for another time. He felt that the more he delayed showing up, the more agitated she would be. He reached that conclusion as he reasoned that he wasn’t feeling her fear earlier throughout the day, only hours after she had left the house did he feel it. So it only meant that she was getting worried about him not showing up.

Barak was in such a hurry to go to her and ease her fearful heart yet he stopped his horse in front of a small flower stall when his eye caught a beautiful bunch of red Geranium flowers.

This was one of the things Regina had told him about... giving his wife gifts. He patiently waited for them to be wrapped and smiled when he finally paid and accepted it from the elderly woman who sold it. He was proud of himself and could not wait to hand it to her.

The last time he had gotten those flowers for her, he had not been able to hand them to her because of her foul mood that night. But she had not thrown them out. She kept those flowers.

He was going to give these ones to her directly this time... He was hoping for a positive answer. It had to be a positive answer. It could be nothing else because he could tell, he could just feel it that she if not love, she at least liked him to a very great degree and that was worth a lot.

When Barak reached the inn, the first thing he noticed was that the usually bubbling in was quiet. Almost too quiet. If he had not known that she had given Hakan instructions to rent out the place for the rest of the evening, he would have been skeptical about the matter, but knowing she had rented out the place. It made perfect sense that it was silent.

However, wasn’t it just the garden of purple dahlias that she had rented? Maybe Hakan went ahead to rent out the entire place. He could be a little extreme at times.

Barak made his way to the back of the inn which led to the forest of trees. He tied his horse to a tree and made his way to the center of the trees. Barak did not realize that at some point while he made his way to the inn, the restlessness and fear he had been getting from her had stopped and all that remained was his own nervous and throbbing heart.

As he made his way toward the garden, his heart raced even faster as he saw how much the forest which he visited just last night had changed. There were flowers blooming from the stems of trees, lanterns hanging from trees, and straps of twisted cloth used as decorations from one tree to another.

She would not go through all this stress if she was going to give him a negative answer, right? He smiled as the sight that he beheld gave him more assurance.

As he approached the area where the dahlias could be seen, he drew in longer breaths as he hid the flowers behind him. Slowly, he walked and as he did, her figure came into view.

Dressed in a color that matched the flowers that surrounded her, the gown was made to fit every curve and contour of her body. She stood with her back facing him. Her long red hair was let loose and it rested over her hips. The wind within the garden was calm and slow and it picked and dropped strands of her hair so slowly it resembled an image from a beautiful portrait. One that had come to life.

"Neriah," He called her name and she turned. Her smile was illuminating as ever, her beauty seemed even more pronounced in the forest as the sun was quickly setting.

His eyes shifted for a minute to the table and he noticed a cup had fallen underneath the table.

"You came." She said and his eyes moved back to her enchanting face that sparkled even more that evening.

"How could I not? Wherever you are, that is where I am meant to be." He said with a smile and took closer steps to her. "So, this was the surprise you had planned?" He asked and all she did was smile shyly, something was a little strange though. She didn’t blush. Everytime she was shy about something, she blushed. It was something he had noticed about his dear wife. But she wasn’t blushing that evening.

"Do you like it, Your Highness?" She asked and he smiled and took four more steps that brought him to stand right in front of her. He pushed the bouquet of flowers into just one hand, still hiding it behind his back as he brought the other hand to stroke her face.

"How can I not?" He asked as he leaned in closer to her, "You look as beautiful as ever." He said and his hand slipped to her neck as his lips drew closer to steal her lips. His fingers brushed against the frills that laced the high neck of her dress. For a split moment, his eyes shifted from her to the bed dahlias behind her and something caught his attention but then before he could dwell upon that thing that had caught his attention, her lips pressed on his own and his eyes fell close.

Almost instantaneously, his eyes flew open again and they met hers that were wide open with no fear or feeling. All he saw was nothingness. And he staggered backwards, for he had lost his balance. The Geranium in his hand fell to his feet behind him and as he staggered again the heel of his boots crushed the bouquet, grinding it into the mud.

His lashes blinked again and again as his gaze did not falter. They remained on her and he could see a smile slowly crawling up to her lips. That was when he finally looked down. He didn’t want to believe it, he could not bring himself to accept it, that was the reason hee had his eyes on her since he felt that pain in his chest.

But he finally looked down and he saw the small dagger protruding from his chest. Again he staggered backwards as he saw his shirt being stained with his own blood. The wind had become colder, so much colder that he felt as though he had fallen into an ocean of frozen water. He could feel the cold in his bones.

He recognized the small dagger. It was the very same one she usually carried around. That same dagger she had tried to stab him with that very first night they had met.

"Do you really like my surprise?" She asked.

It was then that reality hit him with the hardest truth he had had to swallow in his entire life. He had been a fool. To believe, to want, to trust, and to love. He had been a big fool. She said she would surprise him and she had done so...

She was truly wicked, this woman... only now did he fully realize that.

It hurt...

It hurt so much as he stared at her with that wicked smile on her face... ’She stabbed me.’