It has been some days now since Samantha joined the vampire household. She had been trying all her possible best to fit in gradually into their lifestyle. She avoided having any encounter with Queen Mabel by all means knowing fully well that she wasn't really welcomed. Samantha had also been trying all her best to get to talk to Xavier. She swallowed her pride the other day and approached him.
"Hey Xavier" she called him in a friendly way when they met in the hallway, each heading to their respective destination. Xavier looked at her and looked away.
He didn't stop and continued going in his direction. Samantha felt so bad and dejected. Amongst everyone in the palace, Xavier was the only one she was attracted to. He looked cold and aloof but it never stopped her from trying to get to him even as he was the prodigal child of the family, he was always arguing and quarreling with his father. That day, Samantha nursed her broken ego all the way back to her quarters, sobbing internally.
Today she was set again to talk to him, she made sure she dressed so casually which still didn't suppress her extraordinary looks, and went in search of him. She met him standing alone near the overflowing spring located in the castle.
She quietly walked up to him and stood beside him. Xavier looked towards her direction when he felt someone's presence next to him. He turned around and started leaving immediately he saw her.
"Wait!" Samantha said quickly. she wasn't the social type but swallowed her ego again just to talk to Xavier. He listened to her and waited for her relief.
"I just want to get to know you," Samantha said to him.
"Get to know me?" he asked with a raised brow.
"Yes, at least we become friends," Samantha said. Xavier burst into laughter to Samantha's surprise. Even if he was laughing so melodiously in her ears, it was still very annoying and disrespectful to Samantha. She bit her lips in annoyance and looked away.
"Why do you think we can become friends? You are kind of my step mother, and you think that friendship can work between us?" Xavier asked Samantha.
"I'm Sam, nice to meet you," Samantha said, taking him by surprise.
"It ain't nice to meet you, I don't want you here," Xavier said coldly.
"Why?" Samantha asked him.
"Why waste your young life with a man old enough to be your father," Xavier replied.
"I can explain," Samantha replied but Xavier wasn't paying attention anymore.
He was already leaving. Samantha felt bad and looked downward, she didn't really know why he was despising her so much. She had been trying all her best to know him more but it has been proving abortive to her utter dismay.
She spread her scarf on the green leveled grass beside the spring and sat down. She pulled off her shoes and put her legs into the clear spring. Samantha can admit that she didn't only wanted to be friends with Xavier, After that night incident, she had become so attracted to him that she feels she is in love with him already. She loves everything about him, his aura, behavior and doesn't even mind that he is a drunk.
All she wanted was to have his attention, she knows she isn't supposed to love him but she can't help herself, she has been having wild dreams and thinking so much about him. She wanted it to stop but can't really control it. How would king Matt feel when he finds out that his newest wife was in love with his son, and yes Samantha knew she can admit that without any shame.
She is ready to try anything possible out with Xavier even under King Matt's nose but Xavier was the one that wasn't making it easy for her. She sighed and dipped her hands into the spring too. She scooped some water and let it go, she would keep on trying, she said to herself. Samantha didn't know where she got the courage but she was ready to do anything just to have Xavier's attention, not really bothered if he also feels the same way for her in return.
She would get what she wants and the sky would be her limit. She brought out her legs from the spring and laid fully on the green grass without care.
"Your majesty, please it isn't appropriate for you to lie on the bare grass," one of her personal maids said. Samantha only smiled but didn't listen to her. She wanted to feel the cold breeze on her skin just as she felt that night with him. She wanted him again and never regretted ever having that night with him.
"Please your majesty, the king would become angry when he sees you this way," the maid added with apprehension.
"I don't care," Samantha murmured.
Becoming a Queen won't make her let go of the things that give her happiness. She wasn't yet ready to be fully responsible just like Xavier. She wanted to be free and left alone.
Xavier, who left earlier, kept on wondering why Samantha had been trying to start a friendship between them.
She knows he had noticed that she wanted his attention but he wasn't yet ready to give her what she wanted. He hasn't yet accepted her, she suddenly showed up in their life to take the little chance their mother had always with the king. Now King Matt wasn't really to look at their mother again, it has all been Samantha since she came.
He can't deny that he has been thinking a lot about her lately also and has been secretly trolling and watching her do her daily activities. He also wanted to get to know her but it won't work out because he is meant to hate her and not to have any soft spot in his heart for her.
Xavier hardened his heart and decided to further pretend like she wasn't anything to him. He wasn't yet ready to start a friendship with someone he is supposed to respect as his step mother even though Samantha was younger than he is.
He was already betrothed to someone he would get married to some day, he should only focus on how to make it work and forget about Samantha.
*
Later that day, as Xavier was passing through the large hallway, he overheard his father scolding someone. He didn't really care about his father hurting or punishing anyone, he always minded his business, but surprisingly, he walked quietly to his father's throne room to see who it was. He saw Samantha looking downcast before his father. He wondered what offense she committed and decided to listen to their conversation.
"You have to properly start carrying yourself as the Queen you are. You are no longer a princess. You have to grow up and stop the irrelevant things you always do that you think gives you freedom.
How would it look like when I come home with an important guest and they see the newest Queen sprawled out in the field like a small child," King Matt said. Xavier wanted to laugh but held himself so he wouldn't be noticed.
"I'm sorry your majesty," Samantha murmured, still looking downward.
"You have to be careful about your childish behaviors from now on. I'm going to get you a governess that would properly teach you on how to be a Queen hence your parents didn't train you to be one.
Here is a vampire kingdom and everything is taken more seriously than you can ever think. The meek gets trampled on, the weak gets devoured and the soft hearted gets killed or betrayed. From henceforth, I'm going to punish you whenever you go against the rules here. You ain't above the law," King Matt scolded.
"Yes, your majesty," Samantha replied.
"Your maids would get punished for not stopping you, each one of them would be mercilessly flogged fifty strokes of the cane for three days without food or water," King Matt announced.
The maids who were beside Samantha fell on their knees immediately.
"Please have mercy on us, your majesty," They begged.
"Take them away," King Matt thundered. Two guards came forward and started dragging them out. They kept pleading for help until they were taken away. Samantha started shaking with fear, she couldn't even imagine what her childishness had caused the innocent maids.
"Your majesty, they are innocent_"
"Silence," King Matt thundered, which shut Samantha up. "You may leave," he added. Samantha turned around and started leaving with sad composure. As Xavier saw her coming, he turned around and started hurrying away.
He felt really bad as he watched her looking like a prey offered to the king of the beast. He knows his father is one and he hopes he doesn't hurt her beyond repair.
Samantha couldn't stop crying when she got to her room, she kept blaming herself for not listening to the maids. Why was something so insignificant, a very huge offense to the king.
She was only lying on the field to feel the cold breeze and didn't mean to cause anything. Even if here was all she wanted, it would never be like home, Samantha concluded with a sigh.