Chapter 28: Twenty-Eight

Chandler When the first apology came, it was from the king whose borders were closed against me, I did not think anything of it. In fact, I barely skimmed through the letter since he was a man whom I did not like to even breathe the same air as.

Then the second came and then the third by the next morning. Hearing that three kings sent me letters within the space of one week was disturbing, disturbing enough that I settled down and read the three letters at once.

By the time I was done, I was unsure of what reactions I should have. I did not know if I should be angry or ignore my wife's action, confront her, or praise her. I was leaning towards being angry with her and praising her, but one thing was indeed certain in all this. I felt humbled by the fact that she went ahead and told the world what happened to her. She still was not comfortable with the thought that it happened since she had shut it out of her mind for so long, but she took a brave decision.

I felt proud of her and proud to be the man by her side. She still needed reprimand for her actions.

A knock sounded and Thann entered without knocking, as usual.

“What if I was not in the mood for guests or I was indecent or something, you have to stop barging in,” I said as greeting to Thann who rolled his eyes at me.

“Why will you be indecent when Tatiana is in the gardens with Garnet and I had passed her on my way here? If you were with her, I would understand the indecency part.” Thann replied as I sighed. Sometimes I do not even know why I bothered with trying to get Thann to knock or treat me with respect.

“Why are you here?”

“Two more letters from other kings came in, that makes five, I was wondering if we need to prepare for war or if I needed to hold you down from going after them swinging and alone,” Thann said.

“You would hold me down if I tried going after them?” I raised my eyebrow.

“Of course, why would I let you leave and have all the fun without me, now if the offer is open for me then you know that I will have absolutely no problem with that,” Thann responded and I just shook my head.

Thann will always be Thann, annoying, and very confusing to deal with, and also my best friend to support my actions without even knowing the reason behind them.

“Tatiana did something brave, something which I never expected from her and something which I am sure not a lot of people can do. Ever.” I added to lay more emphasis on my words and Thann who has made it his life mission to see a vein of mine explode because of the anger I feel towards him replied.

“Yes, I know that being with you is a huge difficulty and you want to tell the world, but you need to relax sometimes with the way you sing her praises. People would start to think that your wife pulls your strings.” Thann said.

After taking in deep breathes and praying for strength not to kill this man before me, I continued through gritted teeth and ignored Thann's words and the laughter in his eyes since he knows of my internal battle and my need for wanting to beat him into a pulp right now.

“That was not what I meant, Thann. he wrote letters to a lot of kings, if not all, and these letters are their apologies sent in response to her letters,” I tell Thann who became serious.

“Your wife wrote to all the kings?” Thann asked and I shrugged.

“Yes, I am suspecting that she would something of that sort,” I replied with a fond smile on my face.

“If a woman could tell the world of her ordeal just to make things easier for you… well, you certainly do not need me to tell you that she is a keeper, you are already aware of that fact.” Thann said and when I did not reply, he added. “You are damn lucky, brother; you need to start acting like it. I know that you have been civil to her and that you still kept her at an arm’s reach, trying to prevent yourself from falling fully, but that kind of woman is the type you give your all to because she gives her all to you too. And she started doing this already since you killed Anthony. I mean, the next day she shed her normal gowns and started wearing the ones fashioned for this kingdom, and even though it took her a while to get used to it, she never complained once.” Thann mentioned and I nodded. He does not need to tell me all these because I was here while she changed and became the perfect woman or rather, she did not change, she just let me in instead and now, it was my turn for me to return her actions.

“I understand… you need to stop preaching, I have already decided to go all in,” I responded.

‘So, you are moving Breena and revoking her power.” Thann asked, looking happy at his deduction, one that I did not contribute to, and when he noticed that I was not saying anything, he said, “You are not going to demote Breena or remove any power from her are you?” When I did not reply, he shook his head at me, and without another word, he dropped the letters he came with at my table and turned and left without another word.

Thann own I could solve later but what I really wanted to do was be with Tatiana right now. I saw her in the garden which Thann had mentioned in passing. Garnet saw me first and then bowed and backed away while Tatiana talked a mile a minute about the plant before her. he sounded so excited that I could not help but smile.

After putting her father in his place and dealing with Anthony’s father, I will send Thann to lead wars in my absence, build a garden for her just so that I can see her this happy all the time.

“You are so unvigilant of your surroundings,” I said and watched as she spun around with a gasp, trying to see who was behind her and ending up becoming unstable because of her sudden movement. I quickly reached for her to prevent her from falling.

When I stopped her fall with my hands on her waist, she beamed a happy smile at me. “My hero.”

“My vexing queen,” I responded and watched as her look turned to confusion. I will also spend days with her in bed so I can learn each of her facial expressions although the ones I know I will be mainly concerned with then would be ecstasy. I think I would even get addicted to it.

“What have I done this time?” She asked me with a glare, apparently not finding humor in the name like I did.

“Nothing much, other than tell kings your secrets. I actually feel like strangling you for that stunt you pulled,” I answered her as her smile become strained.

“Well, I could not see things going better so I decided to say the reason, you are right they never asked for the explanation but it was mine to share to whoever I wanted to and so I did share it to avoid a war.” She lifted her chin, acting proud while I could see the uncertainty in her eyes. I did not want to punish her. I wanted to thank her, and that I did.

I kissed her and immediately, she went lax in my arms, her hands weakly wrapping around my hair, I really did not want to pull away from her, I would have taken her there and then if not for giggles sounding.

I broke our kiss and turned in the direction, only to see some maids who laughing and watching us. When my face morphed into a scowl, they quickly curtsied and rushed out like the hounds of hell were chasing after them.

I looked down on Tatiana who was looking at me, her lips the right shade of red from my kisses, and I was tempted to continue but I didn’t. “I came to tell you thank you.”

Tatiana looked at me in shock, but I ignored her look. “I would like to try with you, no holds barred, I want you to be my queen, not just to other royals but everywhere, you will take charge of your position and my people will respect you,” I told her, and she smiled even with tears gathering in her eyes.

And because I was male with a warm and willing woman in my arms who looked like a vision and will look even more amazing between my sheets, I carried Tatiana in my arms as she squealed in surprise and proceeded to my chambers. She was my wife, and no one should stop me from enjoying her charms whenever I like.

She laughed in my arms when she realized where I was taking her to, she also wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed my neck, I stumbled a little before I righted myself and increased my pace.

Living right with Tatiana was going to be something that I would love.