Chapter 150

150 Chapter 150 : She said she loves me

Zander knocked on the door to the sleeping chambers that had been assigned to prince Gareth. A low ‘come in’ was heard from the inside and the blonde man made his way in. And just like he suspected, Gareth was laying on his couch deep in thought.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Zander spoke to the man.

Gareth sat up and gestured Zander to sit in his bed. “I just feel like we’re wasting time,” Gareth explained, “why in the world will it take Dvalin forty eight hours to assemble his troops. A king should have his men ready at the snap of his finger!”

Zander pursed his lips and stifled a chuckle, making the prince turn to him with an annoyed look on his face.

“What’s so funny?” Gareth asked his blonde friend.

“Forgive me your grace,” Zander replied with a light chuckle. “Do you recall when I told you that when it comes to princess Melissa all your logic goes out the window?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, some would say that two days to gather over five thousand soldiers is quite impressive,” Zander added on, “but I could be wrong.”

Gareth retained his laying position and pouted.

.....

“I understand you’re eager to see her your grace but be patient..”

“I’m worried that bastard will realize she’s pregnant and do something horrible to her or my baby,” Gareth explained, “or worse off, what if he sleeps with her and thinks the baby is his. Do you know the depth of madness I’d fall into if that happened?”

“Yes your grace I’m quite aware,” Zander responded calmly, “but I can assure that after your reunion, I doubt the princess would let anyone other than you come anywhere near her, she’ll be alright.”

“What if he forces himself on her?” Gareth muttered, there was a hint of fear and anger in his voice. I mean, Elric was a king, and kings merely just took what they wanted, even if it was by force.

“Not to try and offend you or anything like that your grace,” Zander spoke, “but Elric is absolutely smitten with the princess. He wouldn’t even dream of doing something like that to her.”

“I guess that’s one way of giving me hope,” Gareth responded in a slightly irritated tone.

“Tis the price to pay for having fallen in love with a beautiful woman,” Zander spoke coyly. He too had a very beautiful woman he had fallen in love with yes, but luckily for him Vivian was not the most approachable woman out there, unlike Melissa who was warm, kind and welcoming.

“Well I’ll be going to my own chambers to rest a while,” Zander said as he stood up, “have a good night’s rest your grace.”

“Good night Zander,” Gareth responded, “and thank you for calming my nerves.”

“What are cousins for?”

*

Marceline watched in awe as Emma put the final touches on Melissa’s makeup. Goodness, their daughter was absolutely beautiful, how could men stop themselves from waging war against one another with a face like that?

“And we are good to go,” Emma spoke and moved out of the way so her daughter could see her reflection in the mirror.

Melissa was wearing a beautiful gold bow gown with little pieces of silver embroidered into it. It was long sleeved, had a v shaped opening at the front and a large bow on the back. Her neck and ears were also adorned with silver and gold and her hair was let loosely in big flowy curls.

“This looks perfect mother thank you,” Melissa spoke with a small smile.

“I know you’re a little nervous honey but don’t worry about it,” Emma encouraged her daughter, “you’ll be okay.”

“No it’s not that,” Melissa responded. She sighed and looked up at her reflection.

“Do you want to talk about him?” Marceline asked her daughter. She rose from her seat and made her way to Melissa’s side, cupping her shoulders gently, “your blood half. He’s the one on your mind isn’t he?”

Melissa flattered her lashes in shock, “how did you?-”

“A mother knows,” Marceline responded. She trailed her hands down Melissa’s shoulders to her arms, and as of instinctively she placed a hand on the side of her tummy and slightly gasped. “He’s an elf?”

Melissa was stunned, how had her mother known that just by merely touching her? Could she read her mind or something?

“Is it the Gavarian prince?” Emma added on to the questions. “What happened Melissa? If you love this man why did you return here to be Elric’s queen?”

“I did it to protect him,” Melissa explained, a sad look painting her face. “In order to keep him safe, I had to give up a life with him and be with Elric. It was the only way.”

