Before Thalicia could retort, Sin whispered something in their old language. Eona trembled as she screamed in pain before she fell down, unconscious, on Rouen's arm who didn't let her fall straight on the floor.
"What did you do?"
"I have to purposely cut down the link between Eona and Thalicia to free her from Thalicia's control. There is a possibility of Eona dying if I didn't do… that. She used her ability with the help of a fallen witch and Eona will certainly die if their link to her would have lasted a minute more."
Rouen gently carried the unconscious Eona in his arms. He had to feel her close just so he could convince himself that she is still there with him, alive and breathing. Does he need to give her his blood again? But he can't do that now that they are in Aceldama and in the presence of two vampire council members, Cohen and Sorian, because they surely are not going to let him.
"Cohen, order the sentinels stationed around here to arrest both Thalicia Kleist and Felicity Elfenbrehm by my order as the crown prince. Sin, I want you to contact your father and have him close all the gates until their arrest. I don't want them fleeing the kingdom to hide from what they did. If possible, I want the Dukes of the House of Edelweiss and House of Rosenthal to accompany the sentinels. Bring those two to court immediately and locate the fallen witch who worked with them. I want to have this problem settled before morning, so summon all the Dukes of all Houses in the council at the palace by midnight. I don't care what they are doing at the moment, I want them all present."
"As you have ordered, your highness."
With the help of Sorian who used his ability to heal, they were able to completely stabilize Eona. Helena cleaned her daughter off from the blood that covered her without the help of the maids because, instead of helping out, they might become an additional threat to the girl due to the blood which spilled from her.
"Your highness, do you want to see my daughter?" Helena then asked the prince who stood outside the door of Eona's room while she attended to her.
He nodded to Eona's mother and she let him inside her room without a word before she excused herself, leaving them alone there where silence draped over them like a cloud. Eona is already awake and is sitting on the bed while her back perched on the headboard. Half of her body is covered by the duvet and he could see how exhausted she had been due to what happened. Her neck had been bandaged and her eyes looked tired and weary. The memory of her being attacked, of her being wounded and stabbed remained in her. She was just so happy the whole day and to see her like this, looking lost while looking down on her trembling hands, broke him.
Rouen did not immediately go near Eona and just settled in staring at her for a while. He stood completely still on his place. He was having second thoughts about whether he should keep his distance or get closer to her, but after thinking for a while, he decided to walk closer to her and sit on the edge of the bed beside her. He could see she was still suffering from the pain she went through from that horrible experience. She may not have undergone through it physically, but she did experience it mentally, which is a little more dangerous for a human being like her, because she was left believing something that should not have been and he could not find the right words to say to ease it.
He was thankful enough that her mental stability was stronger than most because if it was not, she would have been gone crazy by now after undergoing such an extremely unpleasant thing in her sleep. What she went through is not just a simple nightmare because it happened even though in reality it did not. If she can't fight it, she will be left living the rest of her life fearing what dangers await her when she closes her eyes and it is something that will slowly break a person.
The smile on her lips this morning was gone and what was left was her trembling lips as she tried not to cry in front of him. The glee in her eyes back then when they explored the place he was born at was not there anymore because tears which she tried so hard not to fall were within the edge of it. Her hands that held onto the duvet were slightly shaking as she hide her fear within and her heart, which thumped in excitement as they explored the city of blooming flowers. It was now beating erratically due to excessive solicitude.
Eona's used to be white blonde hair is now highlighted with black and her beautiful amethyst-colored eyes are now slightly tinted in red. He himself didn't know the extent of what exactly happened to her because he knew no such situation had ever happened before that. Looking at her now, she literally changed physically as if something was trying to resurface from deep within her due to what happened but wasn't able to. She looked like the transformation she was having while being under someone's control was stopped in the middle, but she still remained beautiful despite it. He hoped by tomorrow she'd be back to how she normally looks - without the black-colored strands of hair, without the red specks coloring her eyes.
