Chapter 12: After wedding

Larissa wore a shining white gown adorned with beautiful pearls and ornaments that shone in the ray of sunlight that filtered in through the windows of the large hall the wedding was taking place in.

Her brown hair was pulled back in a long braid with beautiful artificial flower crown placed over it to frame her small almond face. And her green eyes adding to her beauty

She looked like an angel who had descended to walk the road of men.

Except in her case, rumors of her being a witch had already spread in the Evergreen palace and everyone who was in attendance of the wedding stood at a far distance away from her path, almost pressing themselves to the wall in fright.

Larissa didn’t care, she probably didn’t even notice as she could only see Patrick who stood in all his majestically glorious outfit at the front of the hall, an officiating priest in front of him with his book of laws in hand.

The princess had an awestruck look on her face, one she had on ever since the king kissed her the previous day.

She couldn’t stop thinking about it, it was all that occupied her mind; that feeling of ecstasy and blood rush.

“Do you king Patrick of Evergreen, take princess Larissa of windfall to be your beloved queen, to share in trouble and happiness, the responsibilities of the kingdom?”

“I do” Patrick said without hesitation and everyone awed, it was the nicest his voice had ever been to their hearing.The same question was directed to Larissa who just kept staring at the man in front of her dumbstruck, more specifically on his lips

Everyone fell silent and soon confused murmurs fill the space making Patrick clear his throat to the dismay of Larissa since he had to place his fisted palm over his mouth

“This is the part where you say I do” he reminded and Larissa raised her brows confused, her eyes wide

“I do?”

“By the authority vested upon me by the laws of the kingdom, I now pronounce you husband and wife, king and queen of the Kingdom of Evergreen, you may now kiss your bride my lord”

And he did, a fleeting moment where his thin lips brush slightly against hers before he was moving away again.

He’s stopped midway when Larissa grabbed a handful of his silk material by the arm and pulled him towards herself

“What are you doing?” Patrick growled lowly and she smiled coyly, pink hues over her cheeks

“Do it like you did yesterday, I want to feel it like I did” she whispered against his lips and was about to reconnect them when the king placed his hands on her shoulders and held her at arm’s length.

“Later princess, after the ceremony is over” he promised and she nods sheepishly in agreement.

-} {-

Soon the officiating ceremony was over and the royal couple retired to their rooms while the people partied on

Larissa looked at her reflection on the mirror, now out of all the accessories she was dressed in earlier she heaved a sigh of relief as she walked to her window to glance out at the crowd of people who were still having a blast.

“Do I really have to wait until that is over too” she pouted, the memory of their first kiss flash through her mind and she squeals into her palm “No! I won’t wait, the ceremony is over already”

With that, she pushed the two side by side doors open making her maidens in waiting squeal in fright as they took some steps back at the suddenness.

“Where can I find the king?”The young girls looked at each other not knowing what to say, their heads bowed to avoid Larissa’s determined eyed

“He… he… i… “ one of them stuttered, causing Larissa to roll her eyes and she gestured the stuttering lady with a force that pulled her towards her involuntarily.

“Where. Is. The. King?” she repeatedThe other two girls fell on their knees in fright, their head bowed low as they whimper

“The queen never goes to the king unless she’s summoned” the maid managed

“What” Larissa’s eyes widened “then what’s going to happen to our kiss?” she pulled softly at her head and the lady who spoke up relaxed, becoming a bit gutsy

“He’ll be here soon my lady, if you just wait a bit, he will be here”

“He will?” Larissa asked to which the young maid nods urgently “fine, I’ll wait patiently until he does” With that she hums happily and goes back into her large and beautiful decorated and furnished room. One fit for a queen such as her.“I don’t think I can do this sister”

“Me neither, I fear so much for my life”Larissa sighed at the voices from behind the door as she sits on her bed and faced the door with a smile on her face as she waited patiently for Patrick.

-} {-

Patrick looked out over the merry crowd through the window of his room, his mind taking him back to the vow exchanging ceremony from earlier; How the princess had held on to him, refusing to let him go even when he had growled at her with a glare. Any other maiden would have fallen to their knees as they begged for their lives to be spared.He takes a sip of wine from the gold cup he was holding and turned back around to take a seat at the study table in his room, his right hand man stood by his side.

“What’s troubling you my lord?”

“You can tell as always can’t you John?”The tall lanky man smiled at that as he looked down at the young man, flashes of memories from their youth that was short lived came running through his mind.

“And as always you can share what’s on your mind”

“I never wanted a queen you know” Patrick started with a sigh “but the officials kept making a fuss about it just so they could have their daughters come in and with that put a check on me, you know the details of all that”

“Yes I do”

“Imagine the joy I felt when I came over my old man’s deal with the little kingdom of Windfall, a nation so peaceful they try to avoid a way every chance they have”

“My lord…”

“Someone who would know her place and stay out of my way, bore my children and live their life quietly in their quarters, that was what I wanted and the king’s daughter who I had investigated seem to fit into that role well, Melissa was it?”