Marceline looked at her beautiful daughter and then looked back down at her tummy, “but honey you’re-”

The door swung open and Elric walked in, “forgive the intrusion ladies,” he spoke with a bow, “but I’m afraid it’s time for me to whisk my queen away.”

The man was elegantly dressed in gold and silver matching Melissa. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail and his strong build stood out in the fitting attire. Elric walked over to Melissa, his eyes leering at every beautiful detail of the woman. He stood in front of her and smiled approvingly, “you look almost perfect my love,” he whispered.

“Almost?..”

He walked to her dresser, picked up a gold ribbon that he secured between his lips. He then gently pulled Melissa’s hair up and then tied it with the ribbon into a messy bun. “Now you look perfect,” he spoke, “you know a woman-”

“Yes, yes, a woman of nobility should not hide her face,” Melissa completed his sentence.

He smiled, leaned in and gave her cheek a kiss and nodded, “exactly.” Elric then reached for her hand, “shall we?” The red head nodded and took the man’s hand who led her out of the room.

Marceline watched as Melissa and Elric walked out of the room and sighed. Gods, didn’t her daughter know that she was pregnant? She shuddered at the thought of what would happen if Elric found out his queen was carrying another man’s child, that would be treason. Either Melissa or the baby would be killed, Marceline was sure of that. She had to protect her daughter.

“We should get going as well,” Emma spoke to the woman, pulling her out of her reverie. “And don’t worry too much about Melissa, she’s much stronger than you think. She will get through this.”

*

Kaiser Stefan swooshed passed the maids in halls, almost knocking over paintings and vases here and there. He opened the doors to the study and briskly rushed to where Edron was sitting waiting for him.

“Where is she?!” He spoke hastily, “where is my Marceline did you find her?!”

When Marceline had received the letter from Elric claiming he had her daughter with him, she did not tell Stefan about it, not knowing weather to trust Edron’s son or not . Instead she decided to leave on her own under the pretense of going to visit family. When Stefan noticed that she had been gone a while he worried that maybe she had finally decided to leave him, and so he reached out to her family. But they told him she wasn’t with them and she had never even gone there.

The Kaiser had been in a state of panic ever since. Where was his wife? Where could she have possibly gone where his men couldn’t find her? Was she alright? He had endured countless sleepless nights and long stressful days to the point of being on the verge of losing his mind.

Today he had received word from Edron that a letter from Marcelien had come with the letters that Elric would send him.

“Speak up Edron what did the letter say?!” Stefan demanded.

“Calm down Stefan I haven’t opened it,” Edron responded. He stood up and handed the letter to the Kaiser who practically grabbed it from him.

“The Merian royal seal is on the letter,” Edron explained, “if I took a guess I’d assume she’s in Meria.”

“Meria?!” Stefan was perplexed, why in the world would Marceline go to Meria? And why would she leave without saying anything to him?

The Kaiser quickly opened the letter and read through its contents intently. It read;

‘it has taken me a while to do this, but I forgive you Stefan. I don’t want us to fight anymore, especially not over things that happened in the past. I have missed your touch terribly and it’s been running me mad, I can’t wait to return home and be in your arms. I know you’re cross with me for leaving without telling you, I received a letter saying our daughter was in Meria and I left to see her, I knew you wouldn’t let me go on my own but I couldn’t let you leave the throne unattended to. Melissa is actually the one who encouraged me to mend things between us and I am so sorry. Hoping to be back soon. Please don’t worry about me. I love you. Your wife Marceline.’

“Did she say where she is?” Edron asked. He was now curious to know what the letter said after seeing his friend’s face break into a large smile. “Is she in Meria? Stefan what’s going on?”

The Kaiser held the letter to his heart and drew in a relieved breath. “Oh thank the gods,” he muttered. His face still beaming with joy.

“Stefan!” Edron yelled, “what in the world did she say to you that’s making you so happy?!”

“She said she loves me,” the man responded with a lovestruck smile on his face.

Edron face palmed.