Even though Riah was indeed a short form of her name, she just—
"Do not call me that." She turned her face away from him and a scoff left his lips followed by a low chuckle.
"I am not allowed to call you Spitfire, and I am not allowed to call you Riah, and I fear you would say I am not worthy of calling your name too. So what do you want me to call you, princess?" He had leaned close to her face again. This time he was too close and if there was one thing she had learnt now, it was that each time he was that close to her face, it meant danger!
"Hm? Tell me. What shall I call you?" He asked and she didn’t like his closeness one bit! This was how it always started. This damned closeness, then she wouldn’t realize it till she was deeply in his arms letting out very degrading and disgraceful sounds from her mouth.
They were both bathed so why was the clean scent coming from him much stronger? She was breathing in the man and it was nothing but hot breaths...
"You—" She placed her hand upon his chest and pushed him away from her face. "Do not call me at all." she yelled as she climbed down from the bed and ran for dear life, only to have the sheets yanked from her grasps, leaving her completely naked to his eyes in daylight!!
"You—" She was too embarrassed to even talk, her entire body flushed at once. Instantly, she ran into the closet, his boisterous laughter following her every step of the way.
...
"Who are we waiting for?" Neriah asked as they both sat in a beautiful hall sipping tea. Well, he was sipping tea while she just glared dagger at him.
"You know my dear, patience is also a virtue." He replied and sipped his tea again like it was some kind of immaculate nectar.
"Do not speak to me about virtue, you beastly barbarian." She retorted and his response to her was the loud slurping of his tea and it vexed her deeply. "You are a child, a spoiled brat, you know that?" She hissed.
"Well that makes us two beautiful seeds in a pod. We are both brats. But you, my dear wife, are much more bratty." He lifted his teacup to her as if saying cheers and she just scoffed and turned her eyes toward the dying sun.
But then, "Seriously, what are we waiting for?" She inquired yet again and he laughed at her impatience.
Indeed they were waiting for someone, but also he brought her into that hall earlier than the time they were supposed to meet with the person because it had a mesmerizing view when the sun was setting. The hall was usually cast in a beautiful glow of orange, red and gold when the sun set. Other than the very few furniture in the hall, it was empty and this gave room for the light from outside to fill the place completely.
He enjoyed resting in that room, just quietly watching the sunset alone. And he wanted to share the beautiful feeling with her. But she was really an impatient cat.
"Your Highness, Lady Lazar has arrived." Neriah heard someone call from behind the door.
"Enter." Barak said and the door opened. Walking in was a young woman who seemed to be around her age, she was not dressed in Tragonian attire. Her clothes were somewhat similar to Neriah. Her short hair was a shade of date fruit, her eyes matched the color of her hair. Neriah wondered who she was.
"I, Eliza Lazar, greet the little suns of Trago, May the peace of Narcissus be upon you." She bowed her head and greeted them both. Eliza Lazar, for some reason, the name left a pleasant feel on Neriah’s tongue.
"Welcome Eliza, I am certain it is obvious but this is my wife and as we had previously discussed, you will be in charge of teaching her everything she needs to know till she can fluently speak Tragish." Neriah’s mouth opened in a silent oh. She had totally forgotten that he did tell her in the morning that they would be meeting with her tutor in the evening.
"It is my utmost honor to be in the service of the crown princess." The lady bowed her head even lower toward Neriah and Barak scoffed, causing both ladies to stare at him with confusion.
"Ah, ’tis just that she hates people saying they are honored to meet her. Because she does not feel the same. He explained and Neriah could not believe him. He was indeed a child! Just because of what happened earlier with his so-called best friend, he was saying this now.
She’d just ignore him, "I shall be in your care Lady Lazar." She simply said and the lady smiled at her.
"Well then, I will be on my way." He rose to his feet, "You two can discuss for now and start the teaching tomorrow. You can use this room for your classes or any other place that would be comfortable for you both." He paused to see if she had anything to say to him, but his lovely wife seemed like she couldn’t wait for him to be gone.
"Well then—" He left his words hanging and majestically walked away from them and out of the hall.
A cold silence enveloped the room as soon as he walked out. It almost seemed like he took the warmth and light of the place with him.
"So uhm, what are the things I would be needing for the study?" Neriah calmly asked, but then brows cringed as she quickly realized that the expression on the face of the woman had changed. She could not explain it but there seemed to be some kind of malice toward her.
"Learning tragish will not be an easy task. If you are not strong-minded, I would advise that you quit now." What was wrong with her? Neriah could only wonder. What was with the tone of her voice and her haughty eyes?