BLOOD.FANGS.N'.FIRE

Gavriel sat lazily in his chair. He had noticed that his cousin brother was quiet, unlike his usual self, who would be mocking his twin sister.

He knew it must have been something regarding that small piece of paper.

Smirking, he called "Stephen"

Stephen turned to look at the king blankly, wondering what he wanted.

"Have you visited the library yet cousin, if not, I would like to recommend the top shelves of the upper left side of the library. Those books hold valuable information of all creatures that have ever lived across the land, I think they might help with your recent 'interests'," Gavriel said vaguely.

Now Stephen received stares of interest from his family, who wondered what was going on that they didn't know.

The young vampire cursed the nosey king internally. He had his suspicions about that paper Gavriel had given him.

How did he find out about the paper in the first place? It wasn't that the man was going around checking everything in the ridiculously massive castle.

It bugged him every time that question ran through his mind. And now it seemed that the man had found out why he was hiding the paper in that particular painting.

Chuckling lightly, Stephen smiled charmingly, revealing his pearly white fangs.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will be sure to visit that section of the library. History really does fascinate me a lot as I grow older." Stephen said, his eyes genuine holding a hint of curiosity and hidden malice.

"As a future Duke, that is a great quality. A Thirst for Knowledge, admirable, I must say, " Gavriel praised, lifting his glass for a toast, and everyone else followed suit.

"To a delightful ball," Gavriel declared toasting in the air, the rhythmic sound of wine glasses clicking filled the dining room after the King's toast.

Florah silently stared at her Master's back in the cold, dark hallway where the two passed to reach his Chambers.

She wondered what to do now. It was already past midnight, and she was already tired mentally and physically.

She guessed that she would go back to rest in the servant's quarters and come back to his side in the morning, but was she wrong.

The bedroom door opened by itself, Florah just stared unfazed at that fact, not mentally prepared to bother her brain with figuring out whatever was happening.

Her simple desire was to rest her body. The fatigue from the day had worn out her malnourished self. Her only meal of the day had been two cinnamon rolls, which by now had already been dissolved in her body.

She wished for something to eat, I would ask for some leftovers from the kitchen on my way to my room, she thought, hopefully.

She remained standing at the entrance of the King's Chambers, awaiting to be expelled for the night.

The king walked further into the bedroom disappearing from her line of sight, and she stood there in confusion of what to do. She realised that being confused was becoming part of her routine starting from today.

She walked in a little more, moving away from the doorway in order to peek if she could catch a glimpse of the man.

No sooner had she left her previous position than the heavy black hard wood door slammed shut softly.

She turned to the to look behind her, startled by the sound of the door closing.

Letting out a defeated sigh, Florah guessed that she wouldn't retire to the servant's quarters but rather had to stay serving her master whose kind barely needed sleep.

To remind her of her misfortune, her stomach grumbled in hunger, protesting to be fed, which proved to be hard at the moment.

She wished for the hundredth time for this to be a nightmare and that she would soon wake up.

But she knew the hard truth was that she was wide awake and had chosen to deliver herself to this life instead of staying back at the peasant town, Dradfold where she lived her mundane life, that she so much craved now.

She walked slowly further in the dark bedroom. The room was back to being dark, with only a few window curtains slid aside to let in a little moonlight.

Moving her eyes around the room, she saw the king sitting at his desk, busy writing down something on a piece of paper.

The pale moonlight shone upon the silver haired vampire, kissing his white pale skin.

His sharp black eyes were focused on whatever he was writing, his features chiselled and refined.

His ensemble added to his elegance, and the writing quill moved with his fingers like it was an extension of him.

Florah would be a hypocrite to deny that the king was a gorgeous man. There were stories of how numerous Bachelorettes sought his attention, but it ended badly for them.

Which discouraged most of those women to try and get with the King.

She wondered why they would even be interested in the man. With all the bad rumours circling around about his ways, you would think that they would stay away from him.

Maybe it was his power that they wanted or was it his looks that attracted them.

But here she was, the unlucky one to be in the same room as him, of course not as equals but as servant and master.

She thought about some rumours she had heard while working in the market. She remembered overhearing a woman whisper of how the king had killed a member of the 'house' for spreading false information about the death of the previous king and queen.

But she remembered that that was a year ago when the king had just ruled for a year. Now it had been three years, 8did the man change over the years.

Because she hadn't witnessed him carry out any aggressive act since the time she heard met him.

Except the time when he had saved her from those witches that were spewing nonsense about her. Florah thought naively.