Her neck, which was wrapped securely with a bandage, has some blood tainting it and the few filigree lines drawn on her skin at the side of her neck are slightly peeking from the edge of it. What is it anyway? And why does Eona have it? From what he saw awhile ago, it seemed like some sort of seal which was slowly appearing on her own skin. A human couldn't have had a tattoo that etches itself to completion, which looks like a beautiful molten lava, so he knew it was due to a supernatural being's interference. He could see it was still glowing lightly but he didn't ask anything about it. He reigned in his curiosity because he could just ask her about it later on. His priority right now is to soothe her from whatever she is suffering from at the moment. He has to make sure that she will be fine before he goes back to the palace and attend the trial of both Felicity and Thalicia. A trial which he promised himself would end with those two burning to ashes.
Within one day, Eona had experienced the beauty and danger his world was so readily offering her. And she herself had experienced the extent of ugliness their world had in store in her dreams. He promised himself not to let her experience any of the dangers his world possesses like great wealth, but without even the day ending yet, she had to experience it under the hands of someone else. He is going to make them suffer more than she did. He will make sure they tremble in fear and agonize in pain while their eyes are wide open and he is surely going to make them bleed more than the blood she spilled when they wounded her in her sleep. He will bask in their blood as he smiles down at them just to make sure they suffer more than she did.
Vampires knew how wrathful he could be when angered. That is the reason why they have always steered away from him to the extent that they didn't want to be in the same room as him. They didn't even want to make eye contact with him for the fear that he would decide to end their lives that instant if they irked him for no reason. Yet, those ladies from the House of Elfenbrehm and Kleist just had to do something this grave after he had just awakened. If they are expecting that he will spare their lives just because he never raises a hand against any women, then he will be disappointing them because he will see to it that they will burn tomorrow at sunrise.
The sun hall in the palace has never been opened for almost a hundred years, but after what happened tonight, he will make sure it will be reopened tomorrow before the sun rises. The vampires in the kingdom who have committed such grave crimes all underwent punishment in the sun hall because that is where they received their retribution - an eternal sleep at sunrise.
"Precious…" he called out to her softly, afraid that his presence in the room might freak her out because he belonged in the same race as the ones who caused her harm, but no matter how careful he was at approaching her, no matter how gentle he made his voice to sound like, he saw for himself how much she flinched with just one single word from him.
She may not be saying anything but he could see that she was scared, even of him, and he did not like it one bit. She should not feel scared, much less scared of him, because the beast which is him in the flesh has been tamed by her. She is the sole being who should not feel afraid of him because he is a demon ready to kill for her. Slowly, he tried to get closer to her now almost trembling form. She almost scooted away from him but he didn't give her any chance to do so. The second he reached out and held her shaking hands in his was the moment a sob escaped her trembling lips. She bit her lip to keep herself from sobbing, but it was already too late. Her fragile self finally broke to pieces right in front of him and it tugged at his frozen heart and whole being. Without having any second thoughts, he gently pulled her to his chest and let her cry her heart out as he hugged her tightly close to him.
She is wailing like someone close to her had died and she is crying like she will never survive. Rouen could feel how much hope she had lost after what happened, but he would make sure to bring it back to her again. He is going to bring back the smile curving on her rosy colored lips and he is going to bring back the glee in her beautiful amethyst-colored eyes. He is going to do that after he has made sure that the ones who did this to her, who had shattered her like this, are going to die the way they expected her to - slowly, painfully and alone.
"I'm here, gem…" he whispered as he stroked her hair down and kissed the top of her head.
Eona cried. Her helplessness showed like a stain on a white satin, so did her agony and pain. She thought she would never make it out because her tormentor made sure that she wouldn't. No one, not even her, could exactly tell how much fear and hopelessness she had felt that time when all she could do was wait for her eyes to finally close themselves and her heart stop beating in surrender. She fisted her hand on Rouen's shirt and let her tears fall from her eyes into her cheeks and onto his chest, soaking his shirt in return, but he didn't give it any mind. She was still trembling in fear because, even at that moment, she could still feel the coldness of the blade's edge touching her cheeks, she could still feel it being twisted in her abdomen and the words her tormentor left made her believe in the worst.
