Held The Power

It could be her illusion, but she felt his tone mocking when he called Oriana, his mother. Olivia flinched. How she wished, she could continue dancing with this leecher instead.

"Aah!" The man took a step back. "Then I must excuse myself first." The man turned right and found another girl to continue dancing. Olivia stood there, controlling her breath and the fear in her eyes.

"You are not going to turn around?" The teasing voice was full of mockery. Olivia held her breath and turned, her eyes met his frosty eyes and he raised a brow. As if asking what happened to her?

"My sister is not calling me. Is she?" her sister would never send Damon to call her. 

"Follow me." He did not accept or reject her words. He started walking away slowly, leaving Olivia stunned. Had he called her to meet in private before?

Clenching her fingers into a fist, she followed him. He took two glasses of wine from the tray and then walked to an empty table. 

She sat beside him, where he had placed the second glass. The first glass was still in his hands. Suddenly Olivia felt like every eye in the room was on them.

She waited for him to speak, the silence gnawing at her heart. But he did not. He enjoyed the glass of wine as if that was all to it, to her company, to this silence. When he finished the glass, he stood up and left. 

Only then did Olivia realize she was holding her breath all this time. Her face was red when he left.

"What was that!?" Olivia frowned when he left without saying a word. Was he,.. Helping her? But why?

"Aunt!" a sweet voice paused her. A young boy of eight years with silver hair and gray eyes like Damon sat beside her. "Why is her grace angry with you?" He looked at the glass in front of her with a frown and pulled it away. "You should not drink. You can not hold your liquor well."

Olivia would have complained in the past. But looking at him smiling and scolding her paused her. She kept staring at him as if she was looking at a miracle and then she pulled him in her arms and hugged him hard.

The boy was stunned. He had an image to maintain. He wriggled in her arms.

"Aunt, I am not a child. You absolutely can not hug a man in public , even if it is your family. Let me go." he scolded but her grip only tightened around him.

"Leo, I can not explain how happy I am to see you." breathing and talking. To see you alive!' her eyes blurred and felt warm. A drop must have fallen on his neck. He stopped struggling after that and patted her back with a softening expression.

"There, there! You know how her grace is! You should not cross her. What did you do this time?" Leo misunderstood that Olivia was scared of Oriana. Olivia did not correct the child. She just hugged her for a few more minutes before letting go.

"Where is Abi!" her voice was choking with tears and felt so feeble that the young boy sighed.

"Where else! Do you not know her? If only I could give my silver hair to her!" These kinds of expressions should not be on the face of a young child. A young child should not call his mother by her title. 

How she had ignored all this in the past? How she had been so busy surviving that she never felt it was her responsibility to save any of them. How!

Olivia stood up at once surprising Leo.

"Aunt, where are you going?" as if he had guessed her thoughts. He tried to stop her. But Olivia had enough of bowing her head. Since she had died once, she did not mind dying again. At least, she would not die as a criminal in this life. "Her grace would.."

"She could not kill me." Olivia tilted her head and smiled as if that was enough. Leo blinked. Her aunt who hardly opened her mouth against her grace was speaking so nonchalantly that it was surreal. And what were those tears for?

He looked at her leaving figure strangely and had a foreboding. 

"Damn! I have to save both of them now." he looked around for her mother. Oriana was chatting with the second prince from the royal family. A strange idea came to his mind. He walked gracefully toward them and bowed his head.

"Your highness, it is my honor to be in your presence. Thank you for taking out your precious time for me." Leo knew that her mother loved power and wealth the most. Getting the attention of the royal family was her priority. If he kept her busy there, perhaps his aunt and sister would be saved from the calamity.

"Ah, Leonard, you are growing as a sensible child. Happy birthday." 

"Your highness, you have no idea. Leo is such a prodigy. He had already learnt the genes of the royal Malcoin Kaczmarek family." holding the shoulders of her son, Oriana announced with pride.

The prince nodded with approval while many fawned at her. Oriana basked in the attention. After living half a life in poverty and hunger, this was where she belonged. She had achieved all this from her hard work. 

"Son, why don't you go and ask your father to accompany me instead." she slightly pressed his shoulders and pushed him an inch. The boy bit his lips. He wanted more time, but if he persisted, his mother would be furious. He could not take the risk. Forget it, it would be better to stop his aunt.

Bowing his head, Leo left to find Olivia. Oriana smiled seductively at the second prince. when she bowed, a good part of her cleavage was shown to his eyes. She noticed how he shifted in his seat and looked away when she raised her head. Man! They thought that they held powers. But it was the woman who controlled them. she leaned closer to the man who held powers over nobility. How would it feel to control him?

"Your highness, I heard that your last mistress had left the palace. It worries me how you have been suffering alone. If you do not mind… I have a new candidate for that position."