Come Love A Stranger

Twenty four

Mariah opened her eyes to the bright light shining into the room, she stretched herself on the bed and details of last night flashed in her mind, she turned on the bed immediately to see the beautiful face of the man lying beside her. His slivery hair was white in the light sipping into the room through the window and sprawled around her pillow and most of his face. She softly reached forward and tucked the strands of hair out of his face, revealing his full beauty to her. She had never seen him in day time before, never with the day light on and finally she saw him now and she ended up wondering why he only shows himself to her at night, it seemed as if he looked more handsome in day time.
She traced her finger softly on his beautifully carved eyebrows and then traced down to his perfectly pointed nose and then his thin lips. She briefly remembered how soft and tantalizing it felt kissing him last night at the palace garden and she softly bit her lower lips, fighting the urge of kissing him again. She glanced down at the black tunic he was wearing, wondering why he always dressed so old fashioned and why it must be in black tunic. He had looked really captivating last night and she wondered where he had gotten the clothes he had on because she could tell it wasn’t his, otherwise why hadn’t he worn them before?
She tangled his hair on her fingers, loving the silkiness of it, wondering how a man’s hair could be so long and so soft, a smile graced her lips and she grabbed some strands of her hair and placed beside his in her hand, loving the color combination. Black and white, the color reminded her of a sight she had witnessed back in the woods and which she would never forget, the night she had seen a dragon, even though Alador made it sound impossible and that she was possibly dreaming, she will never forget the beautiful beast’s color, black body and white wings, “such a magnificent creature,” she murmured, her eyes going back to the face of the sleeping man.
Mariah smiled more profoundly, her gaze going from his long lashes to his lips once more and again, she was overcame with the urge of kissing him and a thought suddenly occurred to her, he was sleeping, there was no way he would know she kissed him if she do it lightly. She licked her lips and started leaning closer to him slowly, she closed her eyes and just as her lips were about to touch his, she heard a knock on the door and opened her eyes immediately. The man before her was still sleeping and she knew who was at the door, Kayla had come to dress her up, but why now? Why couldn’t she wait a while more? She wondered, she knew she should wake him up and figure how to get him out of the room or where to hide so that Kayla wouldn’t see him but she decided to first steal her kiss before doing any other thing.
She gulped, closed her eyes and leaned closer again to his lips but she heard a soft chuckle and opened her eyes immediately, his eyes were still close but she could obviously see that he was smiling.
“Why do you always do this?” Alador asked and she froze, he opened his softly to gaze at her, a smile still playing on his lips.
Mariah had been embarrassed he caught her but his words shocked her, “always?” she asked.
Her question seemed to have jagged Alador’s memories and he realized that he had said something he shouldn’t have. He sat up on the bed immediately with his back to her, “I should go.”
“Alador,” she called and grabbed his arm, pushing herself up on her elbow, “don’t go.”
Alador turned to her then with a raised eyebrow, “do you really mean that? There is someone at the door, what if it’s your parents?”
“It’s not my parents,” she replied, “it’s Kayla, she has come to dress me.”
The knock came again followed by Kayla’s voice, “my Lady, it is me, can I come in?”
Alador looked from the door at her, “you would not want her to see me right?”
Mariah bit her lip, “yes.”
“Then?”
“You can hide.”
“Where? And do not say your wardrobe,” he added with a chuckle, “I cannot fit in there.”
“Says who? It’s pretty large,” she climbed out of the bed immediately and went to her wardrobe, she opened it and turned to Alador who had followed her, “see?”
Alador smiled and looked in the wardrobe, “it is pretty large.”
“And you are of normal size, you can fit in.”
“Lady Mariah, who are you talking to?” Kayla asked from outside and Mariah covered her mouth with her hand immediately while Alador chuckled, “Lady Mariah, please let me in.”
Mariah looked at Alador pleadingly and he closed his eyes and sighed before climbing into the wardrobe. Mariah smiled and caressed his cheek before taking off a red gown and closing the door. She walked to the door and opened it, “Kayla, you are late.”
“No my lady, I arrived at the normal time,” Kayla said immediately.
“But I have already been up and I have even chosen a dress for myself.”
Kayla looked at the bed and seeing the red gown, she bowed her head immediately, “I am sorry my lady, I don’t know what happened.”
“It’s alright, just hurry up. What of Mary?”
“Your mother called for her my lady,” Kayla answered, walking into the room to fix her bath.
“Okay, what of my father, has he left for the palace?”
“No my lady, he has not come down yet.”
“Oh,” Mariah answered, she saw Sheila going to the wardrobe and rushed and picked her up immediately. Her action got Kayla looking at her and she cleared her throat, “well hurry up, I do not have all day,” she went and sat on the bed with Sheila on her lap.
“Yes my lady,” Kayla answered and got to work.
“Mariah,” she heard and the door opened to reveal her smiling mother, “darling, how are you?”
“Mother,” Mariah yelped, standing on her feet immediately and dropping Sheila who fell on the ground and ran under the bed to lick her wound. She felt bad for her but she couldn’t worry about her now, what is her mother doing in her room this morning? “Mother.”
“Are you okay dear?” Lydia asked walking up to her and cupping her cheeks, “you look pale my dear.”
“I am-I am okay mother, I am fine,” she smiled, “what-what are you doing here?”
“Oh, silly child,” Lydia chuckled, “to dress you of course. The king sent Jacob to come tell us he would be joining us for breakfast, so it is by right that I help dress you to look beautiful for him.”
“What!” Mariah shouted, shocking both her mother and Kayla.
“Goodness, child, what is wrong?” Lydia asked.
Mariah couldn’t contain her anger, her face visibly showed it; “the king is coming here?”
Lydia frowned, “yes dear, what is wrong with it?”
“Why, I was at his palace last night.”
“I do not understand my dear, you are his bride, he deserves to come see you whenever he wants.”
“I do not want him to, I do not want to see him, tell father to tell Jacob to go tell him that I do not want to see him,” she ordered angrily.
“Don’t be stupid, child, why would we do that?” Lydia was angry as well, “you are going to get dressed and we are going to wait for him in the drawing room,” she said and turned to walk to her wardrobe.
Seeing her direction woke Mariah up momentarily from her anger, “no mother, what are you doing?”
“Getting a dress for you of course.”
“I have already chosen a dress, see,” she picked up the red dress immediately, “I will wear this one,” she was panicking but didn’t want to show it.
Lydia looked at the dress she was holding and shook her head, “you cannot wear that and meet the king,” she turned to the wardrobe immediately.
“No mother, no,” Mariah shouted but she had already opened the wardrobe.