"Your majesty, would you like me to bring your meal here for you to eat?" a maid asked.
Liam looked up, startled by her voice. He had not heard her walked in. It was when she mentioned bringing a meal that he looked outside the window and realized that the sun had set.
"No, thank you, I am not hungry," he replied.
"Alright, your majesty, I will leave now," the maid bowed. She knew better than to ask twice. Everyone was aware of Liam's temperament ever since he returned to the castle. He had been unhappy, easily irritated and although he rarely shouted, when you stressed him unnecessarily, he would shout at you.
The maid closed the door behind her. Liam dropped the letter in his hands and sighed. He had not realized that the entire day had been going by quickly. He had not even known that he had just spent hours in his office settling important things that needed to be settled.
He sighed, he was unhappy, he was angry. He did not know what to do. Ever since he returned to the castle, he had not seen Wura, and that was because he was so confused, conflicted and enraged all at once.
Yes, he had hugged her and kissed her in the valley that day, but that gesture did not mean he had forgotten what he had seen, it did not mean that he wanted to forgive her.
He felt so tired, this was just too much for him to him to bear. He felt so betrayed, he felt so angry, he wanted to scream and shout.
He was not doing well at all. The more he thought about it, the more upset he was. How could Wura and Mero start a relationship? It was just so confusing and heartbreaking, but he had seen what he had seen clearly, he saw her eyes, he felt the tenderness she kissed Mero with him it made him sick.
He wanted to shout, he literally wanted to shout. He felt so frustrated. He did not like being angry, but he had been humiliated, so humiliated that he felt like punching everything in his sight.
The question that kept on ringing in his mind was how Wura could do what she did. He did not want an explanation. He did not want to hear anything she had to say because he was sure that he would not like what she had to say.
Liam sighed, he had been so occupied with putting everything in order, managing the newly acquired Eastern state while trying to balance his own emotions and feelings, and it was not easy. It was not easy to all.
He had been neglecting taking care of himself. He only forced himself to eat once a day, he had not taken a shower in three days, and he had not slept in his own bed, he had just remained in his office.
Liam stood up, he had enough of this. He hated feeling like this. He needed to get some rest. He decided to return to his bedroom. He needed a good night's sleep tonight, or else he would begin to hallucinate and that would affect everything negatively, and he could not allow that happen.
He closed the open books on his desk, he drank a glass of water before leaving. He needed a nice warm bath to calm himself down.
...
Wura sighed, she sat on the bed prepared for yet another night alone without any hope of resolving the issues on ground.
She was about to get changed in order to go to bed when she heard someone walk in. At first she thought that it was one of the maids who was here to prepare a bath.
"You do not need to prepare a bath for me, I am not taking a bath tonight," she said. She remained staring out the window.
She was confused when she did not hear a response, neither did she hear anyone walk out, so she turned around only to be shocked by who she had seen.
"Liam?!" she gasped. She could not believe her eyes. There he was standing right in front of her.
This was the first time she had seen him in three weeks. Her first instinct was to run to him and throw herself on him, hug him tightly, but judging from the cold expression on his face, he would not welcome that.
Liam remained rooted to his spot. He was shocked and confused, he had not expected to see her here. As soon as he walked in, his senses were engulfed by her scent and he found himself unable to think straight. One thing was sure, he did not want to see her here. No, not now, not here, it was too soon for him to see her.
"Liam..." Wura called again but this time softer. She did not know why he was unmoving, it started to make her feel worried.
Liam managed to snap out of his stupour. "What are you doing here?" he asked with a frown.
Wura looked down, she was sad, instead of anything else he could have said, why did he have to ask that and use such a tone? She wanted to get upset, but she had to remind herself to be patient with him, she was the one at fault here.
"What do you mean, Liam?" she asked.
"This is my bedroom, what are you doing here?" he frowned.
"I moved in here when we returned from the Yonder Realm. I wanted to feel closer to you, and I felt safe in here, so I started to stay here..." she said.
Liam was silent, he did not seem to like what he heard neither did he seem to not like it. He remained as expressionless as ever.
"Liam, I am so happy that you are here, I have missed you so much." she tried to approach him, but he took four steps back. She stopped.
"Do not come any closer. I wanted to rest, but since you are occupying this place, I will just go somewhere else," he turned.
Wura did not want to see him leave again, she did not want him to be away from her. Quickly she held his arm, he turned to her and stopped walking, he frowned.
"No... please don't go, don't leave," she pleaded. He looked down at her hand that was holding his right arm.
"Don't go, this is your bedroom. I know that you have been so busy, you are so stressed, and you need a safe space, you need to calm down. You can stay here, have your bath, eat, and sleep in your own bed. If you do not want me here, I will leave, I won't stay if you do not want me to, but please, stay..." she begged.
There was just something about her eyes and the way she spoke that made him want to melt. In reality, he wanted to hug her and he wanted to hold her, but he could not bring himself to do it. He was just still so very angry, he was upset. It was all too much for him to bear.
"Alright..." he said. He removed her hand from holding his arm.
Wura did not mind, she smiled in relief that he had agreed.
"Good, thank you Liam, thank you so much. Let me call the maids to prepare you a hot bath," she said. She rushed off before he could change his mind.
Liam sighed, she closed the door behind her. He looked around, he sat down on the bed. Her scent wafered everywhere. It was calming but at the same time angering. He could not explain the type of mixed emotions he was so conflicted.
He laid down on the bed and took in her scent. He had missed her so much, and yet now that she was here with him. It was just too much for him to bear. It all felt like a terrible dream.
He closed his eyes and wished he would wake up to a better reality. However, he knew that would never be possible, because the reality now was the real one.
Wura made sure to move quickly to find a maid. She did not want Liam to leave before she returned. This was the time for her to apologize and show him just how much she loved him. She knew that being patient now would be very, very vital and she could not rush his process with dealing with how things were.
To Wura's luck, she found a maid, she stopped her and told her to tell the other maids to quickly prepare a bath for Liam. The maid agreed and rushed off.
Wura ran back to his bedroom, she did not want him to leave, she did not want to lose this opportunity for them to reconcile. She would not play around with this.