A Lifetime Ago

Chapter 14

For the first time in his life, Ragnar felt disappointed with his father’s decision. Why didn’t the king think it was necessary to ask him about his opinion before giving his word to the king of Triyad?

He knew he had to be present there to welcome his guests but he wasn’t ready yet. He had to clear his mind first.

Ragnar was pacing in front of his mother’s grave to calm down his confused mind.

“Mother just guide me through this. Decide whatever is best for me and help me stick to it.” He said a prayer mentally, like he did whenever he had a tough time making decisions.

He loathed the idea of marrying a woman he had never seen before or knew nothing about but then he tried hard to convince himself that he may start loving the woman once he got married to her.

No doubt, Timandra was beyond beautiful but whatever feelings he had for her, would wear off once he got to know his wife, he believed and kept repeating in his mind like a mantra. He had successfully resisted her for so long and it was just a matter of few days. He would be marrying the princess of Triyad in a fortnight, after which he would abandon Timandra’s thoughts from his mind forever. Moreover, she was going to stay behind in the palace. That meant he had to deal with her only for a few more hours. He let out a huge sigh of relief thinking about it.

After spending an hour there, he went to his father’s apartments and greeted him. The king was dressed very royally adorned with diamonds and rubies around his neck and fingers. He had his crown over his head and he looked like he was waiting for Ragnar’s arrival.

“Ragnar.. What took you so long?” The king asked him.

“I’m sorry father.. I wanted to pay homage to mother before leaving.” The king’s face was saddened immediately as Ragnar mentioned of his beloved wife. He felt deeply sorrowful thinking how happy she would have been to see this day but unfortunately she had left them too early.

“Good…” He muttered. “Her blessings will be always bestowed on you.” He touched Ragnar’s shoulders and squeezed them softly.

“I know, father.” Ragnar smiled sadly. He didn’t remember his mother’s face because he was too young when she passed away, but the king made sure to keep her memories alive within his son’s heart, by often telling him how beautiful and kind hearted his mother was. He used to tell Ragnar about how they met and fell in love with each other instantly.

Ragnar wanted to have a love story like his parents but there were chances for him to fall in love with the woman that he was going to marry. 

The king led the way to the magnificent court room where their guests would be arriving soon. Within minutes, the guards announced the arrival of their guests.

Timandra watched from the window as the visitors poured into the palace gates like river of ants. There were a hundred men and women approximately, including bannermen, guards and maids. The ministers were riding their horses while the soldiers were marching behind them.

The palace walls were echoing with the sounds of drums and pipes as the ceremony began. Avira asked Timandra to wait until the middle of the festivity when everyone would be immersed in drinks and music to pay her any unnecessary attention.

Avira had to be there when the king gave the welcome speech and a toast to the visitors. Ragnar was sitting beside the king with a long face and an ugly scowl. He clearly looked uninterested with all the attention that he was receiving from the ministers of Triyad.

Avira excused herself and went back to get Timandra to the banquet hall.

“Timandra.. you are safe to come out now..” She announced and Timandra’s face immediately brightened up with anticipation. Meeda was standing next to her. She had begged her to give her company that evening and also during her journey to Triyad since Avira couldn’t be always close to her.

They made their way through the crowds and entered the banquet hall. The smell of food filled her nostrils. She had never seen so many food items at once. She took a place on the vast spreading dining table with Meeda next to her. Both the girls ate and drank as much as their stomach could take. They kept talking and giggling the whole while. Since being a maid, Meeda was never allowed into the banquet halls. Her parents served in the palace and she literally spent her whole childhood in the palace’s kitchen. So she tried to enjoy the evening as much as she could.

Soon a stranger started flirting with Meeda and Timandra was left alone. Her eyes slowly trailed to the raised platform where the king was seated with his family members. The king was a huge man and Ragnar hadn’t inherited much of his father’s facial features except for the sharp nose. His face was a lot chubbier as compared to Ragnar’s sharp jaws. She thought, Ragnar would look somewhat similar when he grew old.

Then her eyes shifted to Ragnar’s serious face with an annoying scowl marred on his face yet he looked devilishly handsome to her.

“Do you mind if I sit here, my lady?” Timandra was pulled out of her thoughts and looked up at the handsome face of a young man. He looked like a noble by the way he was dressed.

“Of course not..” She replied with a gentle smile and moved slightly, making space for him. He looked too familiar to her. She thought his eyes were similar to someone she knew.

“I’m Nodin..” He introduced himself to the beautiful woman in front of him.

“Hi..” She greeted naturally and he looked at her with amusement.

