The arrival of the two men from the investigation team had already surprised me. I wasn't expecting them to be here since I didn't see a reason for them to visit me. But as soon as they mentioned it was regarding Gerald, Flora's father, my blood boiled and rage took over me. That good-for-nothing of a man was stirring up a lot of trouble for everyone.As expected, Gerald was arrested for being involved in illegal activities. I always had my doubts when it came to him."Our main reason of visit is Miss. Harper. We found out from Mr. Harper that she's been handed over to you as a compensation for the debt he couldn't clear out with you" Emmett said."Yes, she's staying here with me. We will talk in my study" I said and pointed at the stairs behind me."Before that, could you please hand over this envelope to Miss. Harper? We will talk to her after we talk with you. This letter will at least give her an insight on the purpose of our visit and what she would be expecting when we talk to h
The feeling of something poking my forearm woke me up. Though I didn't open my eyes, I strained my ears to listen to the chattering in the background. It took me a while to focus but my hearing cleared up soon."How long until she heals?" I heard a voice which I recognised as that of Caspian's."She should be fine by tomorrow morning. I cannot inject her with strong doses; her body is too weak for it. Being underweight is one of the reasons because unless she eats something, there is no point in giving her such a dose" an unfamiliar voice spoke."Okay then, I won't keep you for long. Thank you, Mr. Dawson!" Caspian said. I then heard some shuffling noises and then the closing of the door. This time, I slowly opened my eyes and blinked a few times to get rid of the blurry vision."I see you're awake now" Caspian's face came into my view as he slightly hovered over me.My eyes left his and wandered around the room. Realising it was my room, I relaxed a little and looked at Caspian agai
I laid in bed as I mindlessly stared at the ceiling. The incident in the bathroom had absolutely scared the living lights out of me. My body trembled yet again at the memory.Except for that, I was closer to losing my mind by being forced to stay in my room. I had absolutely nothing to do. Though I would occasionally sit in the balcony, but that's all it is to do.My mind was still processing the arrest of my father. Despite Caspian offering proof, I didn't wish to see it. Because if it were to be true, I wouldn't be able to handle it.Sighing, I turned to my side, facing the balcony as I tried to get some sleep. But a knock on the door grabbed my attention. Too lazy to even move, I let the person come in. Except for Grace, no one would come in my room, so I didn't bother to check."At least have the decency to face the person when they talk to you" the familiar manly voice immediately made me sit up and turn to face him.Lord Blade stood a few feet away from my bed as he looked at me
Picking up the knife, I turned to look at Gwyndolyn who was already walking toward me. "These vegetables are to be used to make salad. Cut them properly andonce you're done, you are to help Sapphira--" she pointed a finger toward the girl preparing to make the curry. "And make sure the taste is perfect. No mistakes at all, understand?""Y-yes Miss. Dullshaw!" I replied and turned my attention to the vegetables in front of me.I immediately started to chop the vegetable into bite-sized pieces and put them in a big bowl to prepare the salad. Once I was done with it, I went over to the stove to help Sapphira as asked by Gwyndolyn."Is everything ready?" I asked her as I put a pot on the stove. "Yes. Everything has been prepared. You just need to cook--""Sapphira! I need you over here right now!" Gywndolyn's voice cut through Sapphira's sentence. She immediately rushed to Gwyndolyn. I was left all alone to make the curry but it didn't bother me much.I got to making the curry and added
Upon hearing Lord Blade's words, I tasted the curry and sure enough, it was salty. But Gwyndolyn never brought it up so I thought it was decent enough to the taste. "Flora made the curry! I apologise on her behalf! Give me some time, I will quickly prepare an alternative for you!" Gwyndolyn said."Weren't you doing your duty well? You were supposed to taste the food before being served. Had you not done that?" Lord Blade's words made Gwyndolyn wipe off the brave facade she had put on."That's not what I--""She had tasted it but never told me if it was eatable or not. Judging by her expressions, it seemed that the curry was decent!" I cut off Gwyndolyn before she could lie again. I hated her guts."It's not true! I had told her that the curry required more--" Lord Blade raised his hand, signalling Gwyndolyn to shut her mouth."You are dismissed for the evening. You may leave now" the warlock waved his hand in a dismissing motion.The maids left with Gwyndolyn after Lord Blade signall
Flora halted in her tracks as I held her wrist. "Stay!" I ordered her and she slowly turned her head around to look at me. "Do you need anything else?" she asked."What exactly happened in the kitchen? Did you really accidentally added too much salt?" I asked as I recalled her words from earlier. Flora went silent as she quickly looked away from me. "Do not make up any excuses!" I warned her.Flora seemed to be thinking for a few moments before she completely turned around, making me let go of my hold on her wrist. "As I've told you before, Gwyndolyn never told me if the curry was fine or not. She just asked me to fetch her some parsley to add in it. I'm not sure..." I got my answer."I will have a word with her" I told the timid mage and got onto my feet. "That won't be necessary, sir. I will be careful henceforth!" she said. "And who told you I'm allowing you back into the kitchen?" I raised a brow and took a step toward her."B-but--" she tried to reason with me but I cut her off
