The room that had been quiet for some hours was now filled with noises and when lady Sofia who had been sitting with Richard turned to say something, the man was nowhere in sight. The smile that was on her face lowered but she did not stay there any longer.
In no time, prince Wilson and princess Lilith were surrounded by the people who were congratulating them.
".....Thank you father." She thanked her father who had congratulated her and who seemed to be enjoying all this more than she did. "Wilson, I would like to have a word with you." King Andrew said as he pulled the young man aside. Taking this as an opportunity to escape the reality a little, Lilith turned on her heels ready to leave the room when she bumped into someone. Not bothering to meet the person's eye, she quickly apologized but before she could walk past him, the person held her by the wrist.
With several attempts of trying to free her hand from his grip, she gave up and decided to use words instead. "Let go of my hand!" She lowly ordered while trying to be as subtle as she could but the man didn't listen to her. "You wouldn't mind for a dance now, would you?" The man asked while loosening his grip without letting her go.
"I would, now if you please..." She stopped mid_statement when the man tagged her towards him and since they were not away from the dance floor, he pulled her towards it and finally, the face that she had not seen in the middle of her futile struggles appeared before her.
His eyes were set on hers and as if caught in a trance,, she could not look away from those black eyes that gazed on her as if they could see the depth of her soul.
Her thoughts were disrupted when she felt his hand snaking around her waist which made her look away. This was her first time to dance with a man who was not her father or brothers and right now with her awareness that this man was not her family, she felt a little bit uncomfortable being held so closely by him.
Just as Richard had thought, the girl was really beautiful to look at, but that was not what drew him to her. It was that innocence in her face that she had failed to acknowledge and he felt the urge to taint it. "I didn't want to."
He heard her say as he continued to read those expressions on her face and before he could say anything to her, he pushed her away from him before pulling her back whereby she twirled back into his arms with her back against him.
"But I wanted to dance with you princess. And I can be really selfish with what I want." He whispered to her ear and Lilith who had never been this close to a man gasped. "You must really be happy to be betrothed to the crown prince."
He commented as he raise her hand that he was delicately holding and Lilith turned around to face him. "I am. I am really happy and I don't know what you are trying to gain by doing this and in case you don't know, I am supposed to be dancing with my future husband."
Richard who had never been this interested in a woman felt a wave of jealousy sip through his vains at the thought that she was thinking about another man while being with him and that thought made him pull her more closer whereby Lilith had to crane her neck to look at the man who was taller than her.
"I'm sure he can wait." He stated and his hand that was still securing her by the waist squeezed her and when he drew a reaction from her, he smirked as he continued to keep her captive under his gaze.
Most of the people who were in the room had turned their gazes towards the pair that seemed to be dancing quiet intimately and prince Wilson who saw Lilith dancing with another man clenched his fists angrily. "Who is that man?!'' He asked while trying to control his anger. He was supposed to be the first one to dance with her but someone else had replaced him.
"His name is Richard. He works at the general council and I wonder who invited him."
At the mention of the general council, Wilson who had thought of going to the dance floor to get his woman dropped the idea and decided to try to control his anger while standing at the sidelines.
Gazes from other people was something that didn't falter him as he continued to drink in her features and once again, they were back in the position where Lilith's back was against the front of his body and his hand rested on her stomach while his face came to settle at the side of her neck and every time his breath hit her there, Lilith would uncontrollably shudder. Her scent was something that drew him more to her and for the slightest moment, his fangs appeared but he was able to curb his desires to have her blood and make love to her.
"Damn! You are so alluring. It makes me wish that I was the one marrying you instead of him." His words hit the shell of her ear and she involuntarily closed her eyes before she opened them and she recalled that she did not even know his name.
"Who invited you here." She finally found her words that had initially disappeared when she had felt his words reverberating on her skin.
"King William." Came his reply. "It was really nice dancing with you princess. I hope that he won't be mad that I stole your first dance."
So he knew what they did was wrong. She thought as she watched him disappear in the midst of the people in the room and not staying there any longer, she sneaked out of the room without anyone's knowledge.