Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 50: An Offer or A Request

Chapter 50: An Offer or A Request

Slapping her mouth with her palm to suppress the screams, Samantha had absolutely nowhere to run to, neither could she hide. Even if she had other alternative options in mind, it was too late to implement any of them as she had already been caught.

With the handsome Princes of EmptyHollow staring down at her, all she could do was bow her small head in shame.

"Boy do you scream loud for a man." Alistair softly teased as he unplugged his fingers from his ears, but the surprise in his crimson eyes was yet to vanish. He found it totally unbelievable that Ivan would bring his blood servant to the hunt when the rules strictly forbade women, and what’s more shocking is the fact that he didn’t notice it from the beginning.

"You mean to tell me that all this time, we had a female amongst us?"

"Hey, don’t frighten her." Tobias simply reprimanded his brother to keep quiet by nudging his arm. Returning his gaze to the young woman whose terrified doe eyes stole peeks at them, he cleared his throat and asked. "Are you going to let us in, or do you prefer we have this conversation in the open?"

Samantha, who got the cautioning message behind his word, quickly bowed her head in apology. "Forgive my manners, please - come in." Feeling totally helpless and defenseless, Samantha could only let the Princes into her tent, whilst she prayed inwardly.

God help me!

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Sitting before the two Otherworldly Princes of EmptyHollow, Samantha’s one-lit Candle was nearly dying out, whilst she had to burn another one and placed it somewhere close so the Princes could see properly, but then, they were pure-blooded Vampires, they can still see without the candle right? Maybe she wasn’t lighting the candle for their sake, but hers.

Patting her chest gently to stop her heart from beating so much, she returned to her seat and fixed her frantic gaze to the mat they presently sat on. After a brief moment of silence, she repeated their question.

"You... need my help?"

"Yes, we do." Tobias answered quietly without beating around the bush, his lips parted as he was ready to spill what they wanted from her, but then paused when he took note of her fidgeting fingers. "Please do not be frightened, I know our sudden presence must have startled you, but you can imagine how serious the issue we have is for us to be here at this hour."

Regardless of Tobias’s effort to make her feel comfortable around them, Samantha wasn’t sure why she was having a bad feeling about their visit tonight. Gathering some of her hidden courage, she said in a small voice. "Forgive me in advance but why would a Prince seek help from a lowly servant like myself?" She shook her head as if she couldn’t contain the idea of ever being useful to them, "I’m afraid I won’t be able to meet your expectations."

"You will." Alistair assured her in his cool voice and crossed his legs. "You might not believe it, but we’ve made several conclusions regarding the matter before showing up at your tent tonight. In fact, you’re more than capable of fulfilling what we have in mind."

"Please enlighten me."

"We need you to awaken a certain feeling from Ivan." Alistair simply added as his crimson eyes darted her up and down. "A feeling of ’arousal"

"I beg your pardon?" Samantha’s eyes snapped wide at their request. It had baffled her to the point she forgot her manners and was looking them straight in the eyes. Alistair’s face, which still had the scar frightened her to some extent, and Tobias, everything about him was mysteriously terrifying. She found it insane to possess such otherworldly beauties and still carry an aura that could send shivers through her bones.

"Forgive me, I didn’t mean to--"

"It is fine." Tobias kind-heartedly dismissed her apology, "anyone in your position would react worse, but I’m being honest when I say it’s for a good purpose." He pursed his lips for a minute, then continued. "We need you to help Ivan realize what it means to be with a woman - in all ways possible."

"Am I permitted to ask why?"

"Ivan was chosen to rule in the place of his Father by the Mystic Orb, that happened before its strange disappearance, and so far, he’s been trying his best to run away from that particular responsibility, which is impossible." Alistair briefly explained to her, "Ivan has a problem, and it’s hindering him from making certain choices. In our Kingdom, it’s a belief that a King can’t rule without a Queen, just like chess, where the King is nothing without its Queen, and Ivan can’t become King if he doesn’t find a bride soon."

Samantha, who was forced to listen attentively to their reasons, bit down on her lower lip as she remembered her conversation with Ivan at the riverbank. Did he dismiss her because he felt angered by her words? Is that what this is all about?

"I don’t have to explain everything in detail, you saw what happened during the feast." Alistair’s serious tone snapped her from her train of thought. "Ivan’s life is threatened, we can’t get rid of suspects without valid proof, so, we need your help to persuade Ivan into finding a bride. If he gets crowned, I can’t guarantee his safety even as King, but the chances will be minimal."

"But.." Samantha laughed nervously, finding it difficult to digest their absurd request, "how... How am I the best option for this? I do not wish to aggravate anyone with my questions, but I am sure you know Lord Ivan more than I do, he’s not easy to crack."

"You were once a Courtesan." Tobias answered as a matter-of-fact, sending Samantha into another range of slight panic as she wondered how he knew, and to her unexpected bewilderment, he answered her silent question with a firm nod. "Yes, we did our research before coming here. You didn’t really think it would be easy working in a Palace where your identity can be kept a secret for long, right?"

Samantha could feel her throat go dry at his question, and her gaze returned to the ground, not daring to answer. They did their research on her background? She hadn’t mentioned her surname to anyone as she faked being the daughter of ’woods’ if that’s even a proper surname. But if they discovered some of her identity, did they.... Did they find out about her true identity? About her real Father and who he was?? No, that can’t be possible, if they did, they wouldn’t be sitting here seeking her help right now, but still, Samantha couldn’t help but dread over how deep their research on her background might be.

"Samantha."

"Hmm?" Samantha raised her head up to look at Tobias who mentioned her name out of the blue. The more he spoke to her, the more he frightened her... how... how did he know her name???

"Don’t fret, I told you we did our research." He explained with that impassive look on his charming face. He wasn’t smiling, but he wasn’t frowning either, even his eyes were inexpressive, and the only thing that made her guess his mood was by the tone of his voice. If she wanted to be honest, he carried more of Sir Abdiel’s strange personality.

He reminded her of him, and it scared her in more than one way.

"Think about our offer." Alistair finally said as he rose to his feet. "We’ll take our leave for now, but know this--" he added when he reached the exit of her tent. "If you succeed, there’ll be lots of reward for your effort, have a good night, Miss Samantha." And just as they came, they left.

"Now I need someone to kill me!" Samantha facepalmed.

At the early break of dawn, everyone was set to leave the forest. The subordinates had been busy securing the rewards of the hunt so they could take it with them back to the Palace. Samantha was the last person to leave her tent that morning, and her eyes had a bit of dark circles around them, whilst she slapped her own cheeks in an attempt to stay awake.

Thanks to Alistair and Tobias’s visit, her plans of having a good night’s sleep were automatically canceled. All through the night, she couldn’t stop herself from thinking about their request, most especially the reward they had promised her if she ends up helping Ivan find a bride.

She wondered what type of reward she would get. "Will it be gold? Silver?" She said her thoughts aloud as she kept dragging her feet forward, barely aware that she was already reaching where the rest of the Princes stood waiting.

Should she accept the offer or not? It was an extremely tough decision because she was not only getting herself involved with Lord Ivan, but she would be meddling in Royal affairs, but then again, the benefits made her rethink her idea of declining.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Ivan’s voice jolted her back to reality as she halted right in front of him, and her round eyes instinctively widened. When did she get here??