Dashing out of the warlock's chamber in the way I did asked for punishment; but I couldn't care less. Talking about the events of my life back at home with my father was too much to handle. It wasn't easy reliving it as I tried to tell the story to Lord Blade.The mention of my father also brought back the news of his arrest which I had successfully pushed to the back of mind. Maybe meeting him would finally put me at peace? I wasn't sure but it didn't hurt to try...or did it? Only time would tell.I rested my head in my knees as I slumped onto the floor. Tears had already made their way down my face but no voice left my mouth. I silently cried until my tears ran dry.After staying for a little longer, I got on my feet and made my way to the bathroom to get out of my uniform and take a long warm bath before changing into something comfortable.Drawing a warm bath, I stripped and got into the warm water. It instantly relieved the tension of the whole day of me working in the kitchen. M
Flora's request was extremely silly and unfair. "I can't do that. Your father is guilty of all the charges on him!" The lass let out a weary sigh and nodded. "I want to see him then...I need to hear it from him" she almost whispered."I will take you whenever you're ready!" I tried to assure her. "Thank you" she muttered and squatted down to clean up the mess she created.Naturally, my eyes fell on her cleavage and my mind started to imagine her without her nightgown...I needed to shut off my mind before I worked upon my desires. "Let it be, I'll ask one of the maids to clean it up. You should get some rest" I told the timid lass."I'm yet to eat, it's fine. I will clean it!" she said as she collected the broken pieces of the plate.Sighing, I grabbed her by the arm and made her stand. I then pulled her along with me in my room, closed the door and made her sit at my desk. "Eat it!" I ordered her and walked away to change into my nightwears."It's your food, I can't eat it! There's
Princess Marina's request caught me off guard at first. She silently pleaded with her eyes and occassionally looked around to check for any third person witnessing the encounter. "Okay, how about we talk in my study?" I suggested. The princess approved of it and I signalled for her to follow me. Walking upstairs, I led the way to my study and opened the door for her to enter first. "Thank you so much for your time, Lord Blade!" the princess said as soon as I closed the door behind us. "Of course! What is it that you wanted to discuss with me?" I asked. Princess Marina inhaled slow and deep before speaking. "Well, I was linking with my parents back in Adriosana and I learnt something about..." she trailed off, leaving me curious. I urged her to speak as my brain started to run with multiple possibilities. It didn't take a genius to know this was about Flora. "Could you give me your word, that you won't speak to anyone about it? Especially not my husband!" She seemed a bit frant
What we all just witnessed was something unexpected and equally surprising. "Caspian, stay here with her, I'll have a look!" I said and rushed out of my room.Running downstairs, I almost bumped into Lenox. "Lord Blade, did you hear—""I did! Come with me!" I instructed Lenox and went out the back door of my manor.I looked around at first, trying to find anything, anything that could tell me what just went down. After finding nothing, I decided to have a look at the area where we all saw the blood covered bloke.Upon reaching the area, I and Lenox stepped into the woods, not deep though. But we weren't able to find anything. Not even a trace of the events we witnessed. "Blade! Anything there?" Caspian called out to me from my chamber's balcony. I turned to look up at him and shook my head. "Shall I join? We can cover more ground that way!" he suggested. "We'll do that later. For now we have the demon prince to worry about..." I linked him."Almost forgot about him. Well, come back
I followed Blade's gaze and then turned to look at him again. "Well, I'm glad you have something left of them. Do you read it often?" "Not very often but when I'm stressed or not in a great mood. Their journal entries are a good refreshers and tells me more about their love for each other. Or other things in general" he answered. "Must be nice to know more about them..." I murmured and sighed.Blade smiled small and said, "Yes, indeed. So do you plan on reading the book right now?"I hummed in response and glanced at the book. "I don't want to sleep...not yet" The warlock just shrugged and started walking toward the door. I followed him out as he turned around to lock the library again. We went back to his room and I decided to sit at his desk to read under the lamp. I didn't want Blade to sleep uncomfortably if I were to have lights turned on for me to read.I insisted Blade to just get some rest whilst I continued to read the book he picked out for me. Though he was against it at
All of a sudden, Blade's expression changed from that of semi-satisfaction to extreme confusion with a hint of surprise. "Is something wrong?" I asked."Your eyes...they're red!" he replied. I furrowed my brows in confusion and slightly tilted my head. "What do you—" I got cut off when I heard a low voice in my head. I couldn't make out what it said but it spooked me too much. The longer I stared at Blade, the more erratic my heartbeats got. I felt a pull toward him, something which felt extremely natural yet unnatural."Must be my imagination..." Blade said and exhaled. "My apologies for the false panic!" "No, that's fine. You must be tired...I mean, I've troubled you enough..." I trailed off and looked away. But the beating of my heart quickened up, my subconscious forcing me to look back at the warlock.Blade shook his head and replied with a simple "No" before cupping my face. "Whatever this is you're going through, it is very serious. It's not something you can dust off!" he s
Soft whimpers fell onto my ears which made me wake up. As I opened my eyes, my gaze fell onto the lass beside me. She was whimpering and shifting uncomfortably in her sleep. There was a deep crease between her eyebrows. A nightmare...I thought."Flora...Flora?" I called out to her and slightly gave her body a shake, hoping she'd wake up. But there was no positive response so I shook her a little more and called out to her again. This time, her eyes opened in a panic as she sat up and looked around. Taking in the surroundings, her eyes landed on me and a sigh left her mouth."Was it that bad?" I questioned. Flora nodded and buried her face in her hands.I slowly placed a hand on her back and gave her a gentle rub. "Would you like some water?" I asked."Yes" she mumbled. I quickly grabbed the glass bottle off of my bedside table and handed it to the distressed lass.She quickly took the bottle from my hand and took small sips until she was content. "Feeling any better?""A little, yes.
