The Dragon Prince's Bride
Chapter 202. Recurring dream.

Chapter 202: 202. Recurring dream.

Underneath a huge willow tree just outside the fence of the castle that had always been prepared for the visiting royalty of Trago, Neriah sat in the arms of her husband. His back pressed upon the tree and hers upon his chest. It was a calm afternoon, it even seemed like a blessed one.

Everything in nature seemed to acknowledge and accept their love for each other. The sun was shining for them, not too hot, just the right temperature. The wind blew, not too strong or too soft, it was just right. The birds that nestled on the willow tree even sang sweet songs, not too loud, or too low, it was just the right volume.

And as they sat together, he teased her and she pouted, then he would appease her with sweet words and she would blush. They kissed, and they laughed, and they loved and they seemed blessed.

"Wow, my dear Spitfire speaks Tragonian so very well now." His voice was as pleasant as ever, as smooth as she remembered, and as soothing as it always was. The way it sweetly flowed out from within his lips, twirled with the wind before kissing her ears was still the same.

Gently, she shifted in his embrace, slightly tilting her body to the side as she lifted her eyes to meet his own, and they were as golden as the hot sun that’s shining that afternoon... So enchantingly lovely. "Of course, I told you I learn quickly." She proudly said. There was just this joy she got from bragging to him. She could never understand it herself, nor could she ever begin to explain it, but she always wanted to brag about her achievements to him. No matter how small they were.

His hand reached her face, he held her chin with his thumb and index finger and for some reason unknown to her, he smiled as he stared into her eyes. "Indeed, this husband of yours should gift you with something since you went through all that trouble of learning a new language for my sake." He spoke and the expression on her face matched his own. "So tell me, my love. Tell me what you want and it shall be yours."

What followed his words was a sudden ache at her chest. It completely wiped the smile from her face. The ache scared her, so she hugged him... Tightly. "I have everything I could ever want right here with me." She whispered with her eyes closed. "I do not need more. All I want is you." She confessed.

"Then why?" There was a sudden change in his voice. It had become distant.

"Why did you do this?" He asked and this time she forced her eyes to open and the field in which they sat was gone. She was back in the garden of purple dahlias. The previous smell of fresh green grass had been exchanged with the ghastly stench of blood.

Bodies were everywhere... Dead bodies.

And at the center of all those dead people stood her husband in the midst of cloaked men with weapons. He was fighting for his life and they desperately wanted to take it from him.

They wanted to take him from her.

"No!!!" She screamed and as she did, she suddenly realized someone had been standing beside her the whole time.

Lyle.

"Lyle make them stop!" She cried as they stabbed and slashed him before her eyes.

"Barak! No stop it! Please!!" She clung to Lyle’s blood stained robe and screamed.

However, that was the point she noticed her own hands, they were also covered in blood.

Vehemently she shook her head, desperately crying inside her, screaming with her inner voice saying, ’This is not what I wish for! This is not what I want!!’

She looked up at Lyle to scream those words in his face, only to realize that it was Barak standing before her, and worse...

She had her hands wrapped around a dagger that was piercing right into her husband’s chest... Into his heart.

"N_No!" She screamed and tried to take her hands off, only to see another pair of hands wrapped around her own, stopping her from letting go of the dagger.

She turned her head to see who was behind her, and again, it was Lyle. "Stop it!" She screamed as he slowly pushed her hand holding the dagger deeper into Barak’s chest, as he laughed maniacally.

Terror gripped her. She didn’t want this... "Lyle stop! LYLE!!! Please, I beg you! Stop!" She cried as she lifted her head to see the face of the man whose chest she was piercing. She saw blood pouring out of his lips and she cried out his name... "Barak! Barak!! BARAK!!!"

Neriah woke up from the dream. A dream that had been reoccurring again and again every time she managed to shut her eyes. Every time she would see herself in a peaceful place with no one else but her husband, but then everything would suddenly turn into a bloodbath.

It was always eerie and disturbing. She would always see Barak fighting for his life while she screamed in agony as she watched him being stabbed and slashed.

Then the highlight of that dream was always when Lyle would take her hand in his own and plunge her own dagger into Barak’s heart. Nothing was more painful than that part.

The agonizing look in his eyes. Eyes filled with pain of being stabbed by her, eyes that seemed to still love her even in the pain...

Eyes that silently asked her the question, "Why?" while she screamed his name out like a mad woman. And that was always where she woke up, with her face wet with tears.

Neriah wondered if that was how they had actually played it out. Because she had been knocked out at that time, she had no clue. Did Lyle really use that woman that looked like her to stab Barak in the heart?