Rouen held her close to him, securely within his embrace, in silence. He let her cry out while making her feel that he was there with her at the same time. He didn't console her using soothing words because he knew no words would be able to remove the fear and agony that clouded her being. Instead, he consoled her in a way that did not need any words to be said and Eona was thankful for that. She did not need empty promises because what she needed was a presence where she could feel safe - and it was in his where she found solace and safety from everything else.
After a while, when she finally stopped crying, Rouen gently let go of her. He held her face in his hands and wiped away the remaining tears in her cheeks, in her eyes. Due to her long crying episode, she ended up feeling like she had a cold and she ended up looking more miserable. She had become a mess but he never cared. As long as it eases her burden a little, he will let Eona cry her heart out to him by shedding tears because he will be there to wipe it off in the end.
"You are strong, precious, and I'm proud of you," he whispered to her.
She smiled a little as she closed her eyes when he leaned down to make their foreheads touch with each other - a gesture he did for the first time where she was the first and hoped to be the last to be on the receiving end. What he didn't expect was that he would be immediately transported to a place which he thought was where Eona had been tortured in her sleep…
_
How in the world… It was like he was sucked deep into it by a force that brought him here without his consent. He used his ability as a vampire to go up and stand atop a pine tree. From there he looked around the place and frowned. He is in a world covered in snow - the trees sleeping in the onslaught of winter, the rivers almost frozen and the meadows and everything else are covered in ice. Where is he?
"Stop! Please stop!"
When he heard that very familiar voice whose owner had made a home in his frozen heart, he used his speed and ability as a vampire to locate where it came from and what he saw almost made his whole being turn cold. His eyes glistened with fury but all he could do is watch what was happening as he fisted his hand in anger at what was taking place right in front of him.
"Why don't you call out to the prince and see if he will come to your rescue?". Thalicia dared Eona, who just stared at the woman and didn't say a word in return which had seemed to have irked her. "I said call out to him!" Thalicia shouted as she tightened her grip on Eona's neck.
Eona closed her eyes in fear and pain and in her mind she unknowingly called out his name. She unknowingly asked for Rouen to come and rescue her from this horrifying situation she found herself in.
Thalicia laughed. "You can't, can you? Or maybe you don't want to. Because deep down in your perishable heart, you knew that he wouldn't come. Why would he waste his time coming to rescue you, a human being? You are just a passing thing for him, someone who gets his interest for the time being, someone whom he will discard once he gets what he wants, which is probably just be your blood, because naturals only exist to quench the thirst we were born to have. There are a lot of beautiful women in his life, ready and willing to kiss the floor he walks on and you are just a tiny speck which will be forgotten easily once you have made your purpose. These women belong to the same race as him - vampires, something you will never get to become."
Eona, who was pushed onto a tree by none other than Thalicia Kleist, had tears rolling down on her cheeks as she cried out and pleaded in pain. He wanted to keep her safe, keep her away from the cursed vampire herself, but he knew he wouldn't be able to do a thing because he was only here as a spectator to see what took place in her sleep before they were able to rescue her.
How did this even happen? First, she was able to communicate with him telepathically and now she is showing him what happened in her sleep? This is something only a vampire's beloved is privileged to be able to do, but she is not his - he cannot truly feel that she is.
Chills crawled in his entire being when he heard Eona scream in horror as Thalia ran the blade on her cheeks ever so slowly with a sinister smile on her lips as if she was enjoying the scene itself. And when Thalicia ran her tongue on her bloodied cheeks like the crazy bitch that she is, Rouen felt like he wanted to decapitate her head at that moment.
"Tsk!" Thalicia clicked her tongue in disgust because Eona's blood tasted bland like anybody else because they were just in the world inside her subconscious. No matter how real-like it must feel, they are still in a dream. "It would have been better if I got to have a taste of your blood in reality, because having it while night walking is quite disappointing. I can never smell it nor taste it in this world. Oh, but I will get to make you bleed here to death where your real self will suffer the same in a different way. If you die here, you will die for real."
