Chapter 147

147 Everyone loves her

Go to sleep? Zavian had just dismissed her like she was one of his soldiers on duty. He stood so close to her, and Jasmine could feel the magnetic pull from him. Being picked as his Queen was one of the best days of her life, and her joy was bursting at the seams, but looking up at the King’s face, she could not say the same for him.

“I will... wait for you,” she said. Zavian looked at her, and Jasmine tried to push back the heat rising from her belly up to her face. Perhaps a night of passion and pleasure was all he needed to give their marriage a head start. As she stared back up at him, parting his lips as if to release some words, she wondered what it must be like to kiss him, hold him, touch him...

She quelled the thoughts. Patience, she told herself; she didn’t want to push him away, so she had to be patient.

Before Zavian could search his head for the words to say to his new bride, Jasmine walked away, throwing a coy glance at him over her shoulder as maids tailed after her. Any demon would want to bed such a beautiful woman, but Zavian felt nothing when he looked at her.

A hand landed on his shoulder. Knowing who it was, Zavian didn’t bother to turn.

“You really shouldn’t leave your bride waiting for long,” Azriel’s brows wiggled suggestively. He was drunk, and for Azriel to be drunk means he must have downed almost one barrel of wine. The demon had a strong stomach and once-in-a-blue-moon drunken stupors. “And if you want any tips for tonight, I would be happy to supply in plentiful, your Majesty.”

“Thank you, Azriel, but keep your bedroom affairs to yourself. I don’t want any part of that information.”

“You sure you don’t want to know why ladies keep coming back to me? It’s information men will sell their souls for.”

Zavian chuckled. He scanned the area once more, but there was no sign of Neera. Close to the pine tree, a singer strung his lyre to a slow melody, clearly still basking in the remaining sweet hours the day had to offer. A few sentinels and maids loitered around and talked, and some carted away bags of trash for disposal. There was no sign of Neera anywhere among them, and not even at the banquet hall for the celebratory feast.

.....

“Go on up, your Majesty;”, Azriel urged with a light push. “I too have my hands full tonight.” He said with a wink.

“In a moment,” Zavian told his friend. Azriel didn’t push on the matter any further, and he strode off to a buxom giggling woman, one of the countless who had swarmed around him all night for the infamous rake was too much, a temptatious opportunity for female demons, humans and witches included, to resist.

Zavian wished he understood how Azriel did it, to pass through women as easily as he passed through days.

Zavian headed to his chambers after a considerable amount of time was spent taking in the fresh air that has been formerly soaked up with the smell of festive food. He shook off the stiffness from his body and rubbed his jaw to ease the painful effects of the perfunctory smiles he had to wear all day. Whoever said forcing a smile was easy clearly hadn’t tried it, for his mouth felt pulled to the back of his skull with strings.

When Zavian arrived at his quarters, he stopped in the passageway. He looked to his chamber door, where Jasmine would probably be waiting for him, primed for their first night together. He tried not to look too long at Neera’s door, but instead of just giving it a mere glance before he retreated to his chambers, Zavian found his feet moving towards it as if they had a mind of their own.

What are you doing?

The functioning part of Zavian’s brain, holding the last bits of his senses together, took control of him when his hand almost reached Neera’s doorknob;

I need to just make sure she is safe and within the castle grounds; the King convinced himself. An obvious lie, he knew.

You saw her today. She looked beautiful, ravishingly so. She smiled at you all through the event. You both have been inseparable for a week before the wedding. If she would be anywhere tonight, you know it is in her chambers.

Sure enough, Zavian could see the dim light from under the door. But before his rational sensibilities could take hold of him again, Zavian opened the door and stepped in.

There, seated on the bed, was Neera, still dressed in that gown and hair adorned in luscious ringlets of silver curls that shone from the candlelights of the room. She lifted her head upon seeing him, her lips parted, and they both remained speechless for a while.

“What are you doing here?” Neera whispered. She hurried to close her chamber doors and still had that expression of disbelief in her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here. It is your wedding.”

“Would you like me to leave?”

Neera folded her arms, and her head kept doing that thing like she wanted to look towards the door but could not bring herself to. Zavian could see the rational sensibilities he had outside her door and wanted to try its little trick on her too.

“Princess Jas... The Queen is a really sweet and kind person. Would I be a terrible person if I say my answer is, No, I don’t want you to leave?”

“Am I a terrible demon for being here instead of with her?”

Neera bit down on her lower lip. “You made the right choice. Everyone loves her.”

“If I had my way, I wouldn’t be making my choice from any of them, and you know that.”

Neera’s gaze met his. The red from the candles reflected in them, but the sheen Zavian saw was something else. He wondered if she had been crying earlier.

“And besides,” he wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her close. “I never got to see you all day, and you just disappeared. And I never got to tell you how beautiful you look in this dress. I could not take my eyes off of you in that hall.”