Feeling his coarse tongue run over her leg caused Eve to gasp. With his hair hindering her sight, she couldn't see the cut on her skin heal, but it left a thin mark. Sebastian trailed his hand on it, different thoughts whirling up in his mind. He had come upon theories that could explain this, yet he felt there were baseless and incorrect.
When he moved away and looked into her eyes, she noticed the dark shade in his red orbs. "Do you feel anything?" He asked.
"Pain? No. It only stung when I was cut," she replied and looked down at the wound.
"Y-you healed it. How is it possible?" She questioned in surprise, her hands moving to press on the wound.
She should probably ask herself the question, Sebastian thought to himself as he stared at her. There was so many secrets, and he didn't know how she would accept and believe them.
For now, he would still be contemplating how to approach those matters. He needed to handle certain events and the individuals responsible within the castle.
"I hope you won't mind?" He asked.
"Mind what?" Eve questioned back.
He dropped her leg and took hold of her hand, "Me drinking your blood," He replied, he had turn thirsty from the scent and taste of her blood and as he brought her hand up to his lips, Eve's other hand shot up to his head, stopping him.
"No. It's painful."
Sebastian looked up and could see the fright in her face, her first bite had been an awful one which was surely what made her not to want to be bitten again.
He rubbed his thumb on her hand in a soothing manner. "It won't be, trust me," He said gently. He waited seeing her bite her lips before slowly releasing them and she nodded, moving her hand from his hair. Though she agreed, she still looked tense, and Sebastian kissed her wrist, pressing his lips on it lovingly.
Maintaining eye contact, he parted his lips and his fangs extended. When the pointed tip touched her skin, Eve stiffened but remained still. As his fangs pierced into her skin, she flinched.
Sebastian gently sucked on her wrist, savouring the burst of her blood on his tongue, reminiscent to the sweet nectar of fruit. As he had promised, it was a faint prick, in stark contrast to what she had anticipated. He continued to hold her gaze and he slowly retracted his fangs. His tongue moved to lick his lips as he pulled away from her hand which was quick to drop to her side.
Sebastian got up from his position, his demeanor changing and he said,
"I would send your maid to accompany you back to your room, I have to take care of something," And he walked out of the room leaving Eve confused.
His sudden change caused her to furrow her brows, wondering what caused the flip in his mood. She raised up her hand he had bitten and looked at the fading mark. She stood up and walked out also even though he had talked about sending Ester to walk her back to the room.
Glancing down the corridor where she stood, she began walking in the direction she believed would lead her to the stairs. Upon reaching the staircase, she walked up and instead of going towards her chambers, she veered away, into the next floor when Ester walked down from the stairs above her.
"Milady?" She called, wondering where she was going. Seeing her, Eve paused her footsteps waiting for her to walk up to her.
"Where is the King?" She asked.
"He went towards the court room after asking me to accompany you back to the room," Ester replied.
"Have you been working here for long?" She heard Eve ask and she looked up in surprise and then replied,
"Almost half a century milady."
Even though the girl looked younger than her, like a seventeen year-old human, Eve knew she would be double her age. But hearing this, she realized there was a great possibilty that the girl had lived longer than a century.
And if the girl was more than a century old, then how old was Sebastian, she wondered. If he was a human, she would have guessed him to be of the age, twenty seven.
Composing herself, she finally said, "Come with me, I need you to check something," She pulled the maid by her hand and began to walk again. They walked through the long corridor and when they finally stopped, Eve stared at the empty wall. Her brows furrowed as she found the portrait she was looking for to be missing.
"What is it that you search for, milady?" Ester asked thinking she could be of help.
"The portrait - There was a portrait on this side. "
"Portrait? The portraits are not fixed on this side of the castle walls, you can only find them around the court room," Ester explained.
Eve frowned and continued to stare at the wall, just four days ago, she was looking at the portrait while pondering who the woman was that stood next to Sebastian. She wanted Ester to identify her. Could it be one of the servants had taken it down?
"Where is the gallery room?" She asked.
"I'm sorry, milady. I cannot take you to the gallery room, his Highness doesn't like anyone entering the room except the maids he assigned to clean it."
Eve sighed, and Sebastian right now, seemed to be caught in work to help her out.
In the inner castle, Sebastian stepped into the large court room, his eyes scrunitizing every member present as they stood up and greeted politely with a bow.
He walked towards his seat that was on a high platform and he sat down and raised his hand, gesturing them to sit. His eyes moved to his right where Leif, Queen Rohesia, Markus, and four other Ministers were seated. He locked eyes with his stepmother who maintained a bland look but he could see beyond her facade.
He looked away and turned to the other Ministers before he finally speak,
"The humans have complained about the rogues attacking their Kingdom. Signed under the truce, they expect out protection since the agreement has both-sides benefit, which favor us more but it seemed some of you don't understand this."
The Ministers listened quietly, he was right, the vampires could walk within the human's territory and enjoy a free meal. And they also have a control over them, being superior creatures.
"It might have been against the rules stated in the agreement but instilling fear would help us keep our strong grip on the humans," If there was anyone who would say that, it would be Queen Rohesia.
"Of course, stepmother," He smiled at her and she glared, noticing him address her without her title in the court room.
"But the test subjects were the ones to cause the attack, and now the humans think they are getting stronger to have been able to kill them," He said, looking at Queen Rohesia to make sure he was gaining her attention.
"Who knows, they could be building a secret weapon which..."
"How strong could they have become in few weeks to eliminate all the vampires?" Leif was the one to interrupt one of the ministers that was speaking.
"The hybrids have taken a greater increase in numbers and and we've lost a great number of test." He sounded annoyed, his restrain snapping each second.
Pride, more power and greed were most vampires' focus, they claimed to be superior yet they were mostly stupid even more than the humans. He thought as he pinched the middle of his eyebrows.
"But the test subjects couldn't have been released without your order, your Highness," another minister said and others nodded, voicing their agreements.
"I know Gauntlet, which was why I had gone to Sven yesterday," as he said this, he looked at his stepmother whose expression changed for a second. From her stepson's smile, she grew restless that he must have found out the truth. Her messenger hadn't returned yesterday's night and she had sent another of her guards to check him up.
"Who could have done that, your Highness?" Gauntlet questioned.
"Perhaps you would want to answer that, Queen Rohesia?" Sebastian directed the question at her.