Come Love A Stranger

Thirteen

Mariah felt like her world stopped moving and her heart stopped beating, “marriage?” she shouted.
Josiah was shocked by her reaction, it was not what he expected, he had expected her to jump in happiness, to react with joy like every other unmarried lady would react hearing such news. He looked at his wife who was confused and surprised as well, “Mariah, dear, you shouldn’t behave like that. This is good news.”
“But father…” she stopped to arrange her words carefully in her mind, “the King, God bless his soul for bringing us back but asking for my hand in marriage? That is absurd, he…he is old enough to be my father. He is your age, father, how could you advice me to marry him?”
“But Mariah, that means nothing, you are a woman, your duty is to marry and bear children, regardless of what age your man is,” Lydia said.
“No mother, that is not true, I know my duty as a woman but that doesn’t mean that I have to marry the king,” she replied.
“Other maidens would jump in honor at this opportunity, what are you going on about? You used to tell me that you would love either the king or the prince to ask for your hand. When the rumors were going on, you were overjoyed by the news, what happened, what changed?” Lydia asked.
A certain sliver white haired man with midnight sun eyes flashed in her mind and she closed her eyes, he cannot be the reason, she had only meant him not long ago, it just that she suddenly repels the idea of marrying the king, “nothing changed, mother, if it were the prince, I would have been happy and overjoyed, he is only three years older than I am, but the king?” she sighed and shook her head, “I’m sorry but I cannot marry him.”
“Mariah,” Josiah called with authority, there wasn’t the tone of the loving father in him anymore, “when the king wants something, he gets it. We have just been pardoned of the accusation laid on me, I wouldn’t want to annoy his majesty further, so whether you want to or not, I have given my consent to the king and as I did, it shall be so. You will marry the king.”
“But father…”
“Enough,” he interrupted, “when I told you, I wasn’t asking for your permission, I have already agreed and it is decided. In a fortnight, you shall go to the palace to receive your royal trainings as a queen before the royal wedding. Now go to your room.”
Mariah looked at her mother and then her father, her eyes crystallized and she stood up and ran out of the room just as the tears started running down her cheeks.
“Mariah,” Lydia called, trying to go to her but Josiah stopped her, she looked at him with worried eyes and he shook his head.
“She would learn to live with it,” he said and she could only sigh and send her condolence to her in her heart.
Mariah ran through the hall, a lot of the servants tried to know what was wrong with her but she ignored them and picking up the hem of her dress, she ran up the stairs without a look back. Kayla saw her and ran after her immediately, as her handmaiden; it is her duty to make sure that she was alright.
She wasn’t able to catch the door as Mariah shut it on her face, she knocked on the door worriedly, “Lady Mariah, Lady Mariah, please open up, I need to make sure you are okay.”
“Go away, Kayla,” Mariah yelled from the room.
“But my lady…”
“I said go away!” she screamed, picking up the flower vase by her window and smashing it on the floor.
Kayla flinched when she heard that and for the fear that she might hurt herself, she decided to let her calm down and not infuriate her more, “yes my lady, I shall leave now,” she sighed and walked away.
Mariah fell on her bed in tears, what is going on? What is wrong with her? Three days ago, she would have jumped at the news of marrying the king, why wasn’t she so happy anymore? It most definitely can’t be the stranger, she had only met him two nights ago and she can’t be that attracted to him, she had known the king all her life but she was not attracted to him. As well as a lot of other lords and sons of prestige homes whom has never won her heart, why would it be a man she had known only two days ago would be changing her emotions like this and how she sees things?
Not able to calm herself down or swallow her father’s words, she got up from the bed and walked out to the balcony. She looked up at the night sky with the beautiful star lights and her heart hurts more, she missed him, but why? Why does she miss him so much?
The tree vines that had grown on the walls of her balcony which have been dead even before they were banished and she was thinking of telling the servants to cut them off suddenly start coming to life and she gasped when she saw that. With tear lines dried on her face, she watched as beautiful red roses grew and bloomed on them.
“You are troubled,” a sweet velvet voice said behind her and she gasped and turned to see him, his hair was flowing softly with the breeze that seemed to come with his presence and his eyes, the mixture of black and gold wasn’t as vibrant as they were when she was with him last eve at the waterfall, “I can feel your unhappiness from a far distance. What happened?” he walked closer to her and touched her face with his fingertips.
His touch was cold but she found warmth in them and to her surprise, she leaned into his caress and soon, his palm was against her skin as she closed her eyes. She knew she should be afraid of how he magically appeared behind her but she had received enough shock for one night that she seemed not to care. When she opened her eyes, she saw him looking at her gently, he doesn’t look surprise that she found warmth and peace in his touch, rather he tilted his beautiful head to the right as a soft smile appeared on his lips and asked, “better?”
Mariah doesn’t know what to say? Should she say yes that his mere presence have wiped away her worries and returned the joy in her lonely heart? But the thought alone was so embarrassing to her that she couldn’t say it and ended up looking away shyly. But he had surprised her by chuckling and she had looked at him sharply, their eyes met and she wondered if he could hear her thoughts, she had been meaning to ask that for a long time now and the stranger tonight could hear her thoughts as well. Just then, she saw a frown settle on his beautiful face, why was he frowning? Did she do something? Has he grown tired of her resting her face on his palm? She quickly moved away and he frowned deeper and placed his palm on her face again, as if telling her, ‘go ahead and lean on me as long as you want’. That scared her and she took a step back and looked down from him.
She felt a soft caress on her hair and looked up at him, the frown was gone from his face but she could see in his eyes that he wants so badly to ask her something, what could that be? What does he want to know? From the looks of it, she doubts if there is anything he wants to know that she won’t tell him.
“What happened tonight?” he asked then.
She looked down and bit her lip, “my father came back with news for me.”
“What is the news?”
Mariah closed her eyes, how could she tell him that the king asked for her hand in marriage and her father has already accepted? She felt like the words alone would drive him away and she won’t see him again. Just then, she felt his hand on her hair pull harder and she looked up at him to know what happened only to discover that his eyes were blazing like fire.