BLOOD.FANGS.N'.FIRE

Florah made an attempt to stand up, which she did successfully as the King's hand had let go of her. She stood shyly, gathered the utensils they had used, and quietly put them back on the tray.

And as if by magic, the head butler appeared in the room and took away the tray, Florah remained flabbergasted with several questions in her head.

But she kept her mouth shut and just saw things as they were.

She moved a distance away from the king, who was still sitting in the same position. She could feel his gaze piercing into her, but she kept her eyes down, trying to forget whatever had just happened moments ago.

Gavriel looked at Florah, observing her body, looking for any slight changes, but he saw nothing. Whatever the girl was, was still an unsolved puzzle for him. Which made her more exciting.

Standing up, Gavriel said, "l remember, saying that you are not allowed to leave my side without my permission. Your things are already in here, so what makes you think you are to leave this room." With that said, he made for the door and strode out leisurely.

Florah looked at the closing door, feeling her heart ache with longing. Why her, she kept asking herself.

To think that she wanted to leave her mundane life, but now that she had left it, she elonged for it, because then, no king touched her inappropriately or wanted to dictate every minute of her life.

She thought back to the theatre they had visited. It was as majestic as she had seen it in the books that Jeremiah sometimes brought to her.

The disturbing part was how her master made the female lead of a play she had no clue about.

Her tired legs moved to the sofa, planting her round bottom on it. She reminisced her peaceful days back in Dradfold.

While Florah was wallowing in self-pity, Gavriel walked through the dark hallway. Reaching a tall window, he opened it and jumped through it to land in the back of the castle.

Walking across the field, he reached a wall.

Extending his hand through it, he pulled something from inside the wall for it to open quietly.

Strutting through the opening, he entered what seemed to be a dark underground dungeon.

The door closed itself softly behind him. With his hands in his pockets, he climbed down the multiple stairs that had cell bars beside them.

He heard two people arguing the further he walked inside the underground dungeons.

"If I kill that idiot Duke, even the south would be happy," Lester argued.

"They might be true, but the house wouldn't," Matthew calmly replied.

"Well, when have I ever cared about how the house felt?" Lester smirked deviously.

"You have never, My Lord, that's why you always receive those visits from them," Matthew remarked.

Just then, they turned to look at Gavriel, whose nose was bleeding .

Matthew hurriedly walked to the king, "Here, your majesty, " he offered the king his white handkerchief.

Gavriel took the handkerchief from him, unbothered by the blood smearing his upper lip. He wanted it to happen. It showed how close he was to his goal.

Wiping off the blood unhurried, Gavriel focused his sharp maroon eyes at a particular cell where an unconscious man lay.

He could hear his faint but strong heartbeat. It seems the nosey witch had helped the man.

He looked at Lester and asked, "Find anything?"

Lester, who was staring at his friend in concern, took a few seconds to reply, "More like I heard something, but his mind is like a blank canvas."

"It sounded like flames, whispers and screams. When it stopped, the sound of his heartbeat was still there, but his blood flow stopped. His blood flow resumed when l got out of his head." Lester narrated

The blood flowing from the King's nose had stopped, relieving a few tired lines from the two men's foreheads.

Gavriel listened intently to his friend while observing the man. He hadn't noticed it before, but maybe it wasn't there before until Lester entered this witch's cell.

But now listening to the man's heartbeat, it sounded familiar.

Thump thump, he singled out the man's heartbeat, listening to it carefully, he smirked, his eyes flashing in realisation.

"Your Majesty, you shouldn't exhaust yourself like that." Lester said in concern.

"Yes, sire. Maybe not now, " Matthew seconded.

"Have you woken him up yet?" Gavriel asked, ignoring their words to him.

"Should l, sire?" Matthew asked, appearing kind on the outside, but only the men in that room knew what unsettling thoughts ran in the butler's lunatic head.

"No, Lester will," Gavriel told Lester, knowing that if he let his Butler do it , the man would wake up in pieces, not that he minded.

While the Duke and the butler were now focused on the unsuspecting witch in the cell, they had the king say, "I am still alive."

Gavriel said to reassure his worrisome friends, but it sounded like he was disappointed with himself.