Mated To The Dead Prince
Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Chapter 22

Cassius nodded and turned his back to Rose. He leaned his body close to hers and Rose started to hyperventilate.

Was he trying to continue kissing her in front of Eliot?

"Enter," He whispered.

Rose blinked as she realized that Cassius had only opened the door behind her.

"Oh..." She replied unintelligibly and slowly stepped into the room with her back.

Cassius followed her in, his eyes watching her face and once again, fear was back on it.

That longing he had seen in her eyes was nowhere to be found.

He kept his eyes on her as she kept moving backward into the room. It was dark, and he could see perfectly, but he knew she couldn’t.

Rose kept moving backwards until her heels touched a solid surface then she stopped and tried to look around the dark room.

She could already guess where she was with the heavy smell of old and thick books; she could tell it was a library and an ancient one at that.

"Come in, Athan," Cassius permitted Eliot who was still standing in front of the door.

Eliot nodded and walked into the dark room; he too, had no problem seeing in the dark. He easily found his way and stood beside Cassius.

He had a lot of questions to ask Cassius but he would leave it for when they had discussed the matter at hand first.

"What do you have to say about Scarlet, Athan," Cassius asked, his eyes still locked on Rose as she stood rigidly in front of him.

"She’s back and demands to live in the castle as our relative," Eliot answered.

Cassius frowned.

"Back from where exactly?" He questioned.

The last he remembered about Scarlet was her as a fifteen-year-old vampire who was always quiet and ready to please people. She would always visit the castle with her father, his uncle and he would try to make him see how good his daughter was in everything she did.

He never understood why he always praised his daughter in front of him; he never saw anything extraordinary in Scarlet, she was just gifted as a regular vampire should.

But why was she suddenly demanding to live with them in the castle, didn’t she have a home anymore?

"For sixteen years, she’s traveled to the Krevborne to study, and now that she has passed all exams and graduated, she’s asking to live in the castle as one of us," Eliot explained.

"Krevborne? The Institute for pure-blooded vampires?" Cassius asked quietly.

"Yes, brother," Eliot responded.

Rose heard Cassius’ footsteps moving away from her toward the entrance.

"But she’s not pure blood, you know this," The room was suddenly illuminated by a bright chandelier above Rose’s head.

Rose squinted her eyes as they adjusted to the lightning in the large library.

She slowly scanned her eyes around the room and realized that the shelves here were way taller than the shelves in his study upstairs.

Numerous types of books were stacked on the bookshelves, all of them looking rich and mysterious as I’d they held heavy secrets in them, secrets of the dark kingdom.

The shelves were arranged in a manner that they looked like a maze, she was sure she would get lost in them if she ventured between the tall walls of those shelves.

At the very far corner of the large room, huge piles of books were shattered on the floor beside a smooth brown table, as if someone had dropped them there in a hurry.

Eliot’s voice drew her out of her examination.

"I know that, brother, but, she’s gone to Krevborne, and she does have our blood in her veins," Eliot replied to Cassius’ previous words.

Cassius returned to Eliot’s side, this time; he didn’t spare Rose a glance, he walked over to the table behind her and sat down.

Rose immediately left his front, going to stand beside Eliot, she still felt awkward beside him because of the kiss with Cassius, but standing beside him was better than leaning against Cassius’ table.

"Who is a pure blood, Athan?" Cassius asked calmly, opening the drawer beneath the table, he took out two long scrolls and opened one of them.

Eliot sighed. "One who was born to two vampire parents and possesses unmixed vampire blood," Eliot replied.

Cassius nodded, "And what origin is her mother?" Cassius continued to question.

"An elf," Eliot answered.

He already knew that there was no way for Scarlet to live in the Dark Castle, but he was just doing what their uncle had requested of him.

"The castle cannot be tainted with impure blood, to live in the castle, she has to go through the blood ritual, and if she really did graduate from Krevborne, then she should have learned that the castle rejects anyone who isn’t from our linage, our bloodline...and not just from our linage, she has to be pure blood, with a dark soul," Cassius casually explained as he kept reading through the scroll he had opened.

Eliot nodded; he knew all this, "I know, brother, but Jaroslav...he believes that sending Scarlet to Krevborne has made her pure blood since it’s believed that one who goes through the teachings, trials, and rituals in the institute and succeeds in graduating has automatically become a pure blood." Eliot narrated.

Cassius was quiet for a while. "Who made that rule?" He asked.

He knew the rules weren’t like that centuries ago before his healing sleep; there were a lot of things going on that he needed to set right in his kingdom. Maybe he would be starting from the Krevborne Institute.

"The council, they agreed that one who has a parent with pure blood should be given the privilege as one with both parents as pure blood," Eliot explained.

Cassius frowned. It seemed like the council had really taken advantage of his absence, but he wasn’t worried, for his word was law; what he spoke shall be done, without question.

"The councill... I see," He folded the scroll and placed it beside the other unopened one.

Then he slowly looked up at Eliot. "Invite the council for a meeting, it’s about time we addressed some rules," he ordered.

Eliot nodded, "I will..." he paused and finally turned to Rose who was beside him.

He wanted to question her about what had led to her kiss with Cassius, but he decided to question his brother instead.

Questioning Rose might get her in trouble with Cassius.

"You have something more to say, brother?" Cassius asked, observing the way Eliot was looking at Rose.

Rose felt the eyes of the two brothers on her and didn’t know what to do, she wished she could turn invisible at that moment.

Eliot nodded slowly; he wasn’t going to stay quiet about how he felt about Rose, just in case Cassius was planning to just play with her like some useless slave.

"You kissed her..." Eliot announced.

Rose froze, biting her lips and sending Eliot a pleading look; how could she casually stand there while they talked about her kissing Cassius as if she was invincible?

She could not stand it, what was Eliot trying to do?

"I kissed her," Cassius confirmed, not seeing any reason to explain himself any further to Eliot.

Eliot nodded, "She’s your slave..." he paused again.

Cassius nodded. "Come here, Rose," He called in his quiet voice.

Rose gulped quietly and started to move toward Cassius, she walked around the table and stood beside his chair.

Cassius opened the scroll he was reading before and pointed to the first thing that was written on it. "What’s this?"

Rose normally wore glasses to read, and since she had lost all her items somewhere in the Dark Castle, her glasses were lost too, and now, she squinted her eyes and lowered her face to be able to see what Cassius was pointing at.

She saw a long list of rules, but she focused on the one Cassius was pointing to and read it out, "The King’s slave shall serve the King’s every need." She straightened herself after reading the first line.

She was glad it wasn’t written in Romanian handwriting; she wouldn’t want him to discover that she could understand the language; it was one leverage she had on him.

Cassius slowly raised his head to look at Eliot.

"Do I still need to tell you why I kissed my slave, Athan?" Cassius asked calmly, but his eyes pierced Eliot in a silent challenge.

He already knew that there might have been something going on with his brother and his slave back in the human world, and as he imagined how Rose must have willingly kissed his brother, he was starting to feel that spontaneous possessiveness toward her whenever Eliot wanted to talk about her.

He knew it was that connection that he was supposed to feel with whoever woke him from his healing sleep, but he didn’t care, instead of trying to fight the feeling that was threatening to explode in him each time he saw Rose, he would succumb to it and use her as the slave she was, she would please him in every way, just like the rules stated.

"But you said she was going to be only a domestic slave," Eliot reminded, keeping his eyes locked on Rose.

Cassius stood, held Rose’s hand, and drew her behind him till they stood in front of Eliot.

"She’s whatever I want her to be, Athan," He smirked, and in front of Eliot, he kissed Rose...again.