4 4. Husband...Not

Somewhere I hear the tinkling of a chime.

'L-lord Elian.' I manage to stutter and awkwardly stumble backward for a small bow, 'My warm greetings.'

'Yes, quite the warm greeting it was.' Lord Elian raises one eyebrow, not teasingly but it appears more of a disappointing appraisal for Adian's unpolished behavior. He gently lifts his glass tumbler and slowly, he took a measured sip. All the while, keeping the critical look on Adian whose body bristles visibly in fear. He briefly signals his occupied hands towards the chair near his,

'Take a seat. The food is bound to arrive quite soon.'

'Why, thank you.' I smile warmly, hoping to lift the frigid atmosphere and icy daggers of Elian's dark eyes, even by the smallest degree but it goes unreciprocated.

Elian stares at me with a stone-set expression as a butler rushes over to pull out my seat for me. He has his short dark hair neatly smooth backwards and his dusky white cotton shirt hang down airily from his shoulders while giving you quite the peek of his toned chest thanks to the deep V collar. I sit down gawkily under his scrutiny and I swear, I could hear the creaks from my joints moving.

Tick Tick

Someone whispering in the hallway.

The silence fills in a little too quickly and my spine straightens up jerkily every now and then on my chair. Slowly, I peek at Elian, and then quickly, I whip my eyes away from him so that he doesn't catch me. I can't bear to watch him, this hulking bear of a man, seething in anger at me again.

With his elbows resting on the table, he examines his glass tumbler as though it was the single most interesting specimen in the world, and then, almost unmoving, his wrist turns around like a rotating toy as the water in the tumbler tips around the edge according to his rhythm.

Wow.

Talk about boring. A sigh inadvertently escapes from my lips. It would have been better if it was wine or something remotely interesting. Maybe even soda would work…or champagne. As the matter of fact, I don't find what he is doing the least interesting so I roll my eyes around the huge dining hall for anything that could and would distract me. But whether it's karma or some universe-y trick, I end up looking down at my own hands as well.

I trace my hand on the other, on the bite scars that were a startling deep red against the pallor of Adian's fingers. It must have been quite deep of a wound that it was yelling out its presence so distinctly. Behind me and distant, I could hear the clamor of the attendants in their rush to prepare dinner and beside me, the hefty eminent presence of the Earl Husband, grumpy bear Elian.

Yes, I'll call him that.

Inside my throat, a pulling urge to fill the silence builds and I clear my throat to kick away this impulse because what can I even talk about? How was work? Did you miss anything, maybe possibly me? Well, it doesn't seem to be that way. In fact, he looks quite uh…royally pissed to be in this situation; having dinner with his husband.

Ah, why dost thou not feel the yearning of your spouse in his absence?

I glance at Elian and lord help me. He is still in that god damning position and for what? For what?

I stifle a sigh.

Dear Adian, a husband that pays more attention to a glass of water over you is definitely, I repeat, definitely, not a good sign. But, on the bright side, he looks even more bored and disinterested with his little exchange with his...glass tumbler, and his dark hollow eyes drooping slightly but his wrist went on with its awful motion. I clear my throat absent-mindedly and he snaps his attention up, towards my direction a little too fast that I couldn't manage to look away and act oblivious.

Now that I am caught by his eyes, I surrender and stare at him and this bastard stares back. And even more, his eyes start to roll around the expanse of Adian's body. While keeping his gaze on me, he slowly settles the glass tumbler on the table and he rests his chin on his hand. I shift uncomfortably and look away, unable to bear the weight of his blank eyes. It was too unreadable for my liking. God, I hate ancient people and their cryptic bullshit.

Now I am back at looking around the dining hall, at everything and anything that could gladly welcome my attention and make me forget. But I felt his gaze still on me, now examining and running over me, or Adian; my hair, my face, and then I feel it on my neck, and it stops around the exposed area of my neck a beat too long. Then it slithers down at my upper torso and my attire.

Creak. Creak.

I look at my left, and the maid wheels the creaky serving cart closer to the table. I thank the Gods, spirits, anything above that has showered me with this brief window of good luck in this pressing uncomfortable joke of this reality. Elian moves in a smooth gliding manner as he straightens up and flaps open a dark maroon napkin. He lays the napkin on his lap and rolls up his already rolled sleeves even more. The maid starts arranging the dishes on the table and without moving a limb in his body, he spares a look at the motion of the maid as she methodically arranges the platters of piping hot food in front of us and it smells heavenly.

'I have heard from Sir Dominic.'

I almost miss registering what he said as I stare at the grilled fish laid in front of him. I look up, startled and Elian looks back at me in the same way he looked at the fish platter in front of him; icy and disdainful.

'Ah…I see.' I fumble a reply and measure the look on his face. He does not look too ecstatic for a person who is about to be a father.

Far from it even.

Ok, is this an estranged marriage?

This is NOT good for my health.

'He wrote to me and said you had, "a complete loss of memory due to a bad fall", is it?'

Oh. So he meant that matter.

I forgot I was supposed to be an amnesiac husband.

Like in those never-ending soap operas.

'Yes. A very…' I look for words in my head, '…unfortunate turn of events.'

Elian looks at me, a look that said he was expecting some more explanation from my end but he merely nods once.

A butler walks in and prepares to plate the dinner out but Elian stops him with a raised hand.

'I shall handle that. Leave us alone.'

'Understood, Sire.'

