Chapter Thirteen. Fix it

That night when they both finally returned to the palace,it was already late in the night and Maria was grateful he had given it some time to spend outside with her. Much as she used to sneak out of her chamber and enjoy horse riding back home, Maria didn't usually go outside the palace grounds as her parents used to say it wasn't safe for her. So, for her husband to give it time and take her outside the palace, she couldn't ask for a much bigger gift than that.

They took their horses back to the stables and Maria noticed that just like a soldier, Darius had no problem with doing most of the things for himself from ignoring the servant's back laid down for him to step into as he got off his horse and mounting down himself to guiding his horse back to where he was supposed to be and that impressed her even more.

Maria handed the reins of her own white stallion Rose to the watchman and went over to where Darius was waiting for her. She couldn't believe all she had assumed the man to be was all proven false.

She reached where he stood and he looked at her while she felt his gaze on her but couldn't look back at him as she let her eyes wander elsewhere but him until his voice brought her eyes back to him.

"You..." he said but didn't complete his sentence and Maria stared into his eyes before she saw him raising and extending his hand towards her.

Maria's eyes couldn't leave Darius as he he reached out to touch her hair softly and her heart ran into tumoil as it raced until he pulled out a smaller peace of hay from her hair and brought it before her eyes before he took his hand back. Maria's gaze couldn't break away from his green eyes though.

"Thank you" she mammered softly feeling her turn slightly pink while her gaze shifted to look at the ground and he nodded before they silently walked beside each other towards the palace and back to their Chamber.

"Are you hungry?" asked Darius and Maria shook her head.

"Am alright. You?" she asked.

"Am fine" he answered and she headed towards their bed to rest for the night but he didn't join her.

"I will be back in a moment" he said and turned around to leave as she nodded.

As she lay down on the bed alone, Maria's mind wandered on the things Darius had done for her sofar which were all good and opposite to what she could have expected from him. He was unbelievably gentle and tolerant to an unimaginable extent and her heart thought it was a blessing that she had met him.

She waited for some time but the king didn't come back until she was about to fall asleep when he finally came back to their Chamber. Maria wondered what could have happened to him because she saw his jaw work and not in a good way before he pulled his coat off of him and put it away and then went to change into his night clothes.

Darius came back to the royal chamber wearing only his boxers and he lay down beside a gaping Maria who couldn't believe he was half naked and going to bed together with her.

"D.. Darius"Maria called as she gulped along with feeling extremely embarrassed because of his half naked state before her right now not to mention laying in even as she was his wife. "Do you... I mean...do you go to bed naked?...I mean...half naked?" Maria stuttered feeling her cheeks heat up while her mind screamed at her to stop acting stupid.

For a moment, Darius just stared at her before realizing what she meant and he cursed under his breath. Maria could see that he was troubled even as she didn't know why and when he got up and put his feet down, he was about to go and put something on his naked chiseled upper torso when he felt her smaller tender hand hold his and he halted.

"What is the problem?" she asked. "Are you alright?" she sounded concerned and he nodded but didn't meet her eyes that were glued at him. "Darius..?" she called softly and he looked at her before he abruptly moved onto the bed and embraced her into a tight hug.

Maria who was completely caught by surprise took some time before she could understand what was going on and then brought her hand to softly caress his back which was bare of any cloths. She could hear his breath which was something like controlled anger and wondered what could have happened to him within the brief moment that he had stepped out.

"Am sorry" she heard him whisper and she wondered what he could have done that he was suddenly whispering but she guessed he may not have wanted to talk about it so she didn't probe him more and just continued to soothingly caress his back.

"It's okay" she whispered back without knowing what she was even talking about. "It will be alright" she added.

For a moment, Maria felt Darius stiffen in her arms before he gently pulled away from her embrace and there was a guilt all over his face as he looked at her. Not knowing what was going on with him, Maria reached out her hand to touch him but he pulled away before he stepped off the bed. Now she was completely confused.

Darius went back to their Chambers' dressing room feeling more awful than the way he had come in earlier. He didn't want to hurt her or worse take advantage of her good intentions and here he was, right from hugging her even as he was half naked and she had already showed him she was uncomfortable with just him being half naked yet now,...

He quickly flung a shirt over his naked torso he stared outside the window getting lost into his own world. He didn't know why the world was being this cruel to him and never had it chosen his side before. He stood there like that for so long he lost track of time until he heard the door cracking open.

"Darius?" called a now troubled Maria. "Is everything alright?" she asked walking over to him.

"Am sorry. Did I wake you up?" he asked sounding concerned and Maria wondered what could have happened to that he was suddenly apologizing every now and then.

"No." she shook her head. "I haven't been sleeping" she said and he continued to look at her.

"Do you have trouble sleeping?" he asked and again she shook her head no.

"Are you sure you are alright?" she then asked and he looked away from her.

"Go back to sleep." he commanded suddenly. "I will join you later" he added but she wasn't convinced even as his commanding voice fazed her earlier.

"But..." she started again and he glared at her,sealing her mouth with just a look in an instant. Maria who felt her husband turning back to the way he was the very night of their wedding rushed out of the dressing room and loudly closed the door behind her before she ran over and burried her head in the pillow and wept silently. He had been alright just a few minutes ago and she couldn't understand why he was suddenly being Curt and rude towards her again. She continued to weep silently until she just fell asleep.

Darius who remained in the dressing room until then berated himself for being a bad person and husband that he was. His wife had only sought to console him and he had chased her away in such a way he was sure she was crying. He tried his best to become the soft and gentle husband that she needed but miserably failed and with all that was on his head right then,he could only slump back into a chair and sit down trying to think and find out what could have gone wrong.

The next day when Maria woke up, she knew Darius wouldn't be beside her and true enough he wasn't and still, she wondered where he could have spent the night if not here with her. She got out of bed and rushed to the dressing room but he wasn't there either and she felt a sudden disappointment encase her heart. Even as he had sent her away from him,he at least should have told her before he left but he didn't and it hurt her a lot not to mention he hadn't apologized yet for shouting at her for no apparent reason.

She went back to the bedroom to wait for the maids to come and help her take a bath when she halted. Right there seated on the other side of the bed was Darius staring into space and instead of rejoicing that he finally came back to her,her heart felt pained remembering how he had sent her away from himself last night and she decided to ignore him instead.

When his eyes caught sight of her,he turned to face her and his eyes met her's before he greeted..

"Good morning" he said

"Good morning" she returned the exact words not bothering to ask him how he slept and she swiftly made her way towards the other side of the bed but only to pick up her hair pin on the bedside table and leave once again. Darius could tell something was wrong with his wife. Not that he was unaware of what he had done,but how to fix it was the problem. He thought as he watched her close the bathroom door behind her.