Wura was scared by Liam's lack of words. His silence caused her heart to pound in her chest. She did not know what he was thinking or how he felt. She simply wanted him to know how sincere she was being.
Everything she was telling him at the moment was the truth. There was no single lie in her words.
Wura was too scared to ask him what was on his mind. She wanted to know because he seemed very troubled, and she knew that he had said he would remain silent and not shout, but if shouting would make him feel better, she wanted him to do it.
"Liam, is something the matter?".
Wura summoned her courage to ask. At the end of the day, she cared about him so much and she loved him because he was her husband, and marriage was something difficult to uphold. The ability to learn and forgive in every stage was essential, she knew that from her parents' marriage and she wanted to implement the same here.
Yes, she made a mistake and she was going to take responsibility for it. However, it was up to Ian to choose to forgive her, and she prayed with all her might that he would.
Liam looked up. He hated that he felt so soft in the moment. Tears were threatening to drop from his eyes, he was simply trying his best not to show it.
"I am sorry.".
"For what?" Wura asked. She was confused as to why he was saying those words.
"I am sorry for everything you have been through. All you have suffered, it is my fault," he said his head bowed down.
Wura felt her heart shattering hearing him take the blame for something he had no control off. Her feet moved before her mind could and she found herself by his side. She took his hands in hers and said:
"You do not have to apologize. It is not your fault, none of this is your fault," she said.
"It is, if we had not gotten married, none of this would have happened," he said.
Wura shook her head vehemently, "No Liam, no. Never say that, never say that. Marrying you was the best thing that every happened to me. Had I not met you, I would not have learned how to grow, how to learn to understand, and most importantly, how to love and forsake everything because of a singular person.".
Liam looked at her and shook his head, "You are only saying that to make me feel better. It is the truth. Our union seems to be cursed, we only cause each other harm when we are together and when we are not.".
"Liam, I beg you, please do not say that, it is not true. Not true, I know it seems that way, but you and I were put together for a reason, and I am sorry that I was too weak to withstand the pressure of your absence and the immense loneliness that I felt," she sniffed.
"Please do not say anything else, please. Let me finish explaining, let me tell you what happened," she said.
Liam nodded, this seemed really important to her. He did not want to hear the story anymore, he doubted that he could bear hearing it. He took one look at her and could see that this was something she wanted to do.
"As much as when you did not remember me hurt me, it was such a relief to have you near and to have finally found you," she continued.
"You lied that you were in search of your husband," he said.
"It was not a lie, I truly was in search of him, although I had already found him, he was not himself, and we did not want to risk losing you again, so we had to find a way to make sure we tagged along with you," she said.
"Seeing you every single moment of every day without being able to hug you and kiss you the way I wanted to was absolute torture," she said.
"I can imagine...".
"Yes, so nothing made me happier than when you started to trust me and you allowed me get closer to you, and then we began a relationship," she laughed. "Thinking back now, it was strange, I was being unfaithful to my husband with my husband," she could not help but chuckle.
Liam let us a small chuckle as well. It was true, he could remember back then that he felt so guilty about having an affair with a married woman, yet there was just something about her that made him have some peace when they were together.
"Those times we spent in the Yonder Realm together, although you did not remember me, they were the best," she said. "It was during those times we spent personal time together without worrying about running the kingdom, or what others need, we simply focused on us.".
Liam found himself smiling. It was true, he cherished those moments dearly as well. He had the most fun with her.
"We slept under the stars together," he said.
"Yes, we did. We did, and I really wish that we could go back to those times, because my love for you simply grew stronger and stronger," she said.
"You wanted us to consummate our marriage... although, I did not know that was what we would be doing back then. Were you in a rush because you felt your resolve faltering or because you truly wanted us to be together?".
Liam looked away, he just had to ask the question that had been plaguing his mind since he had returned. His worst fear and greatest anger was that Wura had been defiled by Mero. Yes, he knew that it was stupid for him to think that way, but the male ego in him felt a claim and if that claim was defiled, he doubted that he could ever forgive both of them.
"No, no, not at all. Not at all Liam, never think that," she held his hand tightly.
"How can I believe you?".
.
"You can believe me because it is me, I am telling you the truth," she said. "And the truth is, that I loved you so much, and I did not want you to forget me when it was time for me to leave. I wanted to give you a parting gift, the most important one I could ever give you because we are yet to consummate our marriage.".
"Before, I was scared to do such an intimate act with a man that I barely knew and did not love, but after everything we have been through. I long to give that part of myself to you," she said.
Liam felt like she was still his from the way she spoke. It gave him some hope, but he did not want to show it, he did not want to appear weak and so willing to forgive such a grave betrayal.
"Can you continue your explanation, please," Liam said.
He did not want to dwell on this, he felt that the longer he allowed himself be distracted, the more what she had to say would hurt him deeply.
"Alright," she said.
"Please try to skip on the parts that are not important. It is late and I need to get some rest," he said looking away.
"Alright..." Wura replied. She felt sad, but she felt that this was his way to cope and as long as it was doing him good, she would accept it.
"So, when we bade our goodbyes, that was so very tragic, we returned here, and I felt so empty," she said.
She was still holding his hand tightly, and it meant a great deal to her that he did not pull away.
"I was so sad, Uncle Nigel was here, he encouraged me to be strong before he had to return to the north," she sniffed.
"I knew that I had to move forward and focus on running the kingdom and the people's needs, and that is what I did for the longest time. I did not focus on any one or anything, but I always remembered you and kept you in my heart and in my mind," she said.
Liam sighed, the more she spoke about how much she missed him, the more he wanted to run away because he felt the same.
Wura could sense his weariness. He was tired and so was she. They had to go through this now, it was better now than later.
"Mero knew that I so sad because of what happened, he was the greatest pillar of support then," she said.
"Things were normal between us. He was as loyal to me as he was to you, and things were fine, I did admire his loyalty, swiftness and courage, but nothing ever transpired between us until... until the knight's summer festival celebration.".