“Why did you not take her up on the offer then? She was wholeheartedly offering herself to you”

“Beats me” Patrick answered looking at the cup in his hand with new found wonder “not even queen material, she’s wild, uncultured and unnaturally strong and defiant…” he paused and then looked up at John who returned the look “yet I’ve never seen someone so real, so herself, no fake thoughts or actions or words, she’s just her; Larissa… and somehow” he stared off into space “somehow she’s captivating”John’s eyes widen in surprise at the use of that word by the king.

Nothing had been able to captivate him in the last ten years.His brow furrow at another thought that rushed through his mind; ‘what if the queen had used her powers to bewitch him’ that would make a better explanation as to why the king was suddenly like this. An even better explanation than the drinks that might be making him open up despite himself.

“Anyway the officials don’t seem pleased about my choice, and with information they’ve gotten from the spies they planted in the troops we went to Windfall with, they’ve begun to spread rumors. See to it that it’s stopped”

“But the queen…”

“I’ll tame her, just make sure the people do not make a fuss about it”

“Yes sir” With that he walked out while Patrick took another sip from his cup before looking towards the direction of the queen’s quarters “I wonder what she is doing now?”

-} {-

Larissa waited all night until it was morning without catching a wink. When the sun had finished setting and she still caught no sight of her husband, she lets out a tired sigh as she gets off the bed and pushed the door open with so much force that they hit themselves against the wall with a loud bang.There was only a maid there, the very one who had assured her last night that the king would come by eventually, surprisingly.

“My lady” she bowed her head when she saw the unpleasant look on the young queen’s face

“Where’s Patrick? I want to see him right now” Larissa ordered, her voice low and empty

“The king is having an urgent meeting with his officials in his quarters” she raised her head to look at the foreboding lady “he won’t be pleased if you showed up now, please be patient until he calls upon you”

Larissa eyed the maid up and then down and walked up to her so they were close

“Calls upon me? Who does he think he is, some God?”

“He’s the king my…”

“And I’m the queen” Larissa established, feeling something dark racing within her chest, small embers of flame waiting to escalate into something else “I must see him this instant”

“My lady…”The maid panicked as she followed after Larissa who was already walking down the long corridor in search for the exit to the building.She stopped outside, the palace way bigger than she had envisioned it to be, searching for Patrick would be almost impossible for her if she was to walk around searching here and there and so she does what she does best and used her powers to locate him instead.An invisible trial appeared that lead to where Patrick would be, she followed it, passing by lots of palace workers who looked astonishingly as she walked by, so wildly, unruly, yet so beautiful. She arrived at a quieter part of the palace, and stopped in front of a huge door which she pushed open to find men sitting at both sides of a long, large table with Patrick at the head of it looking boredly and uninterestedly at some papers in front of him.His eyes met hers at the sudden intrusion and he raised his brow in question, a victorious smirk on his lips.Larissa felt those little creatures in her stomach fly around happy, but the ambers of anger was already going wild and burning up everything in her insides.She marched up to him, the officials stared after her perplexed until she reached her target who looked up at her with interest.

“What are you doing?” Patrick unbothered voice rang out loudly in the hall. Those who were used to him still shivered at the wordings but John could hear the lack of seriousness in his voice, he shook his head disbelieving ‘was this the same king from just a few days ago before Larissa came into the picture?

’“I should be asking you that” Larissa replied, completely unbothered too by the situation of the room, or his voice, she was about to throw her tantrum, a well deserved one at that “you were supposed to come to me after the ceremony” she glared down at him “you never did”

“I get to do whatever I want, I am the king after all”

“So can I Patrick, I am the queen after all, and I told you never to rope me in with all the other women you’ve been with didn’t i?”Murmurs fill the room, Patrick demeanor changed from unbothered to an angry one as he slowly rose from his chair and hovered over the lady as he glared down at her

“Leave us”The order was directed to everyone in the large room at that moment, from the officials down to the waiting servants, except the queen“But my lord, our discussion…”

“Are you all deaf?!” Larissa shouted “get out already!”

“Larissa!” Patrick growled as he grabbed her hand to stop her sudden hysteria, the officials and everyone in the room leaving in a hurry not wanting to be caught up in whatever that was, John closed the door after him as he too left.Larissa mewled at the touch, plus he called her by her name for the first time

She blinked rapidly, her eyes searching his for a sign of his anger so she too could act on it and they could go on fighting, she found none.

Patrick leaned in close to her, his breath fanning over her face

“I was counting the minutes to see how long it would take for you to come here yourself” he breathed out his anger completely dissipating “it took longer than I expected”

“They told me to wait patiently for you” she whispered back, her heart beating with something different than the anger she had felt before Patrick chuckled at that and her face went beet red in embarrassment “I should write that down then, you listen well, and you get angry when a promise isn’t kept right”

“Are you studying me Patrick?” she glanced up at him from her thick straight eyelashes making the man bite back a smile“I want to learn everything about you Larissa, the force of nature that you are”Larissa roped her arms around his neck as she leaned up on her toes to be close to him

“You could just ask me when we spend time together, I can talk about me all day long and hear about you too

”And with that Patrick connected their already slightly touching lips together in a deep kiss, his hands going around her thin waist.“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea either”