AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She walked into the ballroom, which was beginning to be set for the wedding party. The ceremony would take place outside in one of the courtyards. In the ballroom there would be dancing. Various banquet halls feasts, and outside there would be tables laden with food as well.
It would be a time of celebration for everybody.
And she couldn’t help but wonder how Riyaz would feel about that.
He seemed determined to go forward with all of this and not feel anything.
The thought stopped her cold.
Maybe that was part of her own disquiet.
Riyaz handled everything much better than she ever could’ve imagined. But he also seemed... Cold. Distant in a way. As if he was cut off from everything. And maybe that was the only way he could get through it. Maybe it wasn’t fair to think that it might be a problem.
After all, when his emotions had gotten close to the surface she had seen what happened.
His PTSD episodes had come when he was pushed too far. And maybe to protect himself from that he had to stay extra detached during these first weeks of his official rule.
Maybe that was all it was.
That thought carried her toward his study. Where she knew that he would be working now.
The throne room was ceremonial. He liked the library for certain things. But for heavy paperwork, she knew that he did like the desk that his father had once done his work at.
She wandered through the glittering palace, looking around at all of the beauty.
Yes. There were ghosts here. But more than that, there was history. There was something beautiful about this place, even if there was darkness here as well.
There was something special about it. Even if it was challenging.
All was contained here. The good and the bad.
The betrayal, the tragedy, but the love that had been here as well.
She could feel it all right then.
She wished that she had known his mother. He could barely speak about her. And she knew that meant that he had loved her very much. Because it hurt too bad to talk about her.
She could understand that.
I care about your son. Very much. I just want you to know.
She said that silent thought, that near prayer out into the universe. And then she looked at him.
“How is everything?”
“Good,” he said.
“You’re not working too hard, are you?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Would you have any idea what working too hard was?”
“I might. Are you playing the part of nagging wife in a sitcom?”
He asked it with humor, and she took it that way.
“Maybe. Is that so bad if my nagging is about your well-being?”