Before Eona could get to breathe, after Thalicia pulled the blade away from her face, the latter stabbed her in her lower abdomen so fast that she didn't even notice she was already stabbed there three times. She groaned in pain and Thalicia had the audacity to laugh at her form on the snowy ground when she let go of her. Eona bit her lower lip to keep herself from screaming. She knew this was not the real world, but the pain she was suffering felt so real that she almost wanted to pass out and let everything pass by until she woke up. But will she be able to wake up?
"Do you know why you are suffering right now, human? You never should have gotten close to the prince. You don't have the right to be doing so, you disgusting natural! How can you be spending the whole day with him when we who have admired him for so long didn't even get to greet him whenever we wanted? You can only blame yourself for suffering this way. Put in your mind that everything is your fault!"
Rouen saw how Thalicia tortured her even more before she left her there on the snowy ground, bleeding and alone. The next thing he saw was Sin attending to her when he found her a few minutes right after he entered her thoughts, but everything did not register in his mind. Fury is occupying his thoughts and anger which he is sure won't quench, not until he basks himself with the blood of those who have made her suffer this way settled in his heart.
"I will kill you all," he promised to himself while looking at Eona's miserable and pitiful state…
_
Eona blinked as she stared at the prince whose presence changed right after their foreheads touched. It seemed like his subconscious was transported somewhere else because his beautiful glistening eyes seemed empty. He remained unmoving even until his presence exuded danger in the rawest form, like he didn't have any control of it. A red aura slowly covered him and it was then when the glass pieces in her room broke one after the other.
"Rouen?" She called out to him after she sniffed, but he didn't seem to have heard her.
She didn't have time to think that she had been crying her heart out before this, because she could see that Rouen had been lost in whatever it was that happened to him. She flinched with the glasses breaking but she concentrated on the prince in front of her.
"Rouen!"
"I will kill you all," he then whispered, and Eona's eyes grew wide with that. He looked unaware of the threat he had just uttered.
Oh, god! Rouen had completely lost himself in his newly awakened state.
"Eona!" Cohen frantically called out from outside her room. He could feel the sudden change in the atmosphere from there and he just knew it had something to do with his godson.
Eona looked in the direction of the door but she didn't leave Rouen's side. Any sudden movement might make him do something unpleasant because he looks like he is on edge.
"Open the door, Eona!"
Can't they just open it themselves? It was just her mother who had closed it before when Rouen entered. She didn't lock it, did she? But she could see from where she was that the door wasn't even locked. It was then when she saw something covering the whole room - an aura with the same color as the one enclosing him at that moment. He is using one of his abilities and he is not even aware of it. Before she could think of anything, the chandelier shattered and fell on the marbled floor while the glass doors on the terrace broke to pieces like it was just some cheap version of it.
"What is happening there between you two?"
"I…" she started, but she was not able to finish what she was about to say because she focused her attention back on Rouen, who at that moment looked like he was about and ready to shed blood.
What does one do in a situation like this? Talking to him seemed to be useless and touching him seemed to be doing nothing. She didn't want to slap his face because she might end up hurting herself or that he might not take it too lightly.
"Ah, damn it…" she cursed before she held onto his face and kissed his lips without thinking.
She closed her eyes tight and just stayed that way, praying to all the gods there that Rouen would be awakened by what she decided to do. She will just face the consequences of her actions later. Her priority right now was to bring him back to the present and she couldn't think of any other way than this. It was a little while later when the frighteningly dangerous situation that enveloped them settled and the presence Rouen gave off returned to what she was used to feeling - safety. But when she was about to move away from him, she felt his right hand encircle itself on the small of her waist as he pulled her closer to him while his left gently touched the side of her face before he started to move his lips on hers in an urgent manner as if he had always wanted to do it but was not given the chance to.
Eona blushed red and her heart thumped when she felt his tongue touch her lips as if silently asking her to let him in and when she opened up, she felt him deepen the kiss even more. Their tongues fought for dominance over each other but she surrendered to him. Her mind went awry and she was left following his lead. Her hands which held his face now encircled themselves behind his neck while she unawarely ruffled his hair.
"Breathe, love…" he whispered in between his kisses before he totally stopped kissing her.
