Louisa Hendraki

Chapter Nine: Old Ties 1

Nikolai opened his eyes. It had all been a dream. He had a throbbing headache and held his head.

Then he sat up and looked around.

It had not been a dream. He had made love to his wife last night just as he always wanted to. He remembered their argument and how terrible he had felt when he found out how wrong he was.

Louisa's words kept repeating themselves clearly in his head.

You were about to kill me for being nice to your son.

He remembered the guilt he felt when he left her room. He had gone straight to Juliet's room and confronted her but the crafty woman refused to admit her lies.

Then he had returned to his room and drank a lot before returning to Louisa's room to apologize. Well, that was how the apology was effected, he thought and chuckled.

She wasn't in the room. For the first time in months, Nikolai had slept soundly. He always had an inability to sleep properly. He was also very happy which surprised him.

He wondered what she thought of him now. Was she still angry with him? He was ready to apologize properly.

He dressed and returned to his room to have a bath. He would find Louisa later.

****

Louisa sat on her bed reading a book. Then she closed it and laid down almost sadly. Nora's behavior still confused and surprised her, dampening her mood. What was worse? She had not seen Nora the whole morning again.

It was midday and her ladies were playing cards in the room and chattering. Zara wasn't among them and she wondered where she was.

"Lilith?" she called one of them and the lady answered. "Majesty?". "Where is Zara?" Louisa asked and the lady replied, "Lady Zara went to get the new jewels the king bought for you, Your majesty."Louisa raised a brow.

"Jewels..from the king?"

Lilith nodded and Louisa waved her away. Why was he sending her jewels?

Zara returned almost immediately with a big smile. She went straight to Louisa,"Jewels from the king, my lady." She handed over a box to her and Louisa opened it. There were two sets of jewelry- A gold necklace and matching tiara, earrings and bracelets. There was also a necklace, tiara, earrings and bracelet made from rubies.

Louisa smiled and closed the box. "I should thank his majesty for these gifts." Zara nodded and then whispered, "Louisa... I don't know if you have noticed but it seems you have something like a love bite on your neck. Its visibly red..."

"...It's a love bite, Zara."

It took some seconds for the message to drop and make sense to Zara before she widened her eyes. She covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming in happiness. Louisa smiled at her reaction.

"How was it? No...I mean.. how do you feel now? Are you hurt?..." she whispered fiercely so as not to attract the attention of the other ladies. Louisa only looked at her amused and said, "I'm fine. I'm okay. I... liked it."

Zara smiled again, "I'm happy you're happy here. And to think that you were very reluctant to come here at first". They both laughed but then Louisa said, "Well not everyone is friendly. If you know what I mean..."

"... If you mean Lady Juliet, then you're not alone. Seems almost everyone has the same complaints against her here. She's proud because her son..."

"... Knows nothing about her behavior. It's not his fault, Zara... but I agree. Juliet can be haughty at times." Louisa interrupted her.

Zara nodded, "Poor boy!"

"Poor boy! He's adorable though."

****

Louisa arrived at Nikolai's study and met a guard at the door. "My lady..." he bowed. "Is the king in there?" The guard nodded and opened the door for her and she went inside.

She met Juliet pacing and venting while Nikolai seemed uninterested as he went through some letters. They both looked up as she entered. "Your majesty..." she said and Juliet tried to interrupt,"... Hey I was speaking to him..."

"... I came to thank you for the beautiful jewels you sent. They are lovely"

Juliet paused and glared at Nikolai and back at Louisa. Nikolai smiled at Louisa and said. "Juliet. I need to speak to my wife alone if you don't mind." Juliet fumed and stormed out.

Nikolai turned to Louisa. "You were saying?" "I came to say thank you for the jewels you sent. I appreciate"

"Louisa... I'm sorry for my terrible judgement of you yesterday. There's no excuse for what I did..."

"...It's fine. I forgave you already. He's your son so you care for him." Nikolai smiled. "I'm sorry about Juliet too. She's mental at times"

Louisa breathed. She wanted to ask the question she has always wanted to ask but she didn't know if it was right to ask now.

"Your majesty?"

He raised a brow and she walked over to a shelf to pick a book. "I wanted to ask how Juliet has a child for you and... why you didn't marry her." Louisa almost hit herself for being so straightforward. But Nikolai replied,"She... she was my mistress once...and she got pregnant. She got kicked out by her parents because of it and I have to care for her... for the sake of the child."

Louisa froze. Juliet was kicked out of her house?

She didn't know if she should say 'impressive' or 'that's terrible'. Yet Louisa knew it was a terrible thing.

She now understood why Juliet disliked her. She was only insecure about the fact that Nikolai would stop caring for her and her son. If only the woman could say something rather than pick on me, I'd understand.

Louisa only raised a brow in response and curtsied again and made to leave.

"I've received a letter from your father." Nikolai said, raising a letter. Louisa turned in surprise.

Achan? What did he want this time?

As if reading her mind, the king replied, "Apparently, he has a war at hand and he needs my help as his ally."