24. A Quick Tour

"Where do you think you are going?"

Mauve turned to look at Jael and time froze. He was resting on the door frame with bed hair and no shirt. He ran his hand through it to arrange it but he only ended up ruffling it some more.

His eyes looked sleepy but it wasn't his face that had her attention. Her eyes trailed lower of their own accord, from his neck to his chest and his stomach. Mauve could not stop staring, his muscles called out to her. She instinctively stretched out her hand as if to touch him, wondering what he would feel like underneath her fingers.

He took a step forward, "I said, where do you think you are going?"

Mauve jerked and she snapped out of it. Her face reddened as she realized she had been shamelessly ogling him. "I um, I wanted to…" She bent her head and twisted her hands. She sighed, "I wanted to take a tour of the place. I was bored and couldn't sleep."

"How will you do that if you don't even know where you are going?"

She glared at him, "I am not going to get lost."

"What makes you so sure? The castle is huge and it is as old as time even I don't know every nook and cranny."

"I am not stupid, I will take note of the places I have been in and retrace my steps if I lose my way."

"Sounds like a hassle, it will be easier if I just showed it to you."

"Weren't you sleeping?" She asked and looked away. "You don't have to get out of bed for my sake."

"Even if you don't want it, I am now in charge of you. Letting you wander alone in an old castle is completely out of the question."

"I see," Mauve said with her shoulders slumped.

"Let's go," he said and walked past her.

"W-without a shirt?" She blurted out.

Jael stopped walking and slowly turned around, "Yes!" He said matter of factly without further explanation.

"That's indecent. Put on some clothes."

"Indecent? You make it sound like I am strutting around naked."

Mauve eyes widened and her cheeks reddened. She had just admitted that his shirtlessness was a bother to her. She scoffed and started walking. She heard a sound like a chuckle and turned around to find Jael looking at her with a bland expression.

She walked towards the stairs and in her hurry, she stepped on her dress and started to fall forward, down the stairs. She closed her eyes as she thought of the pain she would feel when her body hit the stairs.

Suddenly, she was pulled backward, she landed against his chest and lost her footing but his hand held her up. Mauve felt warm even though his palm was cold against her wrist.

"Are you okay?" 

She nodded and stood right, she had her balance but he did not release his grip on her. Mauve bent her head embarrassed. This was a bad idea, she just wanted to go in and sleep now.

"Good, I am letting you go now. Try not to fall on your face."

Mauve eyes blazed and she pulled her hands from his gasp. "It was an accident." She blurted out and started walking down the stairs but even in her anger, she made sure not to step carelessly.

Jael didn't say anything, he just walked quietly behind her. She could feel his gaze on her back and it made her self-conscious. She got to the end of the stairs and released the breath she was holding.

"You have seen the ballroom and the dining room," he said and started walking in the opposite direction.

They went to the kitchen and he showed her the staff quarters. Jael barely spoke except to tell her the room they were about to enter. She didn't need anyone to tell her she would have had more fun going by herself than being chaperoned by the expressionless vampire.

They finished the ground floor in no time, Mauve made a mental note to check out all these places by herself whenever the opportunity arose.  Though the ground floor wasn't filled with many rooms as the ballroom took up most of the space, they still finished the tour a little too fast.

Mauve was careful as she walked up the stairs, the last thing she wanted was to give him a reason to mock her. She got to the top of the stairs with no incident and could not help the smile that appeared on her face.

"The other rooms on this floor are pretty old and dusty," Jael explained.

"I don't mind."

"They haven't been open in years. I will show you the library."

"You have a library!" Mauve squealed, unable to help herself.

Jael turned to look at her with a clouded expression, she could not tell what he thought but she was sure it wasn't good. "What?" She pouted.

"I will lead you to it." He turned and started walking away and she could do nothing but follow behind him.

He walked to the end of the path before a set of stairs revealed itself. He stopped in front of it and stretched out his hand. She glared at him and lifted her dress as she climbed up the stairs

The fact that he was half expecting her to fall, annoyed her to no end. She got to the top of the stairs without incident, thankfully. 

"This is it!" He announced.

She lifted her head to see a set of huge doors. Her eyes popped, just how big was the library? She looked around and immediately noticed there was a room right next to the library and for some reason, she could tell someone resided in it.

"Whose room is that?" She asked without thinking.

"What?" He asked even though he had clearly heard her.

"That room? I can tell it's occupied. Is anybody in there presently?" She was oddly curious about it.

"No," he said and opened the library.

He didn't raise his voice but his attitude told her it was better she left it at that. She closed her eyes and opened them before she followed him into the library.