Amusement took over me when I saw Lord Blade smile at me. I never expected to ever witness him smile—let alone at me. His chuckle was even more deep and attractive which I found difficult to resist. So I did the first thing that came to my mind. I traced my fingers along his jaw as I placed a soft kiss to the tip of his nose. My heart flipped in my chest when I heard him chuckle.I pulled away when he went silent and looked into his light grey orbs. "I love your eyes..." I muttered.A light red tint spread across the warlock's face as he averted his gaze from me for a moment. "Thank you...I've never gotten that before so my apologies if I—""It's fine, really!" I said and laughed a little. My hand hovered over my mouth as I yawned small. Sleep was slowly starting to take over me."You should sleep now. It's getting late" the warlock said and placed the stray strands of my hair behind my ear. I nodded in agreement and tried to get off of his lap but I realised that his other hand was
I looked at Flora silently, waiting for her to change her mind, but she didn't. It seemed like she was ready to open up about her past. "Are you sure?" I asked."Yes, I am. It's about time you know about it..." she said."Then we can get in bed and talk. I want you to be comfortable" I pointed at the bed with my thumb.Flora nodded and joined me in bed. She pulled the duvet over her lap as she got comfortable on the soft mattress. "Where do I begin...?" she questioned—more like to herself."Whatever you're comfortable with. I wouldn't want you to go through another trip down the fucked up memory lane" I said.The lass looked up at me briefly before averting her gaze elsewhere. "It all started when I turned eight. My mother wouldn't be home almost all day and my father would be at work. My mother would drop me at school and from there, one of my peers' mother would take me to their home upon my mother's words..." she started and inhaled slowly."It's okay, take it slow" I assured her a
A low growl left my mouth when I heard the knock on my bedroom door. I had just been getting comfortable when that stupid knock ruined it all.Getting out of bed, I walked toward the door and opened it slightly to see who it was. To my surprise, it was Prince Luke standing at the door. "Your highness? How may I help you? Do you need anything?" I asked and opened the door a little wider so I can be in his view."My apologies Lord Blade, for showing up at such an hour but I wanted to mention something!" he said. "Could I come inside and talk?" he asked which made me freeze."Uhm..." I trailed off, unsure of how to reply. I turned around to glance at Flora who was now sitting upright in bed."Am I interrupting something?" Prince Luke asked. "N-no! Don't worry!" I immediately replied and stepped out of the room. "We can talk in my study!" I said and gestured toward the door to my right.Prince Luke nodded and said, "I also need to have a word with your mistress. So if you can ask her to
I was too terrified to go back to sleep alone in my room so I had to bring myself to ask Lord Blade if I could at least stay in his room for a little while. I wasn't expecting him to agree to do so easily. As I lied down on the soft mattress, I struggled to fall asleep again. Turning to face Lord Blade, his eyes met mine and held me captive. "Can't sleep?" he asked, his voice deep yet whispery."No..." was all I could mutter. I bit my lower lip, not wanting to work upon a newfound thought in my mind. The handsome warlock being in the same bed as me wasn't helping either.I almost gasped as soon as the warlock reached out to my face and brushed his thumb across my lips. Slowly and carefully, I moved a little closer to the warlock and saw his expression changing into something I couldn't read and make out.His hand slowly rested on my cheek, his thumb leaving my lips and starting to make circles on my face. I leaned into his touch as my eyes closed and a small smile rested on my lips.