The Royal Revenge
Chapter 155: Creep

Chapter 155: Creep

Elys was finally snuggled in the bed of their shared chambers. It was a bit awkward, but nothing over the board that she couldn’t handle with a straight face. She was pretending to read the book she retrieved from her chamber, but it seemed to be futile.

She couldn’t concentrate.

"What’s in your mind now?" Aleksander asked all of a sudden.

He wasn’t sharing the bed with her as he promised. He was seated at the same sofa he had always used during the first few days that they took the throne. Aleksander put the book in his hand down – he wasn’t actually reading as well.

"Nothing," Elys said. "I should go to sleep."

Aleksander understood that she was still distant from him, and he made it clear to himself that he should respect that if he wanted her to warm up to him soon.

The vampire nodded and said, "Good night then. Don’t worry about anything, I am here."

Elys let out a sarcastic laugh as she set her own book at the bedside table, "Look who is talking. You were the one who worried too much, and now I am here."

"It is for the greater good, my queen," he merely repeated his previous reason. "We watch each other’s back, that’s what is best for both of us."

"Uhuh," Elys hummed, "alright then."

Aleksander picked his book again. He flipped the pages until he found a piece of feather he used as a book mark, and then raised the book higher.

He wasn’t actually reading, he just pretended to so Elys would feel more at ease. Even he would feel awkward if there was someone else in his room while he slept. Well, not unless they were sharing the bed.

Nevertheless, he vowed he would keep her safe. And part of the notion of safety was being secure in their sleep, knowing that they could let their guard down. Throw away all their worries behind and finally rest their weary mind and body.

Also, Aleksander was curious about something.

The vampire king’s eyes glanced sidewards from where he sat. He noted that Elys had already turned silent. The canopies were closed but Aleksander could still see her silhouette through the sheer fabric.

She had rearranged the pillows to make it look like it didn’t leave space for anyone else but her at the center. It was as if she had deliberately done it to say she wasn’t going to invite anyone else in the bed.

The young king slapped himself internally.

’Focus, Aleksander! You are starting to stray with your thoughts!’ he chastised himself.

Aleksander flipped a page from his book, pretending to read yet again in the case that Elys was still awake.

She was a royalty from a bloodline of warriors. Aleksander knew better than to think she wouldn’t be aware of him looking at her if he’d be too careless to do it far too long.

The fire flickered from the lamp situated at the corner. Aleksander glanced after several heartbeats, and saw that Elys has turned to her sides.

’Has it begun?’ he asked himself.

The thing he was curious about had been Elys’ tendencies to mumble in her sleep. Her sentences were mostly jumbled and incomplete, a few comprehensible phrases at the very least.

But one thing was the same every single time – it always involved her father and the Northern people.

’Fuck you Dominick,’ Aleksander cursed his dead half-brother. ’I don’t know if I should even be mad that you caused such pain to this woman, or should I be thankful that I met her because you conquered her kingdom.’

Aleksander was truly confused.

Elys had been crucial to his winning moments, and that of him rising from his dark hole of self-pity.

He heard a rustle yet again from the bed’s direction, and Aleksander’s eyes wandered once more for a tiny glance. His wife has turned yet again in her sleep.

No matter how comfortable the bed was, nor the calming incense that Aleksander deliberately burned for the same purpose, Elys still seemed to have a bad dream.

"Elys?" Aleksander decided to call out to her, testing if she was still awake or not.

Several seconds turned to minutes, and Aleksander finally assumed that she was indeed asleep – just not peacefully.

The vampire put his unread book down gently, careful not to make any further noises. He didn’t want to make any mistakes here, and most certainly he did not want to awaken Elys.

Aleksander took off his slippers and decided to walk barefoot over to the bed. The floor was cold, and at certain moments he hated it because he was reminded of the cold dungeons he was tortured at when he was a child.

But that wasn’t the issue as of the moment, and that was already from a time long gone. Aleksander looked at the bed and clenched his jaw – Elys was the one he needed to focus on right now.

He lifted a chair as silently as he could, and took it closer to where the bed was. He carefully put it down, making sure that not a single sound was made.

"Mmm... no!" Elys suddenly mumbled in her sleep.

Her hands flailed for a moment, and Aleksander would be a liar if he would not admit it scared him. Scared in a sense that he thought Elys had seen him come up close to her yet again in her sleep.

’I know I said I wouldn’t be a creep, but I wanted to feel what she feels...’ he thought to himself. ’To understand her more deeply is to see what she had seen, hear what she heard, feel what she felt. I need to know of her nightmares...’

With a determined face, Aleksander leaned in closer and softly swept the sheer fabric aside.

Elys’ face was already drenched in sweat, even when the balconies permitted a cool breeze from the outside.

Aleksander gingerly lifted his hand over to her temple, and then closed his eyes as he attempted to read Elys’ subconscious mind.