Chapter 6: Disrespect or Dumbness

"Caleb?"

She asked, the name sounding foreign and yet familiar to her lips having spoken it after such a long time. It had been unbelievable for her to be hearing herself say it out loud again for she had never imagined herself to be meeting him again in her life.

Her eyes blurred at once when the hammering in her heart almost became a pain in her chest. She hadn't realized it before how much she had been missing him and by seeing his face again she couldn't control herself anymore as she went rushing into his arms.

It was difficult for her to understand why he wasn't saying anything to her or why he hadn't been reacting to her like he should have but she guessed it must have been the shock and taking it upon herself to cover this distance between the two of them she squeezed him tighter into the hug.

How had she been living her life all this time without him?

Now that she had seen him she finally felt like she had been able to breathe again and mumbling out his name once more she said, "Caleb, I missed you so much."

"What kind of crude behavior is this?"

The coldness with which those words had been told to her had stricken her like a sword in her heart. She couldn't seem to understand the words but the tone that had been used had already made it difficult for her to breathe again.

What was he talking about?

"Veraya! Come back here this instant," Camden's slightly panicked and strict voice made her pull apart and almost immediately after, a strong grip on her forearm had pulled her behind his back as he stood in front of her in a protective stance. She didn't understand why his brother was so angry but merely by the tight grip with which he was holding her she was aware that she had made a mistake.

But that must be because Camden didn't know about Caleb. She felt the need to come to his defense and started to say, "Brother, you don't have to act like this. This man is not a danger to me-"

Before she could complete her sentence though a glare from Camden silenced her at once as he looked at her with such anger in his blue eyes, one she had never been greeted with before. He was more furious then he had ever been with her even more so from the time when he believed her to be malicious to Rose.

"Seems like she is your sister, Lord Amias," the man who looked like Caleb then brought his attention to her brother. This made Veraya look at him again but for some reason Caleb hadn't even spared her single glance.

Why was that?

Why was he acting this way?

Feeling her gaze on him he flicked his eyes once towards her but Camden blocked his view and sensing the tension the man straightened his clothes and said, "Should I consider it an act of disrespect or dumbness for your sister to be unaware of my identity?"

The words made Veraya confused as she peeked a glance at him to try and understand what he had been conversing about and why did Caleb talk to Camden in such a manner? She was sure that Caleb should have recognized Camden at once as he had been their favorite character fro-

"My sister usually stays away from politics and therefore even though she has heard a lot about you she hasn't ever had the chance to be introduced to you before, I hope you forgive her ignorance, Duke Windsor," Camden said making Veraya's eyes widened as she thought about the odds that could have caused this person to have such a striking and memorable surname.

He couldn't be-

"If that is the case then I hope you educate her better, I hope you know that I am not the forgiving type." As he said this Veraya felt the effect of those words stamp a warning in her head. She had been blocked out of his sight and yet she felt as if his gaze had been piercing into her as it etched into her memory the caution of a dangerous future that lied ahead of her.

While leaving his eyes met hers for a slight second and the coldness with which he looked at her with the dangerous color of red blaring inside his orbs she immediately looked down while her heart beat rose to a mile a second.

"Do you even know what you were doing? You say he is not a danger to you but do you even know who that man is?" Camden's loud and angry burst grabbed her attention towards him at once making her feel the hopelessness of the situation set in further.

"I am sorry, I didn't know-"

She started to say but Camden's anger hadn't been purged yet and shaking his head at her he asked, "How didn't you know that he was that evil Duke Leynox Windsor? What were you thinking Veraya? Do you even know what could have happen to you if I hadn't been here in time? I know you are aware of the rumors about him and let me clarify it again that they aren't all rumors, okay?"

Realizing that her worries were true Veraya felt her legs give out as she fell to the ground making Camden worry and crouch next to her.

What had she done? How could she have hugged that Villainous man?

Duke Leynox Windsor had been the villain of the novel 'The Rose of Aethel' and had been a wicked and cruel man who didn't care about anyone else's feelings besides his. He had been an obsessive twisted psychopath that had turned the life of Camden and Rose miserable while trying to acquire Rose for him. In that process he had taken many lives for his purpose or on his whim and for her to hug that man had made her shiver in fear.

But even after knowing all this she couldn't help but feel a pain twist in her heart. He had Caleb's face then maybe…?

"Veraya, are you listening to me? Do you now understand what kind of trouble you have landed yourself in?" Camden asked strictly as he looked back at his guards once to instruct them to not let anyone else enter the balcony. Bringing his attention back to her he then asked, "What were you even thinking about when you hugged him? I would have thought the case to be opposite but when I saw his hands slacking by his sides and his eyes looking down at you with a deathly glare I couldn't imagine why 'you' would have done something like that."

To hear that he had been glaring at her only made Veraya so much more unhappy with the situation. Did that mean that it really was Leynox and not her Caleb?

The realization of the situation slowly stared seeping into her making her feel worse. Before she had been able to keep her memories about Caleb at bay as she made herself believe that it was a new start for her but now that she had seen him again she couldn't help but feel the memories all turn into knives and cut her heart bit by bit until nothing of it was left inside.

"I thought he was someone else," she mumbled and as she said it she burst out crying, tear droplets wouldn't stop even though she squeezed her eyes hard to stop them from leaking out, turning her into an embarrassing mess.

Why wouldn't they stop?

Why couldn't she stop thinking about him and the warmth that seeped through his body? Even though it had been a lie for a second she had believed that she had been back in her boyfriend's arms and to have that feeling be snatched away from her so cruelly had caused her emotions to stream through her body and flood out of her eyes.

The sight of his sister crying like this had only been witnessed by Camden once before when she had been a child, it was when she had heard about the death of their parent's news for the first time. The sorrow and the emotions she had felt then had shook him and even though he had wished that Veraya would cry away her pain and sorrows after that numerous times, she had not once shed a tear ever since then.

It had therefore been such a surprise to him to see her cry like this that he couldn't help but worry about her and bunching her up in his arms in an act to hopefully comfort her he hugged her shivering body to his chest and patted her shoulders letting her cry in his hug, hidden away from the world. He didn't know who she had mistaken Duke Windsor for but he realized that the person must have been much more important to her than he realized.

It made him jealous and angry that he wasn't aware of the person who had taken up such an important part in his sister's heart and what had that bastard done to make her cry this much over him. He regretted ignoring her then and deciding to protect her better from now on he slowly moved her away from his chest and taking out a handkerchief he wiped away the tears from her face as he stared down at his baby sister.

"I am sorry for scolding you, okay? I shouldn't have reacted like that but I had been so worried that he would do something to you that I couldn't stop myself from acting that way. You know that he kills people for the minutest of reason, right?" he said trying to get his point across to her without hurting her any further.

She didn't say anything, her head had started to ache and the crying had made her eyes sting albeit less than her heart.

Realizing that he wasn't going to get a response from her Camden sighed and hoped that she would maintain her distance from Duke Windsor in the future but there was another pressing matter that had been bugging him and wiping away the few more tears that had slipped through her lashes he said, "I know that it's because of a man that you are crying and I want you to know that you can come to me whenever you want and talk about it, okay? I will help you no matter what. You are my precious sister and I love you."

Veraya understood Camden's point, she knew that his worry was plausible but her mind had been so tired from the episode today that she couldn't be bothered to think about anything anymore. She therefore merely smiled at him. All she wanted to do right now was to sleep and hopefully be able to meet Caleb in her dreams.