26 The Time He...

I wasn't sure if I heard wrong, but I believe my ostracized husband just indirectly proposed eternity to me. I broke our eye contact before he got the chance to mesmerize me with his vampiric eyes. I still suspect they possess hypnosis effects.

As I rose to feed the fire, Niko tugged me back down and leaned his head against my shoulder. I tried to shove him off, but he always looked so defenseless with his closed eyes and long lashes that you'd think have to second guess yourself. It would be like waking a sleeping angel.

"Can we talk a little longer?" he asked in his soft voice that melted my heart all over again. He used all the right intonations in the sweetest of tones, making it difficult to reject his request.

It was more that his very nature was a magnetic force of its own. He never employed any pretenses or honey coated of his words. He himself was the embodiment of perfection in the strict society we grew up in. It was only natural I had fallen for him. It just didn't make sense how the opposite had happened or so he has convinced himself.

But whether that was true or not, it doesn't matter.

Pulling my body away, his majestic blue eyes fluttered open with a shot of sorrow.

"Thank you for all you've done today, but we will part ways when Ralphie arrives. You're still the enemy. Good night."

Even in my fatigue, my better judgment knew that I'd best stay as far away as I could from this man. I curled next to Ares and shut my eyes, trying my best to force away the image of Niko.

Yet all those times he made me smile and laugh and feel giddy with joy came rushing back. I didn't want to admit that my mind had stored them in such an accessible corner until every instance and interaction we shared flooded my conscience with us.

The first time we were introduced as partners flashed in my mind. He stood behind a few others, but he towered above them and I was able to steal a few glances at him. He looked aloof, not a hint of curiosity about me despite how every other male vampire would be interested in replacing his duty of producing a heir. His expression was a blank slate and so in sync with that fact that I could give birth to dragons and he still wouldn't bat an eye.

With such an impression, I didn't expect when he turned up on that rainy day to personally escort me to his home and tell me then it would be mine too. I didn't expect him to fight and humiliate another high noble in public to defend my honor.

He was clearly in love with someone else and made sure to avoid her home, but still came to fetch me when he found out I got into trouble there. He learned I adored his maid and so he ordered her to stay by my side often. He knew I was still wary of vampires so he kept his distance and had everyone else do so too. Then things started to change.

The Council pressured him to have a child with the breeder. If that didn't manifest, they'd send me to the Commander of the Northern District where the task would be completed without a doubt. They told him and he in turn told me as if my opinion mattered.

He knew I was frightened and nervous that night and then began telling me things he warned me not to bother to remember like how he loved the sun on his skin, hated the rain because they ruined his gardens, didn't care to learn how to read until he was fifteen, was allergic to small talk with people who plastered fake smiles on their faces, and how his favorite color was red not because it was the color of blood but because it looked the most beautiful on his mother.

He descended from a military family who established prestige from their contribution in the Great War with the Wolves; however, over the decades their reputation declined with each passing generation until their position as the leading family was threatened. If they couldn't defend their own territory, they wouldn't be deserving to stay.

His two older brothers were sickly and surrendered their status prompting his family to be kicked out of Argid. Seeing his mother removed from her homeland in her old age pained him and so he guarded their turf as the once insouciant third son of the Dietrichs. He challenged and beat down all thirty-nine other contenders to reclaim the title of Western Commander of Army. He didn't care for the title, just loved his home with a sleeping passion.

He thought he bored me with his story so had me tell mine. I was born to parents who worked at a farm. I lived a relatively normal life until I was five when the roots of my hair turned ashen-colored and it grew out that way ever since.

Right away the ranch owner took notice and reported it to the Elder Council. My parents were compensated and I was taken away to be shackled in a tall tower, not to set foot outside or see the sunlight until my groom was selected.

He was the first to listen and laughed at what little of mine there was. There has to be more he'd say just to have me think of something to entertain him. I spent my days scritch scratching the floors with the stone shards I found on the floor which annoyed the night guard so much that he bought me paint and brushes. There wasn't anything else I had to boast.

After hearing my story, he took me out to explore Argid the next day. The following weeks he took me to Flame Keep, then to Ashenvale and afterwards to Emberwind. Anywhere I wanted to go he'd take me. I liked him before, but loved him then.

And then there was everything in between.

The time he opted to get stepped on just to teach me how to dance because he didn't approve of the dance instructor who didn't appear to hold me gently enough. The time he taught me horseback riding because he believed there should be more to me than only knowing how to sit in a carriage and look pretty. The time he brought home an entire closet of dresses from the store I as much as took a glance at.

There was the time when the weather suddenly decided to pour and all the servants were scrambling to find an umbrella, but lost us because he already whisked us away to the tiny gazebo in the garden. He looked at me, pleased that not a single droplet of rain managed to touch my skin because he kept me carefully tucked under his cloak, and then leaned in to kiss me saying that my smile made the rain tolerable.

And I would never forget the time he sat me on his bed and knelt on the floor as he looked at me with a stern expression on his face. Only if I wanted or so pleased, I could call him by his own name. It was a custom that only spouses and significant others had the privilege to address each other with their personal name, the one not inherited from family. He didn't want to be Master or Aleksandar or Lord Dietrich. Just my Nikolaj.

It was that moment I truly believed he loved me too.

But that didn't change the ultimate fact in his heart—I was simply not good enough. He wouldn't go against the Council for me. He wouldn't stop a marriage for me. He didn't even stop them when they took my son away from me.

And then there was that sad excuse of keeping me around because I was still young, still able to produce more Purebloods. He couldn't even admit he loved me. Not in front of the Elders. Not in front of society.

That was all in the past and there were more important matters at hand. Yet, I couldn't stop myself from thinking of him...