He waits for the butler to leave before continuing,

'I understand that it is not your fault. But I will say, it is quite…vexing that I have to go through this with you,' he sighs, 'for a second time.'

Did he just say vexing? That my memory loss is vexing? I don't reply and once again, the silence fills in. I watch him take his fork and knife, and in a practiced manner, he slices the fish apart and scoops out the needless parts. He places the deboned fish on a fresh plate and he slides it towards my front of the table. As he plates his own share, I take his deep-end plate and scoop a portion of light soup from the tureen in front of me. I hand him the soup plate and Elian pauses, looking down at the soup with a raised eyebrow. He looks like he was struggling with something and moments later, he takes it in his hand and spits out,

'Thank you.'

It sounds more like a question rather than an expression of gratitude but I take it anyway. This man is making me scramble in a drought of words. Are there speech therapists in this world or do I have to be one? I glare at him out of confusion and he looks back at me with disbelief. Keeping my glare focused on him, I flap my napkin a bit too hard in petty vengeance and tuck it in my collar roughly.

Lord Elian slightly shakes his head in incredulity and looks away, picking up his spoon. He takes a warm sip of the soup and softly he nods at the bowl in approval. What a joke. Is he a food critic?

'You must have heard,' His deep voice rung through, slightly spoiling the taste of the soup as I swirled it around blandly in my mouth,

'I am Lord Elian Drane. And please keep this in mind, Adian, we are married in the face of the public and for the sake of the public but I am not your husband in any manner unless unfortunate circumstances force me to be so.'

I jab a piece of fish with my delicate silver fork and then I frown as his words enter my ear, my body slowing down in order to register his words.

'Um…' I clear my throat and look up in confusion at this damned man, 'Excuse me?'

'This,' he signals between us, 'is not a marriage of love.' He looks at my bewildered eyes for a moment, then casually takes a bite of his fish. I watch his mouth as he chews the fish lightly, his sharp jaw moving up and down.

Up and down.

Then stops.

And he adds,

'…Or friendship.'

He jerks his fork in the direction of my chest and a flare of indignant burn spreads over my torso at that exact moment. He looks and sees it happen but then he looks away, no reaction whatsoever towards this exchange. He continues, 'So please, I hope that you understand the boundaries and do not overstep any.'

The Flare is now a forest fire in my chest.

'I am sorry but what?' My voice is restrained and I try to hold on to the tiniest sliver of sanity that this is Adian's world and I am merely intruding on his life.

But…

But fuck it.

'Are you serious?' I stress each word and my fists circle tightly around the lower part of my cutlery.

He frowns at me, his eyes almost predatory out of instinct at my taunt. He slightly shifts his body towards me,

'Yes. Do you have a problem?'

'Problem? Yeah, right. I have a fishbone to pick with you. Mister Earl.'

My outbrust has no effect on him and he daps his mouth with the napkin, the frown slightly deepening not in confusion, but in annoyance at me. He looks as though he was finishing up, having said what he needed to and seeing no need to listen to my incoming burst of frustration.

His countenance ticks in my nerves like prickles of cactus and it breathes out through my voice in a series of cussing. Elian points that resentful leveled look, hard and dismissive and it sets off the trigger in me that my body levitates frontwards and my hand blindly reaches over to wrench a handful of his shirt and pulls hard. He meets my enraged eye with equal anger and shock. I sneer down at his face closely,

'Listen, it would be nice if you, mister, be a little considerate of other's feelings.'

'Oh?' He sneers back, and it drips with challenge all over.

'Step down from that shitty ladder, shitface.' I whisper harshly, 'I can take a reasonable amount of disrespect but not when I can see evidence of your impudence on my body. Don't talk about boundaries with the smattering marks and bruises on my skin. You lay another finger on my body, I will break your fingers and feed it to you.'

I huff out a last breath of anger and grab his refilled glass tumbler, erratically downing the entirety down my throat. I swallow it with a hard sound and my body rejoices at the sense of hydration.

A hand grabs my jaw and pulls me down, rightly facing the jerk husband. I breath in sharply in shock,

'First of all,' he smushes my cheek sharply, 'you clearly knew of this when you married me, but I shall remind you that I don't sleep with any omegas nor do they arouse the desire in me even the slightest bit...especially you, my dear husband of all your kind.'

His eyes gauges my shell shocked and then he smiles disparagingly. His warm hand slithers down from my face to cover the skin on my upper neck and I shiver slightly, making his smile expand.

'Secondly.' He weightlessly lifts the collar of my shirt, exposing the red bruised skin under, 'I have no care of who you choose to have your nightly adventures with, I trust you to be at least discreet about it. I have said that I married you for the public and if the public happens to get any wind of this all…'

I gulp.

'…I hope you are prepared to face the much-needed consequences. Hm?'

I make some acknowledging sounds in reply. Elian gently fixes my collar and buttons it up. Then slowly, he gazes up at me and his eyes were incredibly soft,

'Sit down, will you? Your breath smells with an awful lot of garlic.'

'Uh..oh.'

I frisk my one hand around for my chair behind me, and heavily, my butt falls on it.

So, Mister Husband has never slept with me.

But me is pregnant.

My husband has never slept...I repeat it over in my head.

And over.

And over.

Then, I look at Elian, who was now floating in the air and there was two of him.

I frown and at that moment, I hurl and empty all the contents of my stomach on to the table.