Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 259: Trust

Chapter 259: Trust

Duncan had no intention of seeking her help from the start, but he was rather desperate to get inside the Palace, as he had a time limitation for being around too many people. Not to mention but the gifts in his chamber were more significant than the ones his guard had brought down, and he needed to hand them over which is why he was compelled to ask the lady servant for some assistance.

Howbeit, she didn’t give off the energy of someone who found his presence repulsive. When he held the umbrella’s handle to further adjust it above his head, she hardly hesitated or moved her hand away, as if she wasn’t afraid of catching his ’rumored’ contagious illness due to the close contact. It gave him a weird feeling in his chest, no one except those he considered close could stay within this proximity around him.

Brushing the thought aside and deciding to accept her closeness as ’forced’, he entered the Palace with the servant closely following behind him. The sound of her racing heartbeat was another peculiar thing, but he chose to ignore it all, not sure why he was suddenly sensitive about the servant’s every little move. Maybe it was due to the way she smiled at him or had readily agreed to help him.

Getting to his chamber, he spared himself the trouble of explaining things as she could sight the gift on his nightstand. As predicted, she made her way towards the nightstand to gaze at the two wrapped-up gifts that rested on the surface of his nightstand. The way she stared at it with rapt fascination, he assumed it was common for a servant to find such exquisite wraps tempting, but like a bomb suddenly went off in his head, he heard her say.

"Hominum Una... two as one."

His usually solemn eyes snapped wide when she spoke the native tongue of Caledonia. The native tongue wasn’t popularly known as his people were rather silent about their language, that made it difficult for others to practice it, so hearing someone, who wasn’t from Caledonia utter their language, a little ray of hope reached his sore heart, and he turned around to gaze at the maiden who had uttered those words.

"Where did you hear that from?" He demanded from the servant who took two steps back away from him. His sudden approach had startled Lucy to the point she nearly lost her balance, but after regaining her stamina, she lowered her head in a deep bow of apology, quite afraid that she may have angered him by speaking their language.

"I didn’t mean to–"

"Save your apologies, I want to know where you heard that from?" He was quite firm on his demands, and Lucy’s heart picked up speed cause she could feel his gaze piercing her skin.

"I...I learnt it from a book!" She quickly lied, "I have a friend who is from Caledonia, I was interested in learning the Caledonia language so she gave me the basics. If you do not believe me I can bring the book right away and show them to–"

"That won’t be necessary." Duncan cut her off yet again, but his tone had softened, laden with what she perceived to be disappointment. Was he disappointed that she borrowed the book or was he disappointed because he expected a different answer?

Either way, she was relieved he didn’t tell her to bring a book cause the truth was she never had a book to begin with. The lie she had told had already left her mouth before her brain could even process what she had said. His abrupt movement had prompted her mind into creating a lie that she barely knew, and just when she thought she was going to get away with it, Duncan’s eyebrows creased dubiously, as if he had caught on to something, and he took one more step forward.

"The Caledonia language cannot be learned so easily, unless... who is this friend of yours?" He queried further, and from the look in his eyes, it was obvious he still doubted her intention, "someone must have taught you, does this friend of yours stay in GreenHollow?"

"No... I mean yes... I mean I don’t know she’s never one to stay in a designated place but if you want to meet with her then that can be arranged."

"I want to meet with her." He said, to Lucy’s disbelief, and he lifted his index and middle-finger for her to see.

"In two days."

"Two days??" Lucy hadn’t realized the trouble she had put herself into. This was the reason why her parents told her never to lie, eventually, karma had decided to catch up with her today. If she reveals the truth that she had lied, would he forgive her?

"Can you make it possible?" Duncan’s features softened once more, and it no longer sounded like an order but a request from his side. Lucy’s entire face nearly turned red, and there was absolutely no way she could say no to this... but... but...

"Can you?"

"Yes." Lucy immediately felt like slapping herself, "I will get her to come in two days time."

"If you can make it possible, then you will be rewarded for it." He promised her, and that only made Lucy want to disappear. He was staring at her as if his hope depended on her friend, a friend she had falsely created to avoid revealing how she knew the language. No one can know about her history with Caledonia, it’s embarrassing enough as it is to remember how her life there once was– it was that embarrassing that she hides it from her only true friend, Samantha.

"Of... of course."

"The gifts... don’t forget to take them with you when you leave." He reminded Lucy who immediately turned to carry the gifts of the round tray they were placed in. Lowering her head in a bow before Duncan, she exited his chamber.

When the door closed, Duncan took his seat on the cushion close to the curtain. In no time, he would be healed of this illness, and the only way he can make that happen was by meeting the exiled princess

—--

After the wedding vows had been made, everyone moved to the main hall where the rest of the merriments commenced. All sorts of delicacies, including drinks were being served to the guests.

Ivan and Samantha were still receiving neverending gifts when Maurice approached him where they stood. Ivan wasn’t surprised by the lad’s presence, he had been waiting on him for a while now, and now that he was here, he knew the reason behind his hesitant approach.

"If his Majesty doesn’t mind, can I have a word with you?" He requested, sounding oddly polite. Ivan glanced at his beautiful wife who also seemed surprised by her brother’s request, but after noticing Ivan was waiting for her permission to answer him, she gave him the go-ahead.

Her emerald eyes watched as the two of them disappeared behind the curtains, and she hoped that none of them would begin exchanging fists now that they were alone. However, the two gentlemen took a leisurely walk through the empty hallway, and when they were completely out of earshot, Maurice stopped walking and turned to look at Ivan.

"You owe me one more thing, Your Majesty. You said if I win, I can ask for anything in return."

"I remember," Ivan nodded his head, "tell me, what do you want?"

Maurice took a deep breath and said, "I want you to release Caddel from the dungeon." He began, "he... is only trying to find his sister and was deceived in the process, nothing else. If you let him go, I can promise you that he won’t bother you or your Palace, if you can’t let him leave then that is fine too, he can join us in the borders and–"

"He will be released." Ivan said, to Maurice’s unexpected surprise. "He would have been freed a long time if he just admitted to what he saw that night, but he didn’t, and that’s why he’s locked, but... regarding his sister who was abducted, I understand why he took such risks, so I am going to release him, but he won’t leave, I’ll make him one of my loyal guards."

"Your guards?"

"He has potential, I’ll put his defiance to good use." The vampire added, leaving Maurice speechless. "Fortunately for him, he isn’t useless, and I’m going to use that to my advantage. Frankly speaking, I never expected you’d be so benevolent to sacrifice your wish on a human, I pictured you to be selfish... like me."

"He saved my life." Maurice added, "I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. I appreciate the opportunity you’ve given him, it eases me to know that I owe no one from this day. I shall leave you to enjoy your day."

"Maurice." He called the lad’s name before he could leave. "Thank you for not taking your sister away from me. I do hope that with time, you can learn to trust me."

"The only thing I trust is your love for my sister." Maurice turned around to look at him, "that’s the reason why I gave her to you, else I wouldn’t. I believe you won’t hurt her, but if you do anything of that sort and break this trust, I promise I won’t hesitate to raise the sword you’ve given me and commit treason with it."

Their eyes clashed as they exchanged silent promises, and Maurice bowed once more before leaving. When he was out of sight, a harmless smile curved Ivan’s lips.