Conquering His Cold Heart

He softly smiled while thinking about the ideal couple and said, “And look where they are now. They can’t even spend a few hours away from each other.”

Alexander finally took a deep breath in relief. He was able to give a subtle smile after hearing all that. But at the same time, he felt a little bad because he knew the real reason why his sister insisted on staying in Sorvando even after discovering the truth.

Alexander looked down and closed his eyes. And he thought to himself, ‘She must have been so scared at that time. To think that she was brave enough to insist on staying there even after knowing that her to-be husband was a…’

He pitied his sister’s fate and was angered by the circumstances that pushed her to where she was right now. He was also a little hurt because his sister didn’t think that she could share the truth about her husband with him. ‘She might have fallen for him now. But I can’t imagine how terrified she must have been initially. And that fool endured all that alone…’

He at least felt comforted thinking that Tilla was with her the whole time. ‘Otherwise, that silly sister of mine wouldn’t even have had a single person to share her woes with.’

Alexander sighed and opened his eyes again. For now, he decided to keep himself from overthinking and assuming things on his own. He thought of asking everything to his sister in detail when the problem at hand settled down.

“You said that she was taken somewhere safe, right?” Alexander asked while looking at Hamilton.

Hamilton instantly nodded and replied, “Yes. Caspian took her with him. And his royal guards also went after him.” He turned to look at the corpses lying in the corner of the room and said in a low deep voice, “I don’t think any of these creatures would be able to track them. And even if some of them did, the royal guards are strong enough to deal with them.”

.....

Alexander’s attention was suddenly brought back to the topic that was eating him up from the inside.

“Right!” He also took a quick look at the corpses and then asked Hamilton again, “What are those things? You keep on referring to them as ‘creatures’, but what are they? I know that they aren’t humans. And I don’t think they are vampires either. Their eyes were different.” He looked at Hamilton’s closed lips and added, “And so were their teeth... or fangs… whatever you call them.”

Hamilton averted his gaze from Alexander and looked down at his bloody shoes. And he slowly spoke, “I am not exactly allowed to tell you what they are. There’s this ancient curse… Or you can call it a protection spell if you look at it from our ancestor’s perspective. It restricts us from revealing each other’s secrets.”

Alexander knitted his brows together and asked innocently, “Ancient curse? What happens if you reveal the secret?”

Hamilton lifted his head and spoke without chewing his words, “You will die.”

Alexander felt a sudden chill running down his spine. His face instantly dropped, thinking that Hamilton would kill him if he kept on asking about the secret.

Hamilton realized how his words sounded like a threat, and quickly clarified what he meant, “It’s because of that curse that I was talking about. It was cast to prevent the two species from revealing each other’s secrets to the humans and to preserve themselves.”

“Oh!” Alexander took a deep breath and nodded. He figured that those creatures were indeed different from the vampires, but equally dangerous.

He suddenly recalled what the last man had said before he met his end. His heart started to beat like crazy when he remembered that man saying that Everard was also one of them. ‘What did he mean by that? How on Earth is he even associated with such creatures?’

And what he couldn’t believe, no matter how much he tried to make sense of today’s attack was that Everard was probably the one to give out the orders. ‘He would never send out such creatures after us, no matter how much his pride was hurt. At the very least, he would never give orders to hurt me and Anastasia.’

He then came back to the initial question again, ‘But how is he one of them? He doesn’t have yellow eyes! And he definitely doesn’t have fangs like them. I have known him my whole life! He can never be one of them. I don’t know why they were so desperately trying to frame him for such a lowly attack. But there is no way in hell that he would stoop so low.’

“What are you thinking?”

Alexander was startled when he suddenly heard Hamilton’s voice.

Hamilton was a little worried about the Crown Prince’s condition. He was worried that the Prince would go into another shock. “You look really distressed. And your heartbeat is accelerating at an alarming rate. Are you sure you are fine? Shall I ask someone to find a doctor soon?”

Alexander looked a little surprised when he mentioned his heartbeat. He pressed his palm against his chest and asked, “You can hear my heartbeat?”

“Oh, yes.” Hamilton gave a quick smile and said, “We have heightened senses, so…”

Alexander had more questions about this, but right now, he had some pressing questions to ask. He looked at Hamilton, straight in his red eyes, and then said, “I know it is a secret and all. But I just need to confirm something. Earlier, that last creature was saying something about Everard.”

He inhaled deeply and then asked, “What did he mean when he said that Everard is one of them? He wasn’t being serious, was he?”

Hamilton didn’t know the easy way to put it. He knew that Alexander would feel greatly betrayed by his friend no matter how he revealed the truth. But he knew he had to clarify things, for Alexander’s own safety.

“Think back to the time when the two Kings fought each other. And keep in mind that Caspian is probably the strongest vampire in our land. You will find your answer.”