After spending so much time contemplating and rethinking her decision over and over again, her mind plaguing so many scenarios that could occur, Aletta finally faced the door to his chambers. She didn’t even know whether he was in there or not, but at least she wanted to try. Running away or avoiding him was never gonna solve anything.
Taking another deep breath, she steeled her mind for whatever would come and reached out to knock on the door. Preparing herself for the sudden rush of air and the figure that stood beside her was not something she expected, making her flinch back immediately and press herself to the wall beside her. Aletta’s eyes pooped open as she analyzed the radiant and looming figure of the man in front of her.
His eyes were watching her with an amused expression, and he had his arms crossed around his chest with a gleam filling up his eyes. She immediately noticed the small spot of red liquid by the side of his red lips, and of course, it was blood. At that moment, his tongue peeked out and took a sharp swipe of the blood before disappearing back to where it came from.
Zoan was looking as handsome as always, and his white hair was now almost touching his neck. Seems his hair growth is faster than normal, and he hasn’t cut it back to its normal length yet.
"Are you here for me to bed you?" He arched a brow in question.
Aletta pressed herself harder against the wall from his question, gasping quietly, "Why would I want to do that with you? I came here because...I didn’t want to avoid you anymore." She spoke up, staring him directly in the eye hiding the nervousness swirling around her.
"Do you know what it means for a woman to bring herself to a man’s territory, uninvited for a specific reason?" He took a step toward her, and now Aletta was already regretting why there had to be a wall behind her.
"Your highness, do you have nothing else to say?" Aletta rolled her eyes, pulling back from the wall to show him that she wasn’t scared anymore even though the sharp thudding of her heart was gonna give her away immediately, "Well now that I’ve seen you, you’ve confirmed I’m no longer avoiding you," she faced the other direction and made to leave, "I’ll be in my room if you need me,"
It was time she went back to her place and continue staying there. One teardrop shouldn’t decide where she should stay, and if Zoan asks her anything about it, she would just find to find a way and skip the topic from being discussed. Leaving the palace was part of her plans in the past but Fabia had kept her with her, and now she can no longer leave anytime soon because she’s agreed to pretend she and Zoan have a thing.
Taking her first step away from him, Aletta was taken by surprise when he took her small hands and intertwine their fingers together. She was just a feverish inch away from pulling her fingers from his when she remembered what he had said about them acting like lovers while in public.
"Let me escort you back to your place, love." He mused while caressing her thumb as they walked past the maids whom were passing by. Seems the rumors would become true now that they were openly holding hands, and it would be known that the Prince is courting... someone like her. Who the hell is she anyways? 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
Aletta faced him again, "Do you really think we should be doing this? You’re a Prince! So you should be with a Princess. A Vampire Princess. Many will misunderstand, and I don’t want anyone walking up to know and asking questions I don’t feel well with," she complained, wishing he would just let go of her hand. His palm was so big, and his strong fingers were muscular and long that her own would disappear inside of his completely.
"Then I’ll make sure no one asks you any questions," He responded smoothly, throwing her another amused look.
"And then what if they do check my background? I know some will. I mean Erandell is like...I can see it’s a great kingdom and I don’t think the council guiding vampires around here would just sit and keep letting us be together without trying to figure out exactly who I am," She demystified, trying to make him understand that many things could go wrong for her.
"If you would tell me about your background, I’ll stop it from happening," He gazed at her, and she found herself unable to look away as usual, "It’s obvious you’re not like anyone in this palace, and I’m very curious to know the little creature I have here with me,"
As he stared into her big coal eyes that were dancing with this insane amount of innocence and confusion, it had him recalling the words she had said to him a few days ago when his smoke had turned the room into a dark and cold dead ground. He couldn’t believe she had cried for something that should have had her running out and screaming her lungs away.
’ One or two or a thousand bad memories does not decide who you are ’ Her words echoed in his mind.
Her eyes held no apathy, no strength and neither weakness. She just had this cheerful air around her that makes her feel one with everything, and she was the type that likes to stay out of trouble except if there wasn’t any other choice. Women like her are supposed to be locked out of this harsh world for good, kept in the tallest tower, and get married to a good man to take care of her. Aletta must have probably been living somewhere safe, a cocoon that protected her from the doom that awaited her, and it didn’t feel like she had been forced to leave or kicked out when he first met her.
She had been grinning from ear to ear as she accompanied him everywhere he went go, gaping at everything she found fascinating which had him understanding that it might just be her first time coming to the outside world. He had no interest in her, till Aragon had mentioned that she might bring his Downfall’...and Zoan had taken that as a challenge to conquer.
"I’m not a little creature." She pouted her lips, glaring at him.
"You’re small, and you’re always hiding. Makes you little,"
"Who taught you that?" Aletta asked, softly eyeing a maid who saw them and was scurrying away.
"The small always hide. Do you know why? Because they fit Into their hiding places. The huge stands out, because there’s no place to hide for them."
Now Aletta was seriously glaring at him. What if she was always hiding? Why on earth wouldn’t she hide herself? She’s found herself in an enclosed space filled with Vampires and witches, so what else was she supposed to do than stay where she feels is safer?
"That must be why you’re so confident about yourself," she rolled her eyes again.
"And you... haven’t told me what I want to know. I can’t keep them from knowing your background if...I don’t," He eyed him with a side glance that she didn’t notice, while Aletta was back to staring at the ground. She thought she had successfully evaded the topic of her background, but he seems adamant about knowing. Normally, she had nothing to worry about since her kind isn’t perceptible, but then again who knows what one can find out? Because of her...all because of her...
"My background isn’t important." She turned away from him, and recalled something else that would definitely change the tide of the discussion, "What about the Vampire that you caught the other night? Has he been interrogated yet?" She inquired genuinely, stopping so they could face each other.
Zoan’s eyes darkened sharply, and Aletta just knew whatever would leave his lips wouldn’t be very good. She exercised patience when she saw that he was taking his time to reply, and was even more surprised that he hadn’t thrown her a hard glare and asked her not to mention it. Getting information out of this man was... something else.
"He’s not the main person in the picture. He knows nothing of importance that could lead us. His dead body is lying somewhere far away by now," Zoan replied a little curtly and continued walking. He fastened his pace this time, dragging her along with him while she struggled to keep up with his fast strides.
"What happened?" Aletta enquired as she saw that they had taken another sharp turn which wasn’t the way to her room, "Where are we headed to, now?!"
He didn’t reply and just kept on pulling her along with him. It was already a little dark outside, and if Zoan’s demeanor had been calm before then it shot up the second they stepped into the compound of the palace.
And there stood a few familiar people, along with the Princess. When Aletta saw that she was being dragged toward his Majesty that was standing beside his wife, her nerves stood on their ends and she immediately jumped to block Zoan’s path.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
