Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 158: Effects Of The Blood Moon

Chapter 158: Effects Of The Blood Moon

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The next day at dawn, Maurice made his way to the court of celestial Valor as planned, but rather than finding the vampire King present, he saw a bunch of strong armed commanders already training the new elite soldiers that he was unfamiliar with. The clashing sounds of wooden swords resonated within the valor, and he could hear one of the commanders in charge giving strict orders to the poised soldiers who stood at attention. There was instant silence that fell within the place, and Maurice couldn’t help but feel awkwardly invisible in the presence of such intimidating soldiers and top commanders.

He was going to face these people??

"Everyone heed to this one advice, once the notice goes up tomorrow morning, there will be no time for preparations so make use of every opportunity given to you today! Train harder! Know your skills! Again!" The commander instructed, his voice dripping with authority as he turned to the trainee’s, and the soldiers, who felt confident in their abilities, took their measured stance before going into the choreographed steps they had been taught.

Maurice’s brown eyes held intrigue as he watched the new soldiers train. "Is there still time to reconsider?" He murmured to himself, a bit dazed, but when glances began to notice his presence, it was clearly a sign that there was no escaping this, whilst he had to start moving around to avoid portraying the appearance of a confused recruiter. His eyes searched for King Ivan who had instructed him to be here, but well...he’s here and the vampire King isn’t.

On the other side of the valor that had steps leading to the main center of the training ground, Maurice’s jaw dropped open at the sight of two vampires going one on one on a real sword duo. He could feel the ground beneath his feet shake due to the impact of their hits, and from how strong they were, he could guess they shared a powerful bloodline with the vampire King. One of them had a strange enigmatic scar on his face, not to mention the chains he wore around his body, but his opponent didn’t possess the same raging bloodlust as the chained one, yet the intimidating aura was intensely piercing. He could see black shadows surrounding the blade of the scarred one, and when he lunged at lightning speed, everything happened so fast that the only thing that made Maurice shake was the ground beneath his feet... a testament to the reciprocating hit that appeared as blur before his eyes.

If he were to face this type of blood-thirsty opponent during the competition, there was a very little chance of him getting past the first round alive. Meanwhile, Alistair had slowed down on his advances so he could catch his breath, the desire to see blood made his eyes turn a shade darker; he was gradually losing grip of his sanity, and the look in his crimson orbs was enough to send anyone near running for their lives– everyone except for Tobias who knew more than anyone else how to handle his brother. He appeared composed as he said,

"If you can’t control your primal urges for good, those chains won’t come off." Tobias coolly reminded him, his lazy gaze thoroughly drifting to the chains around his brother’s body before meeting his stare. "Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the consequences of how you got this chain, but this chain won’t come off until you learn to control that insatiable hunger of yours, dear brother. Father will not have mercy on you if you don’t put yourself together."

"I’m trying okay! You say it like this is easy for me!" Obviously pissed by Tobias mentioning their Father, Alistair threw his sword away and simply turned to leave. "I’m done for today, it will be better to find another sparring partner cause Ivan will be absent as well." Dropping the information with a voice as cold as ice, Alistair took his leave, obviously disturbed as he was reminded of the reasons why he possessed these stupid chains.

Maurice noticed their brief interaction from where he stood, but even though he couldn’t hear them properly, he could tell something was amiss considering their reaction and how they departed, especially the scarred one.

"Are you Maurice?" A voice jolted Maurice back to reality, and he quickly turned around to see a well-built man standing in front of him. Unlike the rest of the commanders who merely kept a brave face, Maurice could easily tell from his experience of countless observations that this man had to be the safest person to interact with here.

"Yes, I am." Maurice answered with a slight bow.

"Well Maurice, my name is Herbert." Herbert introduced himself before diving into the matter. "His Majesty couldn’t make it today due to some incidents, but I’m here in his presence. I’ll show you around before we begin on how things are done here, come with me." And he led Maurice deeper into the court of celestial Valor where other types of training took place.

The sun was starting to rise up on the horizon when Ivan awoke from his slumbers. He winced a bit from the sudden migraine as his head throbbed in pain, but when his vision cleared, his eyes moved to the sleeping figure of his little lamb. She was still sitting at the edge, with her back resting against the headboard, but it was obvious she was deep in sleep.

Ivan pulled himself up into a sitting position, and he wiped over remnants of sleep that were left in his eyes. He wasn’t hallucinating! Did she sleep in this posture? Ivan pursed his lips as his gaze sized the sleeping figure, and he had completely forgotten about his migraine.

Getting out of bed, he moved to the other edge of his bed where his little lamb sat. Carefully, he helped her adjust into a comfortable position, and reflexively, her body pulled themselves down on the bed, whilst Ivan covered her up with the duvet. Squatting down, Ivan stared at the satisfied look on her slumbering face, and intuitively, the corner of his lips pulled, almost forming a smile, but to avoid waking her up, Ivan immediately picked out his outfit and went into his bathing chamber.

When he was done, he quietly exited his room, but then, he was still suffering from the amount of drinks he had taken last night. It all started with a little sip, but when the thought of his little lamb kept invading his heart and mind, he was already intoxicated. He didn’t want to remember last night, because he was sure he must have done or said something embarrassing in his state.

"Don’t think about it." He said to himself.

There was no time to rest unfortunately, he had to question those visitors and then deal with the witch in the dungeon completely. Giving his body a mental shake, Ivan pulled himself away from the door and sauntered past like he didn’t just complain of a migraine a few seconds ago.

In his Throne room, Abdiel and the four Lords were present this time around. Since Ivan had legally joined Lucinda’s Kingdom as one of his, she was also present at the throne room, and there was an air of palpable tension before Ivan decided to break the silence.

"Can you explain to me what portal you passed through?" He questioned Cassian and Madeline who stood in the middle of the room, their gaze lowered. "The kingdom Carmarthen could not be found on the map, which leaves me to inquire if perhaps, the Kingdom Carmarthen holds another name aside from this particular one?"

"None that we know of." Cassian responded firmly, "we heard a full blood moon was celebrated on that same night, it is just my intuition but is there a chance–"

"Actually there is." Viktor was the one to speak now as if he just recalled something interesting, "the full blood moon messes with time, which is why no one is allowed to use portals for transportation during the full blood moon. When things like this happen, the blood moon can arouse severe effects."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you won’t be able to return until the next blood moon." Damien curtly responded. "The portal you went through will come again during the next blood moon, and only then are you free to leave. For now, I’m afraid you can’t return to your land."

"When will the next blood moon arrive?"

"In a month’s time."