The Queen Imperial

Chapter 38

Three hours.

It had been exactly three hours and the rain didn't seem like it was going to end in a minute, not when it was still raining cats and dogs, the wind was a lot too, Anne-Marie could literally hear Ivanka's gritting teeth from behind her as she shivered and rubbed her arms profusely to create heat, not that it was helping. Aiden's bodyguard was cold too, especially since he had given up his jacket to Anne-Marie to keep her warm, thanks to Ivanka constantly eyeing him to until he finally did.

They knew how important it was for her not to get a cold. The queen wasn't going to let them keep their heads. The cold was the least of Anne-Marie's problems however, it was him, Aiden.

Three long hours and he still stood there, under the rain, as firm as a tree, not wavering for a second. His entire body was wet and he had water constantly dripping from him from hair to toe. It was his only way, the only way he could think of to get through to the elders and he was not going to step an inch away from the rain until they gave him an audience.

Elijah was right behind him too after a failed attempt to beg him to join the rest in the shelter. Anne-Marie and the rest still felt so cold even under the protection of the roof but what about them? Only God knew how cold they must have been.

"He's still here," Anne-Marie could hear some of the villagers whisper as they peeped through tiny spaces from their windows.

"Is he really not going to leave?"

"What if he gets a cold? Aren't we going to be in trouble with the king?"

"The prince is still here."

"What are we going to do with him?"

"Looks like he's pretty determined to die."

"Should we just leave him? Is it right?"

Aiden kept his gaze focused on the houses in front of him. He could see the children and women that stole glances at him from their windows, his legs were starting to hurt and his muscles were stiffening due to the cold but it didn't move him. He managed to keep his shoulders broadened and his mind at ease while he just stood there, hoping he was attended to sooner so he didn't have to stay there for so long because that was the only way he was going to leave.

Why was he doing this? Why did he really care?

Anne-Marie couldn't quite wrap the reason around her head. Just watching him stand there put her in a lot of thoughts. What if she was wrong? What if she had always been wrong about him? About Aiden? Maybe he wasn't the man she thought he was, maybe he wasn't like his father, maybe, just maybe he was different from the father, different from every other king she had read of. What exactly was he trying to do? Why did he care so much what happened to the people of Niyagra? Why did he care so much about proving himself to them? About mourning with them and getting them to accept him? Why?

"Don't worry about the prince Miss Vutron." The bodyguard behind her said, causing her to turn slowly to face him. "He's not going to break, he has done worse trying to get the attention of the elders ever since he was thirteen. Don't ask him to stop too, he's never going to listen. He's just going to keep coming back every year till he makes them listen."

Was that true? Five years? Aiden had really been visiting Niyagra for five long years? She slowly traced her gaze back to him the moment she started to hear footsteps approaching the pavement of the house in front of him.

The elders were coming and their presence had caught a lot of attention, including Aiden's . He let out a relief exhale when they got close.

Finally.