Suspicions

Elys observed silently as the prince's silver iris turned a dangerous pair of gold as he fed.

It was fascinating to say the least. She knew vampires had magical abilities, but she still didn't quite understand why the prince's eye color changed here and there.

Was it dependent on his mood? His hunger? Or is it something reactive to human blood entering his system?

'No,' she thought to herself, 'it's not because of human blood. It's something else.'

Now that she thought about it, Teo's eyes were golden as well. But the vampire knight's eyes didn't change like that of the bastard prince.

Elysianne's thoughts run around in circles.

She still had so much to learn. It seemed like the information they had acquired back at the Northern Kingdom weren't enough. There were still so much that the Western Kingdom's vampires hid from the outside world.

Aleksander's eyes didn't stray from the slave's face. She looked at him blankly, her mouth slightly ajar. She didn't utter a single word since he bit her, to which he was somewhat disappointed.

Why didn't she speak? He was actually waiting for her to say something – anything. He couldn't quite put a finger into it, but there was something about her words that – challenged him.

The prince waited, slowly drinking her blood, tasting the warm rush of red liquid inside his mouth and down his throat.

What was she thinking?

Aleksander could read human minds like they were an open book. But no matter how he tried to dive into Elys' mind, he couldn't go past the invisible shield in her head. It was as if she had a power herself to which she was hiding.

Before the wedding, he had been set on killing her the first chance he could get. After the ceremony, things changed drastically.

Henry was slowly catching up, but he can't tell his loyal attendant anything yet.

What reason could he give the old man? He wasn't entirely sure himself why.

He will have to think of some way to prove his suspicions first before he made rash decisions. Of course, he still hated the slave to the core, but each moment they spent only tipped the scales away from his original plan.

She was an enigma.

Just as the prince was about to finish, a knock came from the door and Cordelia announced, "Dinner is ready, princess. Oh, pardon me, I didn't know…" the woman trailed off as she saw the prince biting Elys' arm.

Aleksander licked the wound, withdrew from the princess, and then wiped the blood smudged around his mouth as he walked away.

"Are you going to agree to my proposition, Prince Aleksander?" Elys called out to him.

The prince grunted. Despite the woman's previous provocations and the slap to the face, he couldn't help but see the reason in her proposals. It was only a matter of pride that hindered him from agreeing with her immediately.

It was a hard pill to swallow.

"I will have Henry teach you first thing tomorrow," Aleksander looked back at Elys as he stopped walking, "you better remember everything. We only have a week before the ball."

The prince continued to walk out, but was halted when Cordelia called out.

"Will the prince not dine with the princess?" Cordelia asked as he turned to the other side of the manor opposite to the dining hall.

The bastard prince glanced back at the old woman icily, "Are you blind? I already fed, you stupid woman."

Aleksander immediately went away, muttering under his breath. Curses spill from his foul mouth intended for both Elys and Cordelia as he blended in the darkness of the corridors.

Cordelia shrugged nonchalantly, and Elys walked with her to the dining hall.

"Sit, Cordelia," Elys told the woman as she sat down. "Let us dine together."

"I will eat after you, princess," Cordelia declined. "It is not right for a maidservant to sit at the same table as that of nobility."

The princess sighed.

"That doesn't apply here anymore, Cordelia," she said as she popped a piece of her dinner in her mouth, "This manor is all kinds of crazy. It is better you eat when you can. You never know if it is your last."

"Still," Cordelia insisted, her eyes darting towards the closed door connecting to the empty hallway, "the prince might not like it. He seems, should I dare say, a bit unpredictable. I don't want to cause you any more problem."

"I already caused way too much problem just by breathing the same air he breathes. Don't dwell too much thinking about it, Cordelia. I will handle the prince," the princess calmly said, "all you need to do is trust me."

The old woman frowned.

Elys noticed her reaction, put down her utensils and looked Cordelia in the eye, "Would you rather follow the prince or me, Cordelia?"

"Of course, that is something you need not to ask of me, your highness. I am loyal to you alone, Princess Elysianne," the woman immediately responded.

Cordelia's chest rose and fell as her heart beat faster than normal. It was an immediate reaction to the question of her loyalty. She didn't mean for the princess to misinterpret her.

There was a long pause before Elys finally spoke out loud.

"Ahh… I see how it is," Elys' eyes turned mellow. She poked at her food for an awkward ten seconds and then spoke softly, "If you won't dine with me as a princess and maidservant wouldn't," she paused, "will you dine with me as a friend?"

Cordelia was struck speechless.

"As a friend?" the woman repeated, disbelief at the request.

"Yes, as a friend. It is lonely to eat alone," Elys replied, "Don't you think so?"

Cordelia held her emotions at bay. The princess had never shown any weakness ever since she was a child. Princess Elysianne had always been the perfect daughter of the Northern royal warriors.

This was the very first time she heard emotions come out of the princess' mouth.