36. Happy birthday, Your majesty!

"Archie! Are you sure you can do this alone?" Elena asked, fixing his tie.

"Hmm... I don't wanna put more burden on Niya, it's her birthday tomorrow so I am gonna do this meeting with Samael on behalf of her, moreover, this is just a briefing of tomorrow's negotiation, Niya's presence is not necessary. I'll be done before her arrival," Archie said, putting his crown on his head, admiring his reflection in the mirror.

"I hate to admit it but I'm really missing that kitten. When is she coming back?" Elena asked, smiling at him. Archie chuckled at her cute statement.

"I don't know. Her phone is switched off. She'll be there before tomorrow's meeting I guess," he said, leaving the room and Elena followed him.
Elena and Archie entered the conference room where Samael and his team already waiting for them.

"Where is Niya? She was supposed to host this meeting," Samael asked as soon as Archie sat on his chair to brief them. Archie gave him a sharp glare before speaking.

"Queen Niyanica. You are not allowed to drop the honorifics, King Samael," Archie corrected him before continuing, "And about her presence, she is not here yet and this meeting is just a briefing so I'll manage this on my own. She'll be there in the negotiation meeting tomorrow," he said, opening a file in front of him to start the meeting. Samael gave him an annoyed look before reading the files in front of him.

On the other side, Edward and George saw a video of her arrival on TV.

"Should we inform Archie? The first person she will want to see is Archie," Edward said, looking at George.

"Hmm. Inform him. And please inform William too as he is also in the Parliament session," he said, moving towards the entrance to wait for Niya.

He entered the conference room and bowed. Archie looked at him with a confused face as Edward walked closer to him

"Niya is coming back. She'll be here any minute," he whispered in Archie's ear. Archie looked at him with a surprised smile but soon covered it with his serious expressions again as he was in the middle of an important meeting.

"Go to my room and take the stargazer bouquet for her from my side. I can't leave this meeting right now. It's important," he whispered to his ear and Edward immediately left the room. Archie continued his presentation.

Niya's car entered the palace. Every servant was there to welcome her along with Edward and George. She looked at them with a bright smile. Everyone bowed to pay due respect. She hugged Edward and George tightly.

"We missed you," Ed said, squeezing her little figure into his big broad arms.

"I missed you all too," she said, hugging him back.

"Where hell is Eve?" she said, looking around to find Archie.

"He is in the middle of a very important meeting with King Samael," George said, putting an arm around her shoulders, walking back to the Palace.

"With King Samael? I was supposed to that meeting. Right? How dare he do that without me? He ditched me because of that meeting?" She looked at George, pouting cutely.

"Here. He wanted you to give these flowers to you but because of the meeting he couldn't." Ed gave her a bouquet that Archie made for her.

*Welcome back, Nini. *

She read the note and crushed it in her hand.

"I'm not gonna spare him," she said, throwing her heels away and running towards the meeting room. Edward and George looked at each other and burst into laughter.

She opened the door of the conference hall with a thud making everybody look towards the door. A beautiful girl with sleepy eyes, pouty rosy lips, big brown eyes full of anger with a crown on top of her messy hair, was standing there and everybody got awestruck at her divine beauty. For a moment Samael forgot everything. It seemed like time stopped for a moment. He was staring at her without even blinking for once. They all bowed as soon as she took some steps towards Archie.

"Guys, this meeting is over for now. I'll give you the further briefing in the next meeting tonight at 11 sharp," she said, looking at Archie and everyone left the room immediately. Samael stood there outside the room to admire her for a second as the wall was made of transparent glass.

"You bitch! How dare you do this meeting instead of welcoming me there." She grabbed Archie's neck and pinned his head against the glass table.

"Ouch! It hurts," he said, wincing in pain.

"Oh, yeah? Good," she said, freeing him from her tight grip. He made her sit on the table by picking her a bit.

"I missed you, Niya," he said, holding her face in his hands and kissing her forehead. She hugged him tightly.

"Me too," she said, sniffing at his scent. It's been only a week but for Niya it seemed like a whole month. She missed Archie the most. She smiled in his chest, finally feeling light and relaxed.

"I'm hungry, dude. Let's eat something," she said and instantly squealed when he picked her up, making her wrap her legs around his waist while resting her head on his shoulder. He smiled left the room immediately. Samael was burning like hell watching all of this.

*Why him? Why he always gets what I want? This isn't fair, he thought looking at them. I will get what I want, I got the throne from Lucifer and I will get the queen from you, even Lucifer couldn't defeat me then who the hell are you to make me miserable?*, he tightened his fist in anger.

Archie cooked pasta for Niya while Edward and George cooked some Chinese food for her. Niya freshened up and came down in the hall to join them. She was in her black shorts and a loose white crop top. Neo was sitting proudly on her left shoulder. She looked at Neo and smiled.

"I missed you too, buddy," she said, patting him and he return the affection by rubbing his head on her cheek. They ate the food together. The whole hall was echoing with their laughter and talks. It was like a dead palace became alive again by her presence. After eating the delicious food, Niya was going back to her room to rest when

suddenly Samael entered the elevator. She looked at him for a second and smiled out of courtesy.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty," he said, looking at her and she smiled in response. The elevator filled with an awkward silence. While Samael was just inhaling her scent and smiling at the fact that he was standing so close to her, Niya's mind wasn't calm at all.

