17. Cold but Warm Hands
Mauve immediately brought her hands to her mouth as she forcefully stopped herself from shouting. He raised a brow at her reaction and looked around the inside of the carriage, obviously accessing the situation.
Mauve just stared, it was not like she could do anything else. She still had not recovered from the shock that she was literally staring into the Vampire's King eyes again. She had really underestimated how handsome he was.
"Are you okay?" He asked after his eyes had done a sweep on the situation.
Mauve tried to speak but her words sounded muffled then she remembered her hands were still over her mouth. She pulled her hands away from her mouth and answered, "Yes, I am fine."
"Good," he muttered, eyeing her weirdly.
Mauve wished the ground would open up and swallow her, it didn't help that all she could think about as she stared at him was the kiss and she reached to touch her lips without even realizing it.
"I am guessing you were attacked by a Paler." He picked a shard of broken wood as he spoke.
Mauve nodded vigorously. He looked up at her. "The guards in charge of your transportation are in no state to speak, so I would need you to tell me all that had happened." He rang his free hand through his hair.
Mauve's eyes bulged, "What do you mean in no state to speak?" Her heart jumped as she asked the question. "Did something happen to them?" She gasped.
He squinted his eyes at her. "What is wrong with her?" He asked instead, gesturing towards Vae with his head.
"She is suffering from blood loss, she had to give Damon blood." He jerked his head to look at her, he looked angry for some reason. "He was gravely injured, so I gave my permission."
"Come with me," he muttered and stretched out his hand.
Mauve did not know how to react at first. He was obviously asking for permission to touch her after ordering her to come with him. She snapped out of it and gave him her hand. He grabbed her hand softly, his palm was cold. She barely had any time to process this information when he firmly pulled her out of the carriage.
Mauve gasped and waddled a little as she landed on the floor at the unexpected firm tug. He quickly put his hands around her waist to stop her from falling or worse. Mauve froze as her awkward movements immediately stilled.
His hands were literally burning a hole through her garment. It was pretty ironic because she knew how cold his skin was, if she had forgotten, his cold palm that was pressed against her palm was quite the reminder.
He squeezed slightly— Mauve didn't think it was intentional —before he slowly let go of her waist but still held onto her palm. She understood the sun was hot but the heat she was feeling was unreal. Even his cold palm did nothing to quench that, she could almost swear it made it worse.
She had immediately noticed they were not directly underneath the sun but rather a shade was covering both carriages and most of the surroundings.
She would have paid more attention to the rest of her surroundings but the vampire king was so close to her that her thought process was not working. It was even a miracle she could stand.
"Are you good?" He asked again and she nodded, she did not think her mouth could work with the way she was feeling.
He didn't let go of her hand rather he began to pull. "I need you to tell me all that transpired on the trip because apparently, you are the only one who can."
Mauve's tiny frame followed behind his huge one. She was sure that if he was not pulling her, she wouldn't have been able to keep up with him. She looked back at the carriage, Vae was still in there.
"Don't worry," the vampire king said without looking back. "They will attend to her. I know you would like to get some rest but this can't wait. I promise not to take too much of your time." This sounded like a request but Mauve knew it was far from it.
Mauve nodded even though he was not looking at her. It was not like she had any complaints to where he was taking her to. Frankly speaking, she was fine with wherever. She had just not expected to see him so quickly, she had not even gotten off the carriage, so a part of her was slightly glad and a larger part was very nervous.
They soon walked up the stairs that laid to the main entrance. It was a huge set of doors and it was slightly bigger than her father's main castle doors. She wondered if she could still call him father, after all he only performed his role for one day and it was at her sentencing disguised as a wedding.
This time however, there were two guards holding the door open. It was almost welcoming. She shook her head of the thoughts as she quietly followed behind him. She walked through the door into an open space. It was pretty huge and she knew it would take a lot of climbing for her to touch the ceiling.
The first thing Mauve noticed was that there were no curtains which meant there was no window. As soon as her mind registered this thought the door closed and plunged the room into darkness.
Mauve yelped and jumped simultaneously. Her reaction caused him to chuckle. Mauve knew she could listen to it all day.
"Hmm," he said and his grip tightened. "You will have to get used to the darkness. You are with vampires now as you know the dark is were we reside."
Mauve tried not to roll her eyes at his corny words even though his words did scare her a little. Just how different were the vampires from humans and would she ever fit in? She couldn't imagine being in the dark all the time, would she get used to this?
However, it wasn't just the fact that it was dark but more about the fact that she could not see a thing. If he was not directing her only the heavens knew where or what she would have hit her head on.
She was just about to tell him this when the door opened again and she saw a guard bring Vae into the castle. Mauve knew immediately that the maid was unconscious. Mauve hoped she had just fallen asleep.