In Love

As soon as a small figure poked his head in the doorway, two icy blue eyes widened in shock as they met Chris's dark blue eyes.

"You --" Before Chris could say another word Oziyat spoke completely shocked,

"You know him?"

The small figure slammed back the door hard.

"Hey!" Chris quickly tried to stop the door from closing but the small boy had already locked the door from inside.

"How do you know him?" Oziyat asked Chris.

"He was spying on me. I caught him but then he just . . ." Chris trailed off unable to explain how he had escaped.

Oziyat expression became wild, he looked furious as turned to the door again.

"Sol!" Oziyat knocked on the door rapidly.

But the door remained closed.

"Sol, open the door and explain yourself!" Oziyat shouted.

Nothing. Not a single sound came from the room.

"Solaryus Dragozera, open the door, now!"

Dragozera? The name clicked into Chris's mind. So the boy was a family member but he wasn't a vampire. How was that possible?

"I swear to the goddess, Solaryus, if you don't open the door now, your mother will hear about this."

At this, some shuffling sounds came from the room but Oziyat continued to look angry and Chris remembered how scared Sol was when she mentioned Oziyat at their first meeting, so Chris decided to speak. No matter what, Sol was a kid.

"Oziyat, I don't think you should shout at him," Chris spoke tentatively. "Calm down a little bit, you don't even know exactly what happened."

For a moment, Oziyat glared at nothing in particular but then meet Chris's eyes and tried to calm himself.

"Alright," he muttered. "But I want to know what happened. And for that -" he raised his voice a little bit. "I need to talk to you too, Solaryus."

Chris and Oziyat waited hoping this time the door will open and after a moment the door slowly opened. Oziyat didn't wait, he quickly held the door and stepped inside. Chris hesitated for a moment then followed.

The room was a little bigger than Chris's room but it was as messy as her old rooms used to be. Piles of clothes and books were haphazardly thrown onto the bed, table, and chair. Some parchments and potion bottles were scattered around the table and for some reason, multiple types of feathers were loitering over the furniture.

"I asked you something, Solaryus," Oziyat's strict voice got Chris's attention back to them.

Sol was standing in a corner of the room and Oziyat was standing in front of him glaring down at him. Chris hurried towards them.

"I . . . was not . . . spying. I . . was just. . looking. . ." Sol painfully spoke staring at the ground.

"And?" Oziyat asked crossing his arms.

"I . . . was. . . curious about. . . the witch . . . I heard . . . the guards talking . . . they said . . . they caught . . . a witch. I wanted to see if . . . they were lying. . ."

Sol's words were barely more than whispers Chris had to step closer to hear him clearly. As soon as Chris stepped closer Sol's eyes snapped towards her and he glared at her so viciously that Chris halted.

"I didn't tell him about you!" Chris blurted out. "He brought me here. I just told him about you now."

Sol stared at Chris intensely and Oziyat sighed.

"That is not the point," Oziyat said, and just for a second his furious demeanor broke, only to be replaced with a worried frown. "Sol, what happened? Please tell me. Truly."

"I am . . . saying the . . . truth. . . I . . . was just. . . curious about the . . . witch," Sol muttered looking away from Chris.

"She is Lady Christina," Oziyat interrupted strictly.

"Yeah, Lady. . . Christina . . . She caught. . . me one day . . . I wasn't . . . doing anything bad. . . I swear!" Sol's voice shook a little bit.

Oziyat rubbed his face and dropped on a chair with a groan.

"Sol, you know the rules --"

"Sorry," Sol mumbled hanging his head.

After a few moments of silence, Chris cleared her throat loudly. Sol and Oziyat both turned to look at her. Sol still looked angry and Oziyat looked tired.

"Sorry, but may I know what's going on here? I don't think I understand this . . . talk," Chris said quietly.

"No, please, don't apologize, Christina," Oziyat said straightening up a bit. "I should be sorry, I bought you here for answers, and here I am, making you more confused than before." Oziyat gave a sad smile then gestured at Sol, "Meet Solaryus Dragozera, son of sister Rosaline, and the only living person returned from the South-East end."

"Wait, really?" Chris almost choked in her words.

"You are . . . telling her . . . that?" Sol muttered looking surprised.

"Yes, Sol, she knows a lot about us and it's for our own good," Oziyat told Sol softly then turned back to Chris. "I thought if you talked to him, you would get some insight but I didn't guess that you would already know him. Though I assure you, Christina, Sol is telling the truth. He really didn't mean any harm to you. Like he said he was just curious. But he does owe you an apology. Sol?"

Sol looked away and didn't open his mouth.

"Sol?" Oziyat chastised. "What you did was wrong and you know it."

". . . Sorry," Sol whispered.

"Well, I am sorry too. I also didn't mean any harm to you but I did bind you with magic. So, sorry," Chris replied seriously.

Sol didn't answer.

Oziyat his mouth looking displeased but Chris interrupted, "It's fine. We can talk later. I think Sol needs some time."

Hearing her Oziyat was surprised but Chris gave a convincing smile. The truth was she wanted to know everything about the South-East now. But she knew that if Sol is not willing to talk then making him talk wouldn't be very fruitful. She needed to think of a different way to deal with this boy and for that, she needed time to think.

"It's gotten pretty late," Chris said walking towards the door. "I am sure we all need to rest."

⁂

"So, walk me through it," Chris said sitting in her room with Oziyat the next afternoon. "Sol is Princess Rosaline's son but he is not a vampire and for some reason, he is not allowed to go out in front of strangers."

"Yeah, well, he is not allowed to meet strangers, particularly for this type of question," Oziyat said sheepishly.

Chris just raised an eyebrow. She was too deep into these vampires' lives to be left out.

"Sorry, it's just . . . we are very much protective of Sol. Not just because he is the son of the first Princess, it's his special condition," Oziyat hesitated.

"Special condition?"

"Yes, I think you have noticed the way he speaks?" Oziyat asked and Chris nodded. "And of course he is not a vampire or wizard."

"Wizard?" Chris raised an eyebrow.

"It was some time back, Rosaline was traveling the world at that time, and she met . . . this charismatic wizard and fell in love. Rosaline wasn't always like this, you know. I mean, she was always uncompromisingly practical but she wasn't always this serious and cynical about the world," Oziyat sighed. "She was so happy when she met that wizard, then they had Sol and soon she was going to be the Queen as mother had decided to step down. It was perfect. It was everything Rosaline could ask for. And then . . ."

"Then?" Chris almost guessed what happened after that. This was the part where things get ugly.

"Then," Oziyat clenched his fist. "He left. That wizard. He betrayed my sister and left. Turned out he didn't care about Rosaline or Sol at all. Sol was just one year old at that time. And it broke my sister, even though she refused to show her weakness, we could feel her change. She was always the favorite of our mother and seeing her like that was hard for mother. Rosaline thought everything changed just because she did the forbidden. She fell for a wizard, the dishonest bunch."

Chris didn't know what to say. Somehow despite the wizarding world's claim of Vampires being barbaric, the wizards had done every kind of dirty trick possible to them.

"I am sorry," Chris muttered.

"When you came here, everyone was wary of you, even me," Oziyat meet Chris's eyes and gave a bitter smile. "We thought you were just another fraud. No one trusted you and it would have been gone like that if not for your Protector's sword. But you should know, for me, it's not the sword. It's you, Christina. I have come to believe you. You have this aura around you that makes people believe you, trust you. I have faith in you, Christina, and so do many vampires, a type of trust that we hadn't have in a long time. You have given us hope. You have given me hope. I hope you do not break that, please, do not break my heart."

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To be continued. . .