Chapter Ten
The Strength of a Child
“Good morning,” a soft and tired sounding voice whispered off to Richard's left. Slowly opening his eyes he looked out at his surroundings, catching a blurry glimpse of a high and ornate roof above him.
For a moment he was confused, because this didn't look like the roof of the his room, and he couldn't think of where he was or how he had gotten there during the night. But then all the memories of the previous day and night came back to him, and it all suddenly became clear. Now he could place the room, and more importantly, he could place the voice that had called out to him and the feeling of soft skin pressed against his own. He was in Daiya's room; in her bed.
“How early is it?” he asked, his voice a little husky from thirst. It felt like he had only slept for a few hours, and it was hard to keep his eyes open. The warmth from Daiya's body certainly helped though, and without thinking about it he cuddled up closer to her.
“A little past noon, I believe,” Daiya replied softly, taking the cue from Richard and wrapping an arm around him as he tried to seek comfort in her warmth.
“Really?” he groaned. “It feels like I just went to sleep.”
“Well... technically that is true. The sun was already starting to come up when we finally went to sleep. By the way, thank you for last night; for not letting it be awkward.”
“Not like you left me much of a choice,” Richard now chuckled, his throat hurting a bit. “You did kind of take advantage of me, what with those two glasses of wine I had at the reception.”
“Don't you dare!” Daiya now growled and slapped him across the chest, quickly rolling away from him a moment later. “You were as much a reason for last night as I was. My dress isn't hanging from the curtain rod because of me, mister!”
Richard now forced himself to sit up and look at where Daiya was pointing, finding that her dress was actually stuck on the curtain rod like she had said. Feeling a little embarrassed all Richard could do was chuckle like an idiot and look away, more memories from the night before flooding through his mind. To be honest, he didn't even remember throwing her dress up there; in fact, he didn't even remember taking it off. He was definitely aware of when it had been off though, and he was sure that memory would be with him for the rest of his life.
“You don't have anything to say to that, do you?” Daiya now teased him.
“Honestly? I've got nothing.”
Daiya giggled softly at him, then handed him a glass of water as she grabbed her own and took a drink. For a few minutes the two of them just sat there in bed, enjoying the warmth of the suns rays filtering through the window and dancing over their skin, neither one of them talking or making any attempt to get out of bed. Not that they really had to, as one of the maids or attendants had brought lunch up to the room for them so they didn't have to go down to the dining hall.
After a while, and with their stomachs full, both Richard and Daiya could no longer just sit in her room all day as everything else went on around them. They both had previously had their days filled with activities leading up to their wedding, and getting out of that mindset seemed to be a little hard for both of them. They felt a little caged just sitting there alone all day. So to remedy that they decided to take a walk through the palace gardens and maybe find some of their friends.
