CHAPTER 5: The long night

5Unlike the ritual of most newlyweds in the kingdom, the Alpha king did not ride on the same carriage with his queen.

Mia knew he still felt the resentment of being married to someone different. She’d seen the look on his face all the times he had glanced at her during the marriage ceremony earlier. Or perhaps his withdrawal could be because she wasn’t as fair or beautiful as he had expected... She wasn’t beautiful at all.

It had been a long day and the worse day of Mia’s life. It had started with her losing her sister, her biggest supporter, and then losing her freedom.

Flashback***

“What happened to Ariel? Where is she?”

“She’s dead, Mia, Ariel is dead.”

Her heart sank, overwhelmed with pain at his word, and a raspy cry of agony left her mouth, already knowing the fate that awaited her but not wanting to believe it.

“No, father, that can’t be!”

While she yet spoke, her door burst open and in came the royal bride makers without being ushered in. She turned to them, baffled by their audacity to intrude on a private moment.

None of the eight royal bride makers paid her mind as they placed the box they brought in on the floor before turning to them with their looks blunt and formal. They didn’t appear to care that the Asika household had just lost someone they were just here to do their duty.

“Father,” she called out, but he just whimpers, too broken to utter a word.

“This is the custom, my lady.” the older woman whom she had spoken to in Ariel’s room yesterday said.

“Fuck the custom! My sister’s cold dead body lies in her bed and I want to mourn her properly, not dragged off to someplace I don’t want to be.”

The woman gave her a sympathetic look as if she understood her plight. “You will be charged with the act of rebellion if we don’t follow the rules and by the end of today, not only will your sister be dead, you and your father will also be dead.”

***Flashback ends

Mia didn’t want to think about anything anymore. She just wanted the day to end.

At their arrival, the gates of the Palace opened to the carriage, and it drove her into the Palace estate.

The carriage came to a stop and its door opened to reveal a male servant positioned beside it, with his hand stretched out to her. Silently she took his hand, and he tightened his hold on her as he helps her out of the carriage and onto the concreted pathway that led to the palace.

The magnificent Palace soon stood before Mia and it took her a while to catch her breath while staring at its structure.

The Palace was indeed as massive as everyone said it was and despite spending the last eighteen years of her life in the kingdom, she never stepped her feet here... She never had a reason to until now.

She swallowed and her hands quivered a little, knowing the man she would live with within this Palace for the rest of her life was the same man that gave her the cold shoulder throughout the day.

She couldn't completely blame him. He was left in the dark by the last minute change and had his choice taken from him when he blindly married her.

He wasn’t the only one whose choice was taken away though. She had plans, her bags were already packed, and now those plans would never be a reality.

Reality awaited her in the Palace, and she wasn’t ready.

She wondered if anyone would hear her cry for help behind these high walls. Would anyone even care?

A maiden a little younger than her with fair skin, dirty brown hair braided to the back walked up to her and bowed her head. “My queen, I am Lydia, your maid. I will take you to your chambers now.”

Mia nodded without uttering a word and followed the maid behind as she led her into the Palace and through the hallway that led to the bridal Chambers.

Lydia pushed open the door, and they both stepped into her massive Chambers and Mia beheld the room refined with elegance. It was sophisticated with its looks and despite not growing up in abject poverty, this was far above her status.

Beside the large window having scarlet curtains was a king-sized bed covered with white linen sheets. There was a door across the room and Mia assumed it led to the bathroom and next to that door stood a massive mahogany wardrobe and a brown armchair on the left side of the room. Close to it was the shelf filled with books, which was the only thing that gladdened Mia’s heart only for a moment.

She turn to the young maid whose eyes were as clear as the sky. “Do I share this room with the alpha king, my husband?”

She shook her head, “No, this is your chambers. If the alpha king has needs for you, he will summon you into his chambers or come into yours.”

Her reply gave her a mixed feeling. She was happy she didn’t have to live in the same room as the alpha King because he terrified her and didn’t look like one she would want to share space with, but it also made her sad.

She had grown up seeing the way her father and mother loved each other and until the day she died; they were in love and happy and lived together in the same room and she longed for that growing up and a part of her still did. Who wouldn’t want a man that would stare at them like they were the only thing that mattered in the world? The only one that could make their heart beat irregularly.

In a small way, she wanted that kind of love, and a part of her believed she deserved it.

Perhaps in leaving the kingdom in search of enlightenment, she could have found love. But she had to get used to the fact that she might never get that love or affections from her now-husband, the alpha king.

“Okay, thank you. I might need help to get out of this dress,” she said, gazing down at her wedding gown, which looked too complicated to get out of.

“I’ll call the chief maid. She will help take it off so no harm will come to it.” with that said, Lydia hurried out of the bedroom and Mia stood alone and she wrapped her arms around herself.

Since the early hours of the morning, she hadn’t been alone and now that she was; she felt cold and lost than ever and she hated the feeling.

Not long after, an older woman in her late forties stepped through the door and walked towards her. Mia quickly brushed off the moodiness she had on and wore on a much more pleasant face.

“My queen,” she bowed, “the young maid summoned me.”

“I want to get out of this gown, please. It’s been a long day. She believes you’re better at it.”

She nods and without wasting time; she stepped towards Mia and undid the three-layer gown she wore. The older maid knew what she was doing and the first layer of the gown fell off her with ease after a few seconds.

She then proceeded to the second layer, undoing the surrounding ropes as fast as she could when the door opened. Mia turned around to see the alpha king emerge without warning, his step calculated and his head held with pride and dominance.

Her heart doubled a beat in fear, and she immediately looked away from his scowling face.

“Leave us,” he orders, his voice deep and terrifying.

The older maid released the ropes she almost finished working on and the second layer dropped to the floor, leaving Mia in just the white, long and somewhat transparent gown with slim hands.

The door shut behind them and Mia wanted to hide away because the fear of being alone with the alpha king, which she felt throughout today, was about to unfold.

He stepped away from the door and strode further into the room. She trembled on the inside, but she remained standing in her position, looking anywhere else but at him.

This was one rite of newlyweds sharing close space, but she didn’t want to be in the same space. Her whole being rebelled at the nearness of him.

He was mean, cold, arrogant, entitled, and everything she didn’t want in a man. She never knew him personally, but she heard rumours and stories about him from people, including her father, and she knew they had to be some truth in those rumours. He’d shown her his true colours throughout today with how coldly he treated her, and she didn’t forget.

“So, I heard we got married.” he finally broke the silence, his eyes raking over her body with his scowl lingering.

At the after party of the wedding, he barely stayed by her side. Instead, he welcomed the guest on his own and drank a few wines with his clique of friends. The only one who bothered to speak to her was his brother, Edward, who congratulated and welcomed her into the family. It didn’t surprise her that her husband treated her in such a way; she was a queen by name and nothing more and that was the role she ought to play.

“Yes, my king, we got married.”

“Good, then carry on,” he stroll to the other side of the room where the armchair was, and he took a seat on it. He stretched his legs out and his hand rubbed his jaw while he observed her. This made her skin itch in discomfort and her heart skipped a few beats.

“We have a long night ahead of us.”