She gasped for air at that instant like she had been deprived of it and Rouen softly laughed as he kissed her forehead lovingly before he hugged her completely, caging her in his embrace and for a while they stayed that way, making her heartbeat race even more.
"Thank you," he then said, probably for what she did to bring him back.
She was breathing fast, gasping for that needed air because she had forgotten how to breathe while they were kissing. She had gotten lost in their own world, lost in the spur of the moment. She is blushing profusely at the thought that she was just kissed by the crown prince of vampires and that he responded. She never expected him to. She was thankful that Rouen couldn't see her face right now, and it was then when she finally noticed that she ended up sitting in his lap while he was sitting on her bed, but she did not say anything nor move away from him out of embarrassment. What did she just do? She is a sheltered girl who was never this wanton.
"Eona, what is going on there right now?" It was her mother Helena this time who called out to her from outside of her room. They stopped hearing glasses being broken into pieces and they couldn't hear anything over the silence.
"Ahm, Rouen?"
"Yes, precious…"
"The door?"
"I locked it. Let them wait, we needed to talk," he told her before he told Cohen through telepathy that they would let them inside the room once he and Eona were done talking, which the duke immediately agreed without much reluctance because of their difference in status.
"Mmmm… okay."
"But we cannot talk this way. You're distracting me," he said as he positioned his head to face her neck before he inhaled deep.
Eona felt goosebumps crawl onto her skin and if she had not bit the insides of her cheek, she would have moaned at that simple act. What is wrong with her?
If he didn't control himself, his fangs would have been grazing her neck by now, his tongue lavishing on the taste of her fragrant blood which is really enticing him. It smelled like flowers and he had the urge to have a taste of it.
"What?"
"You sitting in my lap like this makes me want to just push you into the bed and have my way with you," he told her honestly. "Damn it! It is taking my all to restrain myself from biting your neck."
Her eyes went wide as she stopped breathing for a moment before she rushed to move away from him. She ended up on the other side of the bed and, for a few awkward moments, she stayed silent while Rouen, who had now gained back his rational self, smiled at her tenderly.
"How are you, precious?"
She is distracted by what just happened between them but she knew what he was asking. "I'd be lying if I told you I'm fine. I can still feel the blade piercing through my flesh even though it didn't really happen. My mind frozes in fear every time I get to remember what took place in my dreams."
Rouen pursed his lips. He could not retort to that because he himself saw what exactly took place. "I'm sorry you have to experience the worse this way. I promise you, I will make them all pay for what they did to you."
"Are you going to kill them?"
"Yes."
"Within the laws of your race?"
"You don't want me to kill them myself?"
"You are not that kind of person."
He grinned knowingly as his eyes slightly glistened. "You don't know me that much for you to say that, gem. Those idiots have ruffled my feathers while I am sleeping peacefully. I will just give them what they expected to get from me."
"Rouen - "
"I am not going to promise you I won't kill because I certainly will," he cut her off, determination laced his words. "I will do to them what they did to you in your sleep, but much more than what they have done. I am a vampire, precious. I was born having a vengeful heart. If I don't get to kill them sooner, I will end up destroying something else."
Eona bit her lip. She knew she didn't have any right to stop him and she knew he had all the right reasons to do what he wanted to do, so she just stayed silent.
He sighed. "I am not going to kill them with my own hands because they will be judged by the members of the council but…" he paused and waited for her to look at him. "I am going to make sure they'll be killed in the end."
Rouen explained to her what was about to take place tonight. He told her everything what he planned to do and what he wanted to happen. Eona could only nod and let him handle everything when she got to learn about his side of the story, about why he was so insistent on having them all killed by tomorrow morning. Rouen said she did not need to attend the trial because he could use his ability to show the council what really happened.
When Rouen decides to open the room for Cohen and Helena, they finally get to see the state of the room Eona is in. Glass pieces are scattered everywhere and it looks like a hurricane just passed through there since everything is a mess. The only thing that remained the same was the bed. They took Eona to another room because they will have the beige room cleaned and refurbished to make sure it is as good as new by tomorrow.
After talking to Cohen, Rouen then bid her his goodbye.
ns 15.158.61.50da2
