Chapter Nine. Celebration

When Alexa was done ensuring that her highness had eaten and was now exhausted and needed to rest, she excused herself and left the king's Chambers to go and catch some sleep. Much as the princess was distressed and she would have loved to stay by her side for some more time and comfort her, she was exhausted herself and needed some rest so she left and she was sure her highness also understood.

Not to mention they both knew that they had to prepare themselves both physically and mentally for what might come at them as their punishment from the king. Who knows, this was a whole new kingdom that differed from theirs by a whole lot of rules.

Maria whom had been left behind sat on the bed not feeling any sleep at all much as she tried to will herself to sleep. She pondered on what Alexa had told her and how she had been acting towards the great king and her heartbeat palpitated in her chest as she was filled with guilt and anticipation of what might come at her.

It was the time that she forgot about Alexa for a moment as her mind nolonger wandered about making the young maid her friend when she was engrossed with worry. She sat and waited for a long time but the great king never came back to their Chambers to check on her.

'He really must be furious' she thought with dread to herself. Until somewhere deep in the night, the fairy of sleep finally decided to fullfil her wish as she fell asleep right where she was sitting on the bed.

The next day when Maria woke up, she was well tucked under the blankets but there was no one in the bed with her. Thinking that her husband might have just woken up before her, she reached out her hand and patted his side of the bed,but it was as cold as the night breeze signifying that no one had slept there at all the past night.

She looked back at where she had slept the previous night wondered whether she really had tucked her self comfortably under the blankets before she fell asleep but she was sure she hadn't.

And no one would dare touch her,a princess and the king's wife and even put her to bed not to mention dare to tuck her under the blankets so warmly like that. That could only mean that Darius did come back to the chamber but then left without even sleeping near her.

She had repeatedly wronged him and now he was mad at her for a good reason. Her heart slightly palpitated at the thought of him but not because of the dread that she felt for what her punishment to come might be like. It was because she thought of all he was doing for her from catching her all the times she had been falling to now tucking her into bed. The thought brought a warm feeling to her heart.

She got out of the bed and prepared herself to wait for him. She had already made up her mind that she would apologize to him if he came back. But he didn't. She had her breakfast alone in the chamber and then sat by the large glass door that over looked the beautiful flower garden on the other side of the chamber.

The garden was so beautiful and she wished she could go out and sit there for some time but she remembered his firm words that she wasn't supposed to leave the Chamber. Much as she wished she could, she did not want to make him any angrier at her than he already was and so she refrained herself from leaving the chamber.

She stood up and went to collect a book from a rack in her personal chamber and sat back down into her chair. She chose a book that explained more about marriage without pondering on why it even caught her interest and she slowly flipped the pages and started to read. She was only on the third page when a movement in the garden she was facing caught her attention.

Right there in the garden stood the woman that she and her husband had gone to greet the moment they stepped foot into the palace after their wedding. She was smiling widely as a servant placed a bottle of expensive wine on the small table that was near the swing in the garden and then pulled out chair with a bow for her to sit.

Another maid was approaching her with three glasses on a tray but Maria couldn't see anyone in the woman's company. Could it be that she was planning on sharing her wine with

....?

Maria clasped her mouth hard at the mere thought of the same woman who had looked at her and her husband with hostility just when they had just gotten married. For a moment,Maria wondered whether this woman was actually going to have the wine with the servants but then she saw her wave her hand in the air and dismiss the servants who looked more than relieved to be out of the older royalty's company but still Maria saw no other company joining her. She couldn't blame the poor maids, the woman spelled nothing like hospitality around herself.

She continued to watch as the queen mother signaled another maid to fil lthe three glasses in front of her with the wine before that maid too disappeared from her view and left the woman alone but she didn't look sad, instead she looked more than happy and seemed to be having a good time or even celebrating something.

But as she brought a glass of wine to her lips and sipped it, the queen mother's eyes caught Maria starring at her and she instantly halted but not before she chocked on the wine that she had been starting to swallow and spilled the rest that was still in her mouth on the maid that had poured the wine for her earlier and was standing on the other side of the table waiting to refill the glass of wine later when the queen mother finished it.

The maid looked so terrified and bowed deeply in apology making Maria wonder what she had done wrong with being bathed with wine right from the other woman's mouth. Maria could see the queen mother looking angrily at the maid and she felt a bit guilty for putting the maid into her current situation because it had been herself to stare at the older woman and got her startled leading to all that was happening right now.

The next thing that Maria saw was the maid getting slapped hard on the face before another glass full glass of wine was thrown her way bathing the maid even farther in the wine.

Unable to sit and watch more,Maria swung open the glass double doors and stepped out of the chamber right into the garden and took elegant measured steps towards the scene to see if perhaps the older woman had been hurt by the wine and that was what had triggered her fury towards the maid.

When she reached the spot, the queen mother who was now holding another glass of wine in her hand and was commanding the maid who was kneeling on the ground now shaking violently with fear to open her mouth wide and drink all the wine in one single gulp as the queen mother would pour it into her mouth without any faults and not to let a single drop fall to the ground or else the maid would highly regret it as she would be punished by the law.

She said all that in an extremely sinister voice that would send chills to whoever was listening and Maria wondered what great crime had the maid committed in receiving wine from the woman's mouth.

Maria who had come all the way unnoticed now stood behind the queen mother who was bending over the kneeling and frightened maid cleared her throat. The queen mother was so startled she nearly jumped before she spilled the wine in the glass on her own elegant light blue gown leaving a huge visible stain instantly and then turned around with so much rage to scold the intruder when she faced a widely smiling Maria who held the sides of the skirt of her dress and curtisied to the older woman as she bowed her head along in greeting.

"Who the h..." the queen mother swallowed the rest of her sentence and glared at the immoral and stupid wife of the king with distaste.

"Greetings your highness" spat the immoral girl. " I am King Darius's wife Maria"she shamelessly continued which was fuming the queen mother even more..."and....ah your gown is ruined!" she exclaimed.

"My sincere apologies,I didn't mean to startle you like that" by this time, the queen mother felt she could barely hold her anger any more. "Why don't you let me help you change...if you perhaps don't mind" offered the wretched thing and the queen mother couldn't find the right words to say to her.

"No." she replied firmly before she elegantly turned and left the place feeling like she could burst any minute with rage. She would definitely deal with her later. 'How treacherous!' she fumed in her mind.

How could that imbecile Darius make her believe his wicked wife had fled when he was merely bluffing! 'what the h*ll is he planning?' thought the older woman as she squinted her eyes before she yelled for the damned maid to come and help her out of her gown. One of these days she might definitely die of yelling!

.....

Maria watched as the enraged queen mother fumed out of the garden towards the other side of the palace and turned towards where the maid was still kneeling with her head bowed.

"Are you alright?" she asked and the maid looked even more terrified before she nodded like a rattle with her eyes falling back to the ground. Maria understood. It definitely wasn't a daily occurrence for royalty to inquire about a servant's well being.

"Yes your highness" she answered and Maria nodded before she added.

"It's okay now. You can go and change your clothes"she said before she turned around and left the scene as well leaving the maid's mouth hanging open as she wondered whether she was being tricked into a heavier punishment or she was about to be drugged out of the palace for offending the queen mother.

When Maria reached back at their Chamber, she closed the double doors again before she turned around and froze right at the spot. Because right before her stood her husband the great king and his gaze was locked at her while his jaw worked and Maria swallowed in dread.