The Bride He Hates-Chapter 114: When Duty Calls

The next morning, when Lyanna woke up, she saw Azrael standing by the window with a letter in his hand, looking worried.

"What’s that?" She asked from the couch.

Azrael turned.

"A letter from Adrian. The caretaker brought it this morning. I’m sorry. I told him to bring only with urgent matters but..."

"What’s wrong?"

"A human territory has reported vampire attacks. Three people have died. The Cooperation Alliance is in problem. Several territories are threatening to withdraw. The council is trying to handle it, but it’s becoming worse."

"You want to go back?" Lyanna asked.

Azrael looked conflicted.

"I think we should. The alliance you built is falling apart. We can’t ignore that."

"But we promised ourselves this week with no interruptions."

"Lyanna, be reasonable..." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"I am being reasonable! The council can handle it. It’s their job!"

Azrael put the letter down, surprised.

"Three people are dead. The alliance is falling apart. And you want to stay here on vacation?"

"Yes! Because the moment we go back, we’ll be right back in the mess! We’ll lose everything we’re building here!"

"People’s lives are more important than our vacation. You want me to ignore a crisis that affects your work." Azrael said. "The Cooperation Alliance is yours. Those territories trusted you!"

"Azrael, try to understand, please. The moment we return, we’ll get trapped in the crisis and the politics and be like before."

"I understand that." He replied. "But Lyanna, you’re being very stubborn. You’re refusing to even consider going back, even when there’s a huge probablem that needs us."

"I’m protecting us."

"No. You’re controlling the situation. You’ve decided that we’re staying without any discussion. You’re doing exactly what you accused me of, making decisions without asking."

Lyanna froze.

"I’m not... Oh god...I’m being awful." She looked at him. "I didn’t even ask about the details, didn’t even want to know what actually happened. I just immediately said no."

Azrael nodded, and Lyanna put her head in her hands.

"I’m so scared of losing us that I’m being cruel, and I can’t even see it."

"Your fear is valid, but..."

"But it’s also making me selfish." Lyanna confessed. "Three people died, Azrael, and my first thought wasn’t about them, their families or the alliance. It was about continuing our honeymoon. I’m so selfish."

"But you did realize your mistake. That’s..."

Lyanna stood up and started pacing.

"I’m always like this." She cut him off. "I get an idea in my head, usually about you being controlling and I refuse to listen to anything that contradicts it. I fight and make it about winning instead of about actually understanding."

"Not always."

"But still enough times that it has become a problem." Lyanna replied. "Once I make up my mind about something, I refuse to see any other perspective."

She stopped pacing and looked at Azrael.

"I’m sorry. You are right. So tell me what do you think we should do?" She asked.

"I think we should go back to stabilize the situation. And then we can come back here or go somewhere else again."

Lyanna nodded.

"You’re right. I was so focused on us that I forgot about the people the alliance is supposed to protect."

"So what’s your decision?" Azrael asked.

"To be honest, I want to stay here forever and pretend the world doesn’t exist." Lyanna replied. "But that’s not realistic or fair to people who depend on us. So...we should go back together and handle this."

Azrael pulled her into his arms.

"I understand your fear and I’m scared too. But we have to learn to manage real life together as well."

"When did you get so wise?" Lyanna asked.

"About ten minutes ago, when you actually started listening," Azrael replied with a smile.

Lyanna laughed at his answer.

"I really was being a brat, wasn’t I?"

"A little bit." He replied. "But you realized it yourself, apologized and changed your mind. That’s...growth."

"I hate admitting when I’m wrong." Lyanna said.

"I know but you did it anyway. That’s what matters."

They spent the rest of the morning planning, reading Adrian’s letter more carefully and discussed what to do.

"The attacks happened near Riverwatch." Lyanna said, reading the details. "That’s the territory that has been most resistant to cooperation. This might be internal sabotage to make cooperation look dangerous."

"That’s a possibility." Azrael agreed. "Or it could be actual rogue vampires. Either way, we need to investigate."

"We should leave today." Lyanna said. "The longer we wait, the worse it will get."

"Are you sure?" Azrael asked. "We can take another day if you want."

"No." Lyanna replied. "I was wrong to want to delay. People are dying. We need to handle this together immediately."

They packed quickly, left a note for the caretaker, and started their journey back to Thornfield.

"Thank you for being patient with me this morning." Lyanna said suddenly. "For not being angry when I was being stubborn and for listening even when I wasn’t listening to you."

"We’re learning together, Lyanna. You’re learning to be less stubborn and I’m learning to be less controlling. Naturally, we both are going to stumble."

"I really didn’t want to leave, though." Lyanna said. "I wanted to stay in our beautiful bubble forever."

"But real life doesn’t stop just because we want it to."

"Do you think we can actually balance our relationship with all kingdom responsibilities? We have failed once."

"We have to." Azrael replied. "Otherwise, we’ll have to choose between being good rulers and a good couple. And we can’t afford that. We need to figure out how to be both."

"Sounds exhausting."

"It is. But marriage is like that only, full of ups and downs. If we become strong enough to survive every problem together, then trust me, no one or nothing can break our relationship."

Lyanna didn’t answer instead she just stared at him.

"What?" Azrael asked.

"I love you! I love you so much, Azrael!"

"I love you so, so much, Lyanna!"