"You useless bitch!" the prince hissed at her, his fangs bared in anger. "How dare you bring that cursed thing inside my manor without permission?"
"I only saw it by the entrance, and assumed you would want to read it since it looked important," she said with calculated words.
Elys studied the vampire's expression with great attention. She read every crease and fold of his forehead to minute details, never missing any hint that might answer the doubts in her head.
She must know for sure what she was up against in the persona of her husband.
The princess waited for Aleksander to taunt her or to point out her obvious lie. If the prince could truly read minds as what she suspected, then he will surely correct her.
But Aleksander didn't say a word to contest what Elys told him. She didn't even see any indication in his face that said he doubted her.
Could it be that her worries weren't true then?
Was the prince's ability – his magic – only limited to creating hallucinations in her mind?
If that would be the case, then Elys should be able to move forward with her plans without taking extra precaution in her own head.
"Why don't you open the envelope and see what's inside of it, husband?" Elys prodded the prince.
Aleksander's brows were literally a bushy black bridge of hatred and fury. His knuckles were white as his fists curled tightly, his nails digging into his palms. His hands were shaking – he was probably about to explode with madness.
"Your highness," Henry stepped in, "let me take it for you."
The attendant reached out towards the table, but Elys blocked his hands instantly. She threw him a sideways glance that meant for him to back off, and the attendant stood still in disbelief.
She was getting bolder by the day.
"If the prince doesn't want to, then I shall do it," Elys spoke firmly. "It is addressed to me as well, no matter the rudeness of the title they gave me."
"Throw that away, you useless bitch!" Aleksander said as he growled at Elys, "I don't need anything from the palace – especially if it's from that crazy king."
Elys didn't pay heed to Aleksander's slur against her. She has already grown immune to such words. Yobab was worse with his mouth, and much uglier too.
She snatched the envelope from Aleksander's table, and then carefully ripped it open to see the content of the letter.
The stationery inside was faded and yellowish. It looked like something royalty would have discarded the moment they saw it. It also smelled old, as if it hadn't been touched for ages before it came to their hands.
As Elys opened the letter, she noted how the ink was a bright red that had started to darken into brown at certain parts of the paper. At the lower right corner, a huge patch even had the same ink splash onto it in a presumable mistake by the letter's sender.
'Blood?' she wondered to herself.
How gruesome. It must have been some kind of twisted joke for the king that feeds on blood to waste it for writing.
Reading the letter, a frown settled upon Elys' face.
She didn't want to admit it, but she had been curious as to what it was – being that Teo said it was a gift from the king to both of Elys and Aleksander.
But now that she had opened the letter, she was left a bit disappointed by its content.
'So, this is what Teo had to sneak in for? What a waste of time,' she thought.
"It truly is a letter from your father," Elys finally said after quickly reading through the short letter.
"I don't need to hear it," Aleksander grumbled like a child throwing a tantrum.
Elys couldn't tell if he was just being too dramatic with regards to a letter sent by the vampire king, or if Aleksander truly loathed his father to the point that he doesn't accept everything that came from him.
She looked up from the paper and saw Aleksander was looking away. His eyes were fixed at the water that came inside his room, seemingly uninterested.
Elys held back a smile.
She knew if Aleksander truly didn't want to hear about it, then he should have thrown her out and destroyed the letter already. But he did none of those – or at least not yet – to which Elys was thankful for.
'Why can't he just admit that he wants to know what his father had to say?' Elys complained in her head.
One last thunder crackled outside, and then the skies slowly started to clear. The smell of damp soil and flora wafted in the air from the short shower.
"Its just a short sentence of congratulations," Elys continued despite the prince's volatile mood, "Says we were 'a perfect match made in this hellish land'. Nothing else."
The prince rubbed his temples. He wasn't in the mood to be knowing what his eccentric and crazy father's half-assed well wishes.
"I said I don't need to hear it, you fool! Leave woman!" Aleksander yelled at Elys. He leaned back into his chair and then turned to the old man, "Henry, make sure to fill my flask with blood after you drag this woman out of my sight."
"Understood, your highness," Henry acknowledged the prince's demand.
The attendant bowed down and had his hands gestured towards the door as if expecting Elys to automatically answer his cue.
If Henry was to be asked, she should just leave the prince's bedchamber as he wished. That way, there won't be any further complications.
He loathed anything that came from the royals. They always sent him demeaning letters to begin with, and this one that the slave brought wasn't any better.
Elys stared at the letter and envelope in her hand. Where was the gift Teo had mentioned?
"I guess this won't be needed anymore," she pronounced.
But just as she spoke, something caught her attention. She squinted at the old paper, and then her eyes widened with surprise.
The words had started to shift and rearrange itself into a whole new letter!