Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 70: Temptation To Bite

Chapter 70: Temptation To Bite

In the Chevalier Palace, Ivan watched with keen eyes as his little lamb gracefully made his bed that morning, his expression a mélange of amazement and suspicion. Sitting quietly in his private corner where his chaise lounge was situated, he poured himself a goblet of his usual morning blood wine, but his crimson eyes never looked away from the golden-blonde-haired woman as she meticulously made his bed.

Taking a sip from his crystal goblet that now tasted boring against his taste buds, his eyes followed the little lamb as she made her way to his window, and when she carefully pushed it open, the sight of whiskers entering his room made him shift gaze. With a piece of parchment stained with blood on whiskers mouth, she scurried toward where Ivan sat, elegantly jumping on the chaise lounge and resting on his lap whilst Ivan carefully took the piece of parchment from the cat’s mouth.

"And what do we have here?"

Samantha was stunned by the sight of it, but when she looked at Ivan, no reaction was triggered from him as he opened the parchment to read its context. Closing it up after reading what was written on the bloody-stained parchment, Ivan gently stroked whiskers on the head while whispering.

"Good job."

Samantha’s gentle eyebrows furrowed questioningly, she never knew whiskers acted as an errand pet for Lord Ivan. Weren’t cats supposed to be the most difficult pets to keep? She wondered how Ivan trained whiskers to be so silent and docile around him.

Unpromptedly, his eyes moved and instantly caught her staring. In a flash, Samantha turned away from his gaze as she reached out to close the opened window, and she could never forget about last night. Looking at him eye to eye always made her remember the mysterious change in his irises, and the stinging pain on her neck was just a psychological effect that was difficult for her brain to push aside. Still feeling his gaze piercing through her small back, Samantha continued with whatever she did, whilst moving to her own bed through the separate curtains to tidy it up.

If there was one thing Ivan could readily admit to, it would be that he was always watching her. His keen Vampiric senses picked up on subtle clues that seemed to set her apart from ordinary humans - the faint enticing aroma of her blood, her uncanny awareness of his presence, and the way her pulse quickened ever so slightly when he was near.

It was not easy to catch his amusement, but when her ruby-red blood filled his taste buds last night, a tingling sensation crawled through every fiber of his system, and it was so rejuvenating, he had to label it ’refreshing’ since it was unlike any other blood he had tasted. The pain in his chest had stopped a few minutes after succumbing to the sweetness of the liquid that flowed through her veins, and it only meant there was something unique about her blood, igniting a primal curiosity within him.

Suddenly, he could see her fold her duvet in haste, throwing it on her bed and coming out of the curtains to bow her head in front of him. "Forgive me my Lord but I take it that you have something to say to me, if you do then please feel free to speak up. Your eyes are constantly penetrating my spine and I can’t concentrate if you keep staring at me in that manner."

Ivan’s naturally arched eyebrows rose at the evident gripes in her tone, and he simply tilted his head to the left, almost innocently as he asked. "How do I stare at you?"

Meeting his crimson eyes upon hearing his question, Samantha could feel a chill course down her spine, yet an inexplicable intrigue gripped her heart.

"You stare at me like you.... Like you want to bite me." She forced herself to speak it out in a way that would sound offensive to his ears, but to her own disappointment, it came out meekly that it was barely above a whisper, and then, she noticed the way his lips curved subtly.

A short gasp escaped her lips when he was standing in front of her the next minute, his towering figure exuding an aura of power and allure, commanding attention in the quiescence of the chamber. His eyes, the rich color of crimson, were now staring at her up-close, and he held her gaze with an intensity that sent chills skittering down her spine, and she felt herself drawn into their depths, unable to look away.

"Is that so?"

When he reached out his hand with the intention of touching her, Samantha looked away as if frightened that he was going to hurt her for real this time around, but to her biggest surprise, his hand found the back of her neck, and he made her tilt her head up to meet his eyes. The young maid gulped nervously, she felt a mixture of fear and fascination as if she was both a prey and a curious subject in his eyes.

"Didn’t I warn you never to get in my head like that again?" His questioning voice sounded sultry to her ears, unlike the harsh way he would question her on a normal day, but rather than hurting her, his hand deliberately moved down to the curve of her neck, and his index finger traced the configuration of her sensitive ear in a tantalizing manner, causing her to shiver impulsively.

