Mated To The Dead Prince
Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Chapter 23

It was 5: a.m.

The sun was slowly starting to rise, and the vampires were returning to their chambers to sleep until another darkness met their world.

Rose was slowly walking along the walkway that led her to the slaves’ quarters; she, too, needed to rest since she was now adapting to the nightlife; she needed to observe her rest during the day, too, to refill her energy for the next night.

But Rose doubted if she was going to be able to sleep that morning. She could still feel Cassius’ lips on hers, and her mind was repeatedly playing how he had emotionlessly kissed her in his library just because he wanted to prove something to Eliot.

And after Cassius had finished kissing her, he pushed her away and asked her to always remember that he was her master and she would always be nothing but his slave; he asked her to keep in mind that from that moment, she was going to satisfy all his needs, especially his sexual needs.

She had seen Eliot clench his fists when Cassius had said those words and she immediately knew that Eliot didn’t like how Cassius spoke to him, but in this kingdom, no one had the right to question Cassius’ decision, not even his brothers.

Rose paused beside a tall, huge pillar in the walkway and leaned on it, staring out to the garden of Rose’s. She wished her name made her like the real flowers; beautiful yet hard to touch, and even when you manage to touch her, she’d leave you hurting from its thorns. Maybe, that way, she wouldn’t be that easily bullied by those freaking Vampires.

"Maybe I am like the Rose flower..." She suddenly murmured, smiling at the flowers.

"My blood, it’s my thorn," She nodded at herself, feeling a little protected as she remembered how toxic her blood was to the Vampires. If it wasn’t for her blood, Cassius might have sucked her dry and pale like that innocent Elven boy whom he had drained in front of her the day she awakened him.

The dewy morning breeze suddenly blew softly across her face, carrying the sweet scents of the fresh Rose flowers into her nostrils.

"So beautiful," She whispered.

"Just like you," A voice suddenly spoke behind her, making her jump on her feet.

"Oh my God!" She jumped and turned around to see who her intruder was.

"Eliot?" She called quietly, looking around to see if Cassius was somewhere around.

"What are you doing here?" Rose questioned, removing her eyes from Eliot’s; she couldn’t still look him in the eyes.

"I could ask you the same thing, Princess," Eliot walked closer to her and stopped right in front of her.

"Not tired? Or can’t sleep?" He slowly raised his hand to her face and smiled.

Rose was troubled; she couldn’t feel calm beside Eliot again; she felt like she had hurt him.

"Relax, Rose, I’m not offended. I should be the one apologizing for the way my brother is treating you," Eliot looked into her beautiful blue eyes and saw how sad they were.

He felt bad for her. The Rose he knew before was always all smiles and chatter, but now, she looked so sad and depressed, and he only blamed himself for her condition.

If he hadn’t gone to bring her for that field trip, she would’ve still been living happily in the human world.

’It’s all my fault,’ Eliot thought sadly.

Rose suddenly winced and looked back at Eliot.

"I can really hear your thoughts," She confirmed in awe.

Eliot was taken aback and was reminded again about the short telepathic interaction he had with Rose at Cassius’ study.

"Wait," he raised a brow and peered down at her, "Have you always been like this or is this our kingdom messing with you?" He asked.

Rose shrugged, "I don’t really know, all I know was that I found out I could hear thoughts that are directed at me at the auction house," She replied.

Eliot was quiet; he had never heard of or seen anything like this before in a human.

Humans weren’t supposed to be telepathic.

"Does he know?" Eliot asked quietly, holding her hands.

Rose shook her head, "But, he hears my thoughts, even ones that aren’t directed at him," She supplied.

Eliot sighed in relief, "Don’t worry about that; he’s pure blood, the firstborn from our father, so his blood is the purest; therefore, he has the ability to read minds; just be careful what you think about beside him," Eliot advised.

Rose sighed and nodded. "I just want to go back home, Eliot," She slowly moved into him and hugged him.

Eliot froze for a while and hugged her back; he gently patted her back as his arms went around her smaller frame.

While she hugged Eliot, Rose noticed that her heart didn’t shudder as it used to when she was near him. She felt rather calm as if she was hugging a friend who she had no romantic feelings for.

"I’m really sorry that you had to see that; I don’t know what came over me; I know I had to push him away, but I just couldn’t do it," Rose spoke quietly as she still kept hugging Eliot.

Eliot shook his head, "Don’t worry about that, I understand everything," he gently withdrew from the hug and held her shoulders.

"Rose, I’m ready to wait till whenever my brother releases you, and I will help with whatever is possible to see that he releases you early. My feelings for you remain unchanged, and if, in the end, you don’t feel the same way about me, I’d understand, but it doesn’t stop me from helping you back to the human world," Eliot assures.

Rose felt her heart warm by Eliot’s words.

The very soft, golden sun ray was starting to pierce through the clouds and shine upon her face, causing her to smile. How she had missed the sun; it looked like a miracle as she gazed up at the sky.

"Thank you, Eliot, thank you for your understanding," Rose smiled up at him.

Eliot put his hand in his pocket and brought out a small cell phone, giving it to Rose.

Rose’s eyes widened, "A phone? For me?" She asked excitedly.

Eliot nodded, "Yes, it’s one of my products here, in fact, I’m the one who brought technology to our people, my brother is still a little skeptical about the whole thing, but I know he’ll come around, just, don’t let him see you using it, okay?" He told her.

Rose nodded, her eyes shining. "So, I can text you whenever I’m bored or in trouble right?" She asked hopefully.

"Sure," Eliot was happy she thought of him as the first person to communicate with through her new phone.

"And, not just me, you can communicate with people in the human world too and you don’t have to worry about charging it or network since everything is controlled through a magical network," he added.

Rose didn’t know when she laughed loudly and jumped on him in a tight hug. Wrapping her arms around his neck tightly.

"Woah! Rose, I’m choking," Eliot tapped her arm around his neck, chuckling.

Rose quickly released him and stepped away from him, blushing.

"Ah...I’m sorry," She hid her face in embarrassment for overreacting.

Eliot simply patted her head, "Come on, go catch some rest, the sun goes down here by 1 P.m. You don’t have much time for rest," He encouraged, smiling nonstop from the feeling of happiness that was bubbling inside him at Rose’s cute reaction.

"Alright, see you tonight," Rose quickly tipped her toes and gave Eliot a quick peck on the cheek, and then she turned and ran toward the slaves’ quarters.

Eliot watched as she entered the building before he slowly turned and looked up toward the tallest window in the castle, where he locked his eyes with the dark, cold, sea-green eyes that had been staring at him for quite some time.

He subtly bowed his head to his brother and walked away from the walkway.

Cassius had gone up to his room after making his brother understand that he owned Rose and would do whatever he wanted with her, as his slave.

He made Eliot understand that he had no feelings for her, but, why had he been standing there for almost two minutes watching them with mixed feelings as they interacted happily with each other?

And when he was about to dismiss the unidentified feeling he felt within his cold heart, he had seen as Rose flung herself at Eliot and even ended up kissing his cheek.

At that moment, he realized that even though his heart was dead, it still functions; the sharp pain he felt around his heart almost pulled him down to the floor.

He also realized that Eliot and Rose could interact freely during the day without him stopping them; he hated that Eliot had that advantage over him.

He had to consult Felonious about why he was feeling the way he did. He didn’t want it all.

He would never let that worthless human woman affect him.