‘Hi?! What was with her way of greeting?’ He thought.

“I’m Timandra..” She extended her hand in front of him and he stared at her hand with confusion.

‘What was I supposed to do to her hand? Was she expecting me to place a peck on it? Does she belong to Triyad? Is it how they greet each other there?’ He kept on thinking until she grabbed his hand and shook it firmly.

“Ohh..! what a wonderful name!” He said masking his amusement and surprise. The woman seemed strange, in a good way though. Nodin had heard that women in Triyad were very attractive and charming. He was instantly attracted to her sky blue eyes and her stunning beauty.

“Are you from Triyad?” Of course she must belong to Triyad since he had never seen her in Vonentis before and such a beautiful woman couldn’t go unnoticed from his eyes if she belonged here, he thought but she was also wearing a veil to cover her face like the women of Vonentis which confused him a bit.

“Ahh.. N-No..” She stuttered. “I will see you around soon.” She said nervously getting up from her seat, fearing that he would find out that she was an outsider.

He wanted to stop her but she was too fast on her feet that before he could turn out, she disappeared into the crowd that was gathered for a dance.

Timandra looked around the hall worriedly. She couldn’t spot anyone she knew. Meeda was nowhere to be found and Avira wasn’t present near the king anymore. The hall was filled with strangers but luckily she knew the way to Ragnar’s chambers. She thought she would wait for a while and if she didn’t find anyone, she would go back to the chambers. Right then, Avira made her way to her throught the crowd.

“Timandra where were you?” Avira asked her.

Timandra was trying to remain camouflaged among the group of women standing at a corner of the hall.

“I was..”

“Never mind.. Come let’s dance..” Avira dragged her through the group of people who stood waiting for the music to begin.

“Avira.. I cannot dance..” Timandra whined.

“Well you don’t know it for sure..” She argued. “Come let’s find out. Let me first find you a partner.” She scanned around the place, looking for someone who could lead her.

“Sister..” She turned around to her brother, Nodin’s voice. He was walking towards them with a bright smile on his face as if he had won a lottery.

“There you are brother..” She walked near him and dragged him towards her friend. “Timandra.. This is my brother Nodin and Nodin, This is Timandra.” She introduced them.

Timandra blinked a few times then shifted her gaze between both of them, studying the close resemblance. No wonder he seemed too familiar to her.

“You disappeared into thin air.” He grinned at her. “I started to think that I would never see you again..”

“Do you to know each other?” Avira narrowed her eyes and asked curiously.

“We just met a few minutes ago..” Nodin replied without taking his eyes of the beauty in front of him.

“May I have the honour to dance with you, my lady?” He extended his hand to Timandra and she looked at Avira unsurely. Avira noticed the unusual politeness in his voice. ‘What was with these men? Why were they all behaving to gentlemanly in front of Timandra?’ She thought internally.

Timandra placed her hand on his palm hesitantly when she saw Avira nod at her positively.

Nodin and Timandra swayed to the music and he swirled her around. She had to admit he was a very handsome man but yet she couldn’t feel the spark which she regularly felt with Ragnar’s electrifying touches.

She kept her eyes fixed on his broad shoulders while he kept studying her pretty eyes. He wanted to peel that inconvenient veil off her face so that he could see her beautiful face completely. He had never seen a woman with such a mesmerising pair of blue eyes before.

When the music changed and it was time to exchange partners, surprisingly Nodin did not want to release her but eventually he had to let her go when a man held out his hand for her.

After dancing with several men, she landed herself into what felt like arms made of iron. She didn’t look up at the man’s face yet she recognised those rough callous hands on her hips.

As she lifted her face up, her eyes came in contact with Ragnar’s black orbs. He wasn’t paying attention to her and was clearly in no mood to dance. His eyes were lazily roaming around the ballroom and his jaws were clutched tightly until she held his shoulders with her soft hands. As if feeling the same amount of electricity passing from her touches, he snapped his eyes at the woman in front of her. He thought he knew her but then after studying her features carefully, he thought he was mistaken. She had the same ocean blue eyes as Timandra but her hair and skin looked different. She had covered her face partially.

He kept staring at her eyes which were dancing with excitement. He frowned as he could only see the silhouettes of her facial outlines from the transparent light pink veil. He could feel a familiar kind of warmth radiating through her body.

Timandra controlled the urge to laugh at the confused look on his face and kept rocking her body to the melodious music. Her eyes were shining with a slight mix of naughtiness and teasing until they widened suddenly when Ragnar’s hand reached up to pull the veil off.

He was so fast that before Timandra gained her sense, he had pulled off the veil from her face.