Come Love A Stranger

Twenty-five

Lydia turned to look at Mariah, “what is wrong? Why were you shouting?”
Mariah didn’t answer, her gaze remained on the open wardrobe, wondering why she hasn’t seen Alador yet.
“Mariah?” Lydia called worriedly, walking back to her, she cupped her cheeks and looked into her eyes, “is everything alright my dear?”
Mariah gulped and nodded twice, “yes, yes mother.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes mother,” she looked back at the empty wardrobe and then back at her mother and smiled softly, “I am fine, mother.”
Lydia smiled and walked back to the wardrobe, she rummaged through her clothes until she brought out an emerald green gown, “aye, this would suit you better, it matches with your eyes.”
“Yes mother,” she replied like a robot, all her thought was where Alador could be, she was sure she left him in the wardrobe and he didn’t have a chance to come out so where could he be? How come he wasn’t there? “huh?” she asked, realizing her mother was talking to her.
“I said, hurry up and take your bath, we wouldn’t want to keep the king waiting,” Lydia repeated, “I need to go get dressed as well, I will come check on you later. Kayla, change her hair style.”
“Yes, my lady,” Kayla bowed and Lydia left the room.
Mariah walked to the wardrobe and stared deeply into it, wanting to know if there was a hole in it big enough for Alador to crawl out from but there was no hole, and there was no presence of him in the room either, so where could he be? He said his powers don’t work in day time so how could he have disappeared?
“My Lady, your bath is ready,” Kayla called to her.
“Yes,” Mariah nodded, glancing at the wardrobe one last time before turning and walking up to Kayla to undress her.
While Kayla was styling her hair, her eyes remained on the looking glass until something on her bed caught her attention. It was Sheila and she was hanging in mid air with her eyes closed and purring softly. An action she only does when she was petting her so why was she hanging on mid air?
She was still wondering about the mystery of it all until an image started taking form, a hand was smoothening Sheila’s furs and suddenly she wasn’t hanging on midair anymore but resting on a black tunic, she frowned as the image took form completely and she realized that Alador was the one carrying her and petting her. She gasped immediately, almost jumping up from her seat in fright.
“My lady, is everything alright?” Kayla asked looking at her in the looking glass.
Mariah looked at Kayla and then at her bed where Alador was now looking at her, his fiery eyes burning deep into her soul and she looked at Kayla again to see she was still watching her and she wondered why she hadn’t shouted yet for seeing a man in her room but after waiting for a long time, Kayla showed no other reaction other than her worry about her. Mariah blinked and shook her head softly, “I’m fine,” she dismissed Kayla who went back to styling her hair while she kept staring at the man who was still staring back at her. Sheila was purring in his arms and might have drifted into sleep but he kept softly running his hand on her fur.
Mariah couldn’t understand what was happening, how could she see him and yet Kayla can’t? She frowned softly but Alador showed no reaction and just sat on the bed with his eyes locked with hers.
“Here my lady, do you like it?” Kayla asked after a while, breaking her concentration from the handsome man on her bed, she glanced briefly at her hair and nodded.
“Yes, it is alright.”
“Alright my lady, I’m happy you like it,” Kayla smiled in satisfaction on her work.
“Are you ready my dear,” Lydia asked pushing open the door, making Mariah turn sharply in fear that she would see Alador but her mother didn’t react differently and what shocked her most was that only Sheila was on her bed sleeping and Alador was nowhere to be found. She turned to her looking glass immediately and he was still there and she looked at her bed but he was not. Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest at what could be happening.
Why could she see him in the looking glass and Kayla can’t? Why could she see him in the looking glass but he was not in the room? What mystery is playing in her room? She searched frantically around but he was not there but whenever she looked at the looking glass, she would find him in the same position with Sheila resting on his laps and him softly petting her. She started feeling dizzy and almost lost her balance but her mother and Kayla rushed to her immediately to hold her.
“Mariah, what is the matter my dear?” Lydia asked worriedly, quickly feeling her forehead with her hand, “my gracious, you are burning up my dear.”
Mariah shut her eyes as she placed her hand on her temple, snippets of images flashing through her mind and she was in all of them as well as Alador. The images showed that she was in the garden playing with two maidens her age and Alador was in the shadow watching them with a smile. She would often turn to him and smile but whenever the maidens with her look at the same place they won’t see him while she would. “Ah,” she groaned, using her two hands to grab onto her head as she started having a severe headache.
“Darling, come, come lie on the bed,” Lydia and Kayla led her to bed and shifting Sheila who woke up and jumped out of the bed, they helped her lie down, “you are not looking too well my dear, how are you feeling?”
“I do not know mother, it feels like my head is going to fall off,” she whispered.
“Oh dear child,” Lydia sighed, “you should take some rest, the king has not arrived yet. You should sleep while we wait for him and when he arrives, I would come check on you, if you are better we would go down and welcome him, okay my dear?”
Mariah still had her eyes closed as she nodded, “yes mother.”
“Rest my child, you will be okay,” she leaned down and placed a loving kiss on her forehead before turning to Kayla, “clear the bath and let’s leave her alone to rest.”
“Yes my lady,” Kayla answered and left to carry out the order. When done, they both left the room and she kept kneading her temple to ease the pain. Suddenly, she felt that there was someone in the room and opened her eyes to see Alador, her heart fluttered immediately and she reached out to him. He took her hand and silently sat beside her on the bed; he felt her forehead and sighed, looking away from her.
“Alador,” Mariah called to him and he looked at her, his eyes were dimmed and she could see traces of tears in them, “Alador,” she gasped and tried to sit up but he placed his hand on her shoulder and shook his head softly, “what is wrong?” She asked worriedly.
Alador sighed, “I did not expect you to see me,” he whispered.
Mariah frowned, “I don’t understand.”
“Mariah,” he closed his eyes and heaved a deep breath, “the more I get close to you, the more I break the wall, the more you see me, the more you feel connected to me and the more you are in danger.”
“But, it all means something, these snippets of images I’m having of something I have never even experienced, this…memories, it feels like I have experienced it but in a different point in time.”
Alador didn’t say anything and just looked away from her, “if this continue then there is no saving you and I would end up losing you, there is only one way to end this,” he looked at her then and seeing what he wants to say in his eyes, Mariah started shaking her head at him, “Mariah…”
“No,” she refused to listen to him, “you are not abandoning me again and I am not going to let you.”