Several weeks went by after the events of the battle that happened in the valley. The war with the East had ended. A problem that had spanned over decades had finally ended in an instant.
There were casualties inevitably, but no deaths, which was very lucky considering all the damage that the East had caused with their fire and arrows.
Liam had cut off Olamide's head and hung it on a pole, signaling to the Eastern soldiers that their leader was now dead. This sent them all running, returned to within their borders and Liam and the men he had left chased after them and killed the men who had run and captured the others.
It was brutal yes, but it needed to be done to be a lesson to everyone else that they would not be able to do what they did and get away with it. It was also payback for all the men that had been injured as a result of the many arrows and wounds the Eastern troops had inflicted on them.
Zechariah had received a stab to the abdomen, he was lucky enough to be attended to in time. Elihu had managed to leave with a few bruises and injuries while Luc and Zuph along with Liam miraculously were unscathed.
With Olamide's death, the East became became less of a threat and their rulers surrendered to Wyverdanian rule or else they would meet the same fate as him.
Liam knew that this would happen, that was why he had focused on getting rid of the rogue leader instantly.
It took some time for things in Wyverdale to return to a state of normalcy. It was not easy considering all the damage that had been done to various towns and villages. The cost of war was never minor, every single little damage done was devastating to someone.
The ending was bittersweet. On one hand they received the complete victory over the East that they had been longing for, and they had also received the great miracle of their king returning in the flesh. The people were overjoyed, but considering the matter on ground, there was no avenue for them to truly celebrate Liam's return.
Liam himself was busily buried in fixing what needed to be fixed, sending aid to those displace during the entirety of the war while juggling the kingdom returning to being as calm as usual. He had been gone for long, and there were many things he needed to get himself accustomed to. Besides that, most of his men were injured, they needed to rest and recover, which left him to do things on his own.
Everywhere was peaceful and it was like a breath of fresh air, as if the sun had just started to shine brightly on Wyverdale. The people were happy, the dukes were happy, everyone seemed to be happy, all except for Wura.
Wura sighed as she looked at her refection in the dressing table mirror. She had thought that after the intimate moment and confessions that she and Liam had with each other when he met her in the valley that things would go back to being good between them, but she was very wrong.
Ever since they returned from the camp three weeks ago, she had not even seen him once. He had not come to his room, he had not ate breakfast with her, she had not even had a chance to speak to him.
It was devastating, for a moment she thought that they would put everything behind them, but his avoidance of her showed that he was still very much angry with her.
She understood that he was busy, he had to return to running the entire kingdom now added with the East that was now under Wyverdale. She understood that he had many matters to attend to and several people that wished to see him, but what she could not bear with was his coldness. He had not let her in, he was pushing her away indirectly.
It was very painful, she had been in his room all these three weeks and he had not shown up at least once. She had heard from one of the maids that he was sleeping in another room. Whenever he needed some of his clothes, he would sent the servants to get it from here.
It hurt her to hear that. She knew he was hurt as well, but they needed to talk to each other, if they did not talk to each other, how would they resolve their issues? Her only hope was that things would slow down soon so she could find some time to speak to him.
For these three weeks she had also avoided seeing Mero. She decided not to see him, no, not until she had solved things with Liam. Seeing Mero would just complicate things further, from what she had heard, Liam had sidelined Mero. He had not called him, went to see him or even ask of him.
Wura felt scared, she knew just how close Liam and Mero were, and now she came along and ruined everything because of her mistake. She was scared, she was tired. She asked the servants how Mero was doing and they informed her that he was healing well.
She was happy about that, but the worst of this all was the fact that Nora had left her. As soon as they returned to the castle, she asked Liam to change her duties and transfer her to the kitchen and he did so, and that was after three days of her not speak to her.
She felt so terrible, Nora out of everyone was the person she hurt the most and she felt so sorry for doing such a horrible thing to her. All she wanted was her forgiveness, but she also knew that Nora needed some time to herself to process her emotions. She just hoped that Nora would not be angry for long.
Not having Nora by her side was torture. She had no one to turn to, no one to cry on their shoulder. No one to tell how she truly felt. She had always cherished Nora, but there she went, she had destroyed the only sister she had.
The mere thought made Wura want to cry, but she was adamant not to. She had cried so many times that her eyes were red and puffy her nose was red and she had a fever. She was not fine, no, she could never be fine until she had made right with everyone she had done wrong to.
The gossip had spread around. Elihu, Zechariah, Zuph and Luc had found out about her relationship with Mero. She did not know how, but they did, which was probably the reason why they did not come to see her.
It was not even the shame that Wura cared about, people could say whatever they want, and she deserved it as it was a repercussion of hiding the truth when she had so many chances to say it. What did pain her though was that her own husband was avoiding her. She could not talk to him, she could not see him.
Liam, Mero, Zechariah, Elihu and the others. Those were the people whose opinions she cared about the most, including Mero and her parents, aunt and uncle. She knew that the news would spread to them soon and she would need to give them an explanation.
She just wanted to settle things with Liam before they got worse. She had tried to go and see him, but every single time a servant would tell her that he was too busy to see her. She had tried to catch him during breakfast, lunch or dinner, but he was absent every single time.
Wura sighed and stood up. She walked to the window and looked outside. The bright day betrayed her feelings. She felt so down, so gloomy, She felt so useless, she was rejected by everyone now, especially the people she cared about the most.
All she needed, and all she wanted was Ian's forgiveness. It was torture to be here not knowing what he was thinking, how he was feeling. She wanted to be let in, but he did not wish to let her in.
"Maybe we both just need some time..." she whispered to herself. She did not want to give up, no, she would not give up. They had been through the worst already, this was nothing compared to it.
If being separated from her husband for the longest time could turn into a fading memory, then this too could become the same. It was just a stage in their marriage that they needed to work some things out, and she was willing to do so. The only question was if Liam felt the same.
And that was a question Wura would be unable to answer until he told her himself.