Rav barely finished speaking when the she-devil made her way into the chamber without bothering to knock, smiling like the world’s kindest person.
"Good morning, cousin Rohan."
Cordelia’s smile slowly began to fall when she sensed the air and the atmosphere in the chamber—with the human on the bed covering herself to the chin with the rumpled sheet and a flushed face, while her second cousin was casually fixing his trousers as he glared at her with eyes and an expression she knew was filled with displeasure and annoyance.
But Cordelia could not care less about his murderous expression when she had a gut instinct about what they had been doing before she came in.
Her fingers balled into fists and her insides burned with rage, however, those feelings did not show on her expression as she put back her smile and greeted the human.
"Good morning, Lady Dagon. I hope I didn’t disturb your sleep? It’s quite late into the morning for one to be in bed at this time of the day." She chuckled.
"And it’s bloody rude of you to walk into my wife’s chamber without waiting in the parlor for her to be informed, Cordie. What the hell are you doing here?" Rohan said with a bitting tone, while internally he wanted to wring her neck for interrupting a moment he was sharing with his wife and had gone as far as he had ever seen their marriage.
Being interrupted certainly wasn’t what he liked, and if she were anyone else and not someone whose death would raise tongues and put him in danger of the asylum, he would have enjoyed taking her blood and killing her this very moment. Cousin be damned—he did not give a bone about relatives.
She had come in at a bad moment—before he could even show and make his wife feel that coupling could be as pleasurable as foreplay, which they had been doing before. She had been at the point of stretching and taking him in. She had not experienced the pleasure yet, and it infuriated him to know that, without experiencing the full depth of what he could give her, she might retreat from coupling altogether, believing it to be as painful as she had always feared.
Cordelia did not let her smile falter as she replied to him, making her voice soft and innocent so his angry gaze would subside.
"I am sorry for my rudeness, my Lord. I did not mean to displease you. I know I should have waited in the parlor, but I have always been welcomed into the castle and allowed everywhere—I forgot my manners." She apologized halfheartedly with seemingly remorseful red eyes, while what she truly felt at being scolded in front of the human was a humiliation that made her wish she could just finish up the useless thing on the bed.
She had come here with a purpose in mind, and she wasn’t going to allow her dislike for the human bride to make her fail. Smiling, she continued to say,
"I actually came here because I am excited to know that you will join in the hunting season this year, and I can’t wait to introduce Lady Dagon to our custom, which was why I rushed here to meet her!"
Hunting season, Belle thought, at the same time wishing the ground would just swallow her out of embarrassment for being seen in this state on the bed.
Meanwhile, Rohan’s dark eyes narrowed at the mention of the hunting season.
Every year, the royals of Nightbrook hosted an event where they went hunting in the Forest of Grimvale for an entire day. During that day, each vampire was to hunt an animal using only human weapons, without the use of their vampire strength or abilities.
The one who hunted the largest animal was announced the winner and rewarded handsomely by the king, and the meat hunted was used for the feast that evening, where many are invited.
This event was founded many years ago in order to make vampires more civilized than savage. It was one of the ways to tame their instincts and traits. And while vampires were known for their hunting spirit, the hunting season was a way to measure how civilized one had become.
It was a big event where lucky nobles and royal relatives were invited to participate in the hunt—both male and female—and even a few important humans in the land took part.
However, Rohan had never taken part, nor had he ever felt left out, as to him the event was a waste of time and utterly useless. He’d always heard of it only from within the walls of his asylum, where the keepers would discuss the year’s winner and the night feast.
And then she continued to speak in that childlike, soft voice, with a faux-innocent expression—something that made Belle question why she was acting that way in the first place.
But her next words made Belle snapped back to the topic at hand.
"I was given the task by His Majesty on the day of the banquet, which you left without bidding farewell to me—and I am hurt by it—that I should come and train the hum—Lady Dagon—before the day. His Majesty has already included your name and hers in the list of participants and even made the announcement in public, but because you did not wait until it ended before leaving, you missed it.
You wouldn’t want to disrespect our king and put my cousin in trouble for not allowing you to join, would you?" she directed the question at the silent Belle on the bed.
Belle looked from Rohan—who was looking at his cousin with an expression she couldn’t put a name to—and then back at the vampiress, who was smiling at her, a smile too wide it was unsettling.
She had known the moment she decided on this marriage that there would be many occasions where she would be pushed out of her comfort zone to do things the vampire way, and as much as she would like to agree not to join in it, Rohan’s silence told her they both had no choice since it was decided by the king.
She was at a point in her life where she would have liked to learn more about herself and be around those who knew her secrets, rather than those she could get in trouble with if those secrets were known—like this vampiress. But this was no longer about her. It was about her husband.
Something told her the king was someone he could not openly disrespect or disobey. His silence right now said a lot, and she made it easy and mustered a smile to the vampiress.
"It would be an honor to be a part of such an event and to learn something new. When is this event?"
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m
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