"Lord Ivan you..!!" Something magical shimmered in his crimson eyes when she tried to speak, and to her shock, her lips had mystically sealed together, leaving her with the inability to utter a sentence. Samantha’s eyes widened as she tried to force her mouth to say something, but it felt like her lips had been glued together since she could only make mumbling sounds.

Did he do this??

Tilting her head gently to the side, Ivan’s gaze lowered to the two holes on her neck, a visible sign that he indeed bit her last night. In that moment, Samantha found herself torn between the danger he represented, drawing her closer even as her instincts urged her to flee.

"Mhmm..! Mhmm!!" Samantha tried to speak as she made an attempt to dodge the enticing feeling of his hand that continued to trace her ear down to the nape of her neck, but she was unaware her actions only made Ivan feel more interested as he pulled her close, demanding she stayed still.

"Should I let you in on a little dark secret about me? Back then, one human was never enough to satisfy my raging thirst for blood. In a day, I’d drain the blood of four humans, even Vampires weren’t exempted from my blood-thirst, neither did they survive it." He uttered sinisterly, and Samantha remained still as he continued to evoke strange sensations with just his fingers fondling her ear. "But do you know my greatest desire was evoked by a little lamb last night? I’ve come to the conclusion that I prefer mortals, because someone like you is more than enough for my unruly fangs to take a pleasant bite on."

And when he lowered his head to her neck since he could no longer resist the sweet temptation, his fangs retracted forward, but before he could sink them into her skin, a knock on the door had interrupted him.

"Go away."

"It’s Herbert, My Lordship." Herbert’s voice resounded against the surface of the door, and only then did Ivan’s fangs recede. He slowly pulled away, looking at the young woman whose eyes were tightly sealed shut as if bracing herself for the pain, and he tittered internally at her vulnerability before freeing her from his bondage.

Samantha could hear herself gasp when he let go of her, and surprisingly, she could speak now.

"Lord Ivan." She called him back before he could step out of the room. "Am I allowed to step out and see Lucy?"

"You can only step out once you’ve done your duties." He answered without stopping in his tracks, and Samantha’s eyes lit up at his approval. Closing the door after his exit from the room, the young maid slumped to her bed as she laid on it flat, her arms spread at both sides as a renewed feeling of hope reflected in her green orbs.

Entering the study room and closing the door behind him, Alistair and Tobias looked up from the table where they sat, and their eyes moved to Herbert who was politely handing a strange list to Ivan who reclined against one of the vacant chairs.

"My Lord, it appears the royal Fletcher may not be so innocent. The lists handed to me are all authentic, but it contains no valid record of who may have purchased those arrows. I questioned him in your name concerning who was the last to purchase the bodkin arrow, and he made mention of Prince Alistair who purchased the bodkin arrow during the month of the full red moon."

"Month of the full red moon? But that’s years ago." Alistair butted in, seemingly interested in the conversation between Ivan and his personal bodyguard, and Herbert affirmed it with a nod. A subtle frown graced the face of Ivan as he understood the point Herbert was trying to make.

"The last bodkin arrow was purchased during the hunting trip."

"And he has no knowledge of it, which I found suspicious, but the purchase of the bodkin arrows were clearly written on the list." Herbert stated sedately, "I executed the plan of hitting him a few more times as suggested, and he revealed his offense at breakpoint."

"Tell me."

"He violated the palace code and took a few days off despite knowing the Royal family would be going on a hunting trip. He said he had a gambling debt to pay and could not stay in the Palace. It was crucial for him to leave since the life of his family was on the line. Trying to hit two birds with one stone, he secretly hired someone who was in dire need of money to take his post for two days, and that day marks the date of the hunting trip including the date of the Queen Mother’s death, My Lordship."

"Who is this person he hired?"

"He doesn’t recall the name, but he remembers the face. It was a very young man, about twenty years of age, he looked like a hunter, a skilled one at that. The hunter had come to him requesting for his help, and he offered the young hunter a chance to stay in the Palace and take his post as a Fletcher. He hired him to oversee the purchase of the arrows to the Royal Family for the hunt."

"And where is the royal Fletcher?" Alistair’s eyebrows knitted puzzledly, and Herbert bowed his head at Alistair before answering. "I had a few guards lock him up."

"Should I get my scythe?" Tobias had already stood up from where he sat, heading to the corner where his precious, deadly, dark-polished scythe was waiting to be used.