"I'm sorry, King Samael, that I couldn't welcome you during your arrival," she said, breaking the awkward silence between them. He smiled.

"That's okay, Your Majesty. I am completely aware of the fact that your presence was much more needed there," he said, looking at the elevator door.
Niya looked at him for a second. Purple eyes, the dark purple curly hair touching his smooth white forehead was making him look like a Greek god. She wanted to take her eyes off his face but somehow she couldn't.

*The hell? Why do I keep looking at him? Is he hypnotizing me or what?*, she thought, looking at his face. He took some steps towards her, closing the gap between them. His hand slowly touched her right hand, he gave a piece of paper to her, an envelope. She looked down at the envelope in her hand.

"This is my side of the story, Niya," he whispered in her ears, he was so close that she could clearly feel his warm breath on her neck. She gulped fear down her throat, she couldn't move an inch because of this proximity and it was getting hard for her to breathe. He moved back noticing her hesitation. The silence in the elevator made the situation even more awkward. Fortunately, the door opened and a familiar person was standing right there in front of her outside the elevator.

"Ni!" He entered the elevator with a huge smile on his face and hugged Niya tightly.

"Willy! Dude, I missed you." She hugged him back, feeling relieved.

"Me too, baby girl. I canceled my meeting so that I could meet you as soon as possible," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders. He greeted King Samael with a fake smile. His eyes landed on the envelope she was holding in her hand.

"Ni? What is it?" he asked while looking at the envelope. She looked at the envelope and bit her lip to hide her nervousness.

"Oh! It's... just… um, a birthday card someone gave me back in Eastern province," she said, looking at the floor. He smiled. The elevator door opened on Samael's floor and he left immediately.

"I have some documents to hand over to the finance minister here. I'll meet you in the evening," William said, leaving Niya alone in the elevator. She reached her floor and entered her room. She put the envelope in her cupboard and locked it, she would read it another day. She was very sleepy and didn't want to read some useless letter from King Samael. She jumped on her bed like a child and slipped into a deep slumber as soon as she hit the bed.

Later in the evening, she woke up to the sound of notifications on her phone. Her phone was going crazy on her nightstand.

"Ah! Stop!" She picked her phone up to see what was it. She opened her InterActive and so many videos appeared on her screen where she was tagged in.

*Are they really dating?*

*I'm so jealous rn*

*Darius is completely in love with her*

*He has never confessed about his crush before. Wow.*

And many more posts were appearing on her feed. She clicked on a video. It was Darius's recent interview.

"My next question is about your current crush. Your fans really wanna know about your celeb crush at the moment as you are linked with many actresses," the interviewer asked Darius. Darius smiled at him politely.

"Oh! I have a huge crush on Queen Niyanica. I really really admire her. I mean, who doesn't? Right?" he said, smiling mischievously at the interviewer.

"Oh, you’re absolutely right, Mr. Cole. Even I have a huge crush on the queen. She is just an epitome of beauty," he replied, chuckling at his statement.

"What the hell is happening?" she whispered, looking at the screen. "He has a crush on me?" she paused for a second, her mind still processing the information. After realizing that her favorite singer has a crush on her, she screamed the hell out of her lungs and fell out of her bed. Her guards rushed into the room within no time, pointing guns and checking every corner of her room.

"Hey!! Calm down, guys! It's nothing, I’m sorry, I got a bit excited," she said, looking at them. They left out as soon as they cleared the room.

"Oh my God! Darius? The great Dee of star shine has a crush on me?" she said, again looking at the screen. She rushed outside to give this news to Archie.
Meanwhile, Samael entered Archie's room.

"What the hell do you want now?" Archie asked, looking at him through his glasses as he looked up from his book.

Samael looked around the room and his eyes landed on a frame where Archie inked Samael's face in a photo.

"You hid my face with black ink? How childish, bro." He chuckled, touching the photo frame.

"Cut to the chase, Samael," Archie said, without looking at him and keeping his eyes fixed on his book.

"For how long are you going to pretend Archie?" Samael said, sitting on his bed carelessly as if he owns the place.

"What are you talking about?" Archie asked, without taking his eyes off the book.

"Won't you tell her the truth?" Samael said, shaping his lips into a thin line out of anger.

"Truth about what?" Archie said, smirking at the book.

"About everything you are doing. About Azizmah, about all of those attacks... you know it wasn't me!" Samael said, looking at him with anger. Archie looked at him and smirked playfully.

"And why would I do that? You aren't a saint either. We wanted the same thing. Now when I am so close to getting it and now you are just jealous of me." Archie chuckled, closing the book.

"Does Lucifer know about this? Because he desperately wants to kill her," Samael asked, smirking at him.

"Lucifer has no power in front of her. Once she’s mine, no Lucifer can order me around," Archie said, smirking at Samael.

"Let's play a fair game then. Don't make me the evil twin in front of her when you are the biggest devil here," Samael said, gritting his angry teeth at him.

"Arch! I wanna tell-" Niya opened the door abruptly in excitement but stopped as soon as her eyes landed on Samael.