It was the resounding chirping of birds that woke her. It wasn’t a very loud noise, but what was normally a beautiful sound, felt rather annoying. It was as though it was forcing her to co out of her slumber.
Her eyes slowly opened, the ray of sunlight was blinding causing her to shut them close once again. When she opened them once more, her vision at first was blurred, but then slowly, very slowly, it began to clear.
The first thing that caught her eyes was the familiar chandelier that hung from the ceiling, then her gaze ca down a little lower and they t an image she was so used to seeing every morning. It was the portrait of the very young prince Barak. Her eyes that were clear quickly beca blurry again as tears welled up in her eyes, her breathing beca strained as she tried to hold back the sobs that were about to burst.
She was ho... She realized that. How she had moved around and ended up here, she wasn’t certain. But she was ho, the last thing she rembered was soone telling her she would pay for what she had done. She was realizing now that it was Prince Raknar. He must have been the one who brought her back.
Tears trailed down the side of her face as her gaze remained on the portrait of the young version of her husband. They had gone to Fortia together, but she had returned alone. It was her fault... It was all her fault.
"MY LADY!" Neriah heard the voice of Aria as the door opened and closed. "Oh my gosh, My Lady you are finally awake!" Aria scread as she reached her side. For the first monts, Aria’s words were entering Neriah’s ear but they were not sinking.
Her eyes remained on the portrait of prince Barak that hung all around her and tears continued down the side of her face. It was not until she felt Aria’s fingers clean the side of her face did she finally pay attention to the worm and the words she was saying.
"Do not shed tears, My Lady. All we should do now is thank the goddess that you are finally awake." Aria said and Neriah wondered if those words were enough to quell the pain in her heart.
The pain she was feeling at the mont was not sothing that words could calm.
"I shall give a huge offering to the goddess for this. Oh, I am so glad. I am so relieved. You have no idea how worried we have all been." Aria continued, having taken a position on the bed next tk her mistress.
"Riri has not been able to sleep. I am just returning from our room after forcing her to take a nap. You had us all worried. We were starting to fear that you would never wake up. You have been in this state since His Highness brought you back. Oh I am just so glad that you are fine. I did not know what to do be_because—"
"Aria," Neriah finally opened her mouth to speak.
"Yes, My Lady?" Aria quickly rose to her knees, "Do you feel any discomfort? Should I call the physician?" She panicked. "Why am I even asking such a foolish question? I will bring the physician here at once and—"
"Has anything been heard about Barak?" Neriah’s question halted Aria on the spot. "Did they find him?" She asked and Aria turned around to look at her.
"I—"
Seeing the look on Aria’s face caused Neriah’s face to contort as she realized but was still refusing to accept the painful truth, "They haven’t, have they?" she said the words and they choked her. They were barely words... They were sobs. The tears flowed over and over again.
"I am afraid not." Aria’s words only made matters worse. Her hands covered her face as she cried.
"My Lady, please can you tell the truth." Aria suddenly said. "Even though you do not tell anyone else, you can tell it to . I will always be on your side. What happened? The whole Trago believes you killed His Highness and then tried to flee so—"
"It is my fault." Neriah sobbed. "I might not have done it with my own hands, but it was indeed my fault. No one else can be blad for this. I did this." She cried and Aria could not bring herself to ask anything more. She was curious about a lot but could not ask a single thing. All she did was lean in and hugged her mistress.
She did not know what had happened and why the prince who was perfectly fine so weeks ago was now assud dead with his body missing, but one thing was certain and that was the fact that her mistress was genuinely distraught about the loss of her husband. She could be an actress, but Aria was ready to bet all she had that this was not an act. This was genuine.
It wasn’t too long before the mbers of the royal family were all gathered in her room. All except the younger ones.
Neriah had expected the eyes she was getting, in fact she felt like it wasn’t as intense as she expected it to be.
"First, I will let you know that Farhan already told us all about your secret lover." Neriah’s eyes opened wide as Bashan spoke up. She had no idea that Farhan knew about it. Now they all knew. Well, was there anything to hide again at this point? Keeping such things was one of the major reasons her husband was not with her at the mont.
"I am sorry." She sincerely said because it was all she could say. She took their son and brother from them, what more could she possibly have to them?
"Sorry! Sorry!! Is that even what you should be saying right now?! You—"
"Rakima! Shut your mouth!!" Neriah flinched as Rakavi yelled at her daughter.
"And if you cannot do that, get out of here this instant!" She ordered. Never had Neriah seen or heard the woman raise her voice before. Neriah could tell her anger was barely kept in check and wrongly directed. The anger in her voice was not ant for Rakima. It was ant for her and Neriah could see it.
Rakima spoke no further words after that, she just turned away and walked toward the window, but not before Neriah saw tear drop from her eyes.
"The child inside of you, who—" His voice shook and he paused, "Whose child is it?"
The question brought tears to Neriah’s eyes again and she knew it was going to make her seem like an hypocrite so she tried her best to hold it back. This question was inevitable. Any normal person in their position would ask such.
"I am a liar and I have done so many questionable things but I swear to you I have never lain with any man other than Barak." She confessed and as she did, the tears she tried to hold back poured out. "The child is Barak’s."
Everyone was silent after her words. She looked from one person to another. Rakavi still looked angry, Bashan looked as though he was fighting whether to believe her or not. Rakima still had her back turned to them and Raknar who had not said a single word remained at one corner of the room, quietly taking in all the information.
"Why did you do it?" Bashan asked. "Did you really—" Again, the man paused as though he was trying to control all his emotions, "Did you really try to kill him?"
"Will you believe ?" Neriah had no idea where the question ca from until it had resounded in her ears. She realized that she wanted them to know the truth. She wanted soone to believe her that she loved her husband and did not try to kill him. It was a foolish desire, but she wanted that. And she was realizing it now.
"I will try." Rakavi finally spoke up.
"No—" Neriah finally answered Bashan’s previous question. "I did not."
"Then why did you try to flee?" Raknar finally spoke up. "After we got the report, I personally flew all the way to Fortia but you had sohow disappeared. I searched for you for days before I finally found you at the port of Legroni on a boat heading out of Trago and going straight to a human kingdom."
He moved from the corner he had been and made his way toward the bed where Neriah was and asked, "How do you explain that? What do you have to say to that? Why did you flee?"
Indeed, how was she to explain that, when even she did not know what or how she had been moved around? She was not in her normal state of mind all through that ti. She had no idea how long she was out for.
So how was she supposed to explain it?
"We are waiting princess... you asked for us to believe you, you have to say sothing convincing to make us believe."
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