The Vampire King's Possession
Chapter 367. This Time

Chapter 367: 367. This Time

"I am glad you didn’t hate it there."

"I didn’t."

"Good, you deserve some happiness."

Mauve wrapped her arms around herself. Unsure of how to reply to him. Some happiness huh? But life never went the way you wanted it to.

"When do you intend to return? He asked suddenly.

Mauve frowned, she sure didn’t know the answer to that. However, she intended to wing the current situation until the next phase came along, she would figure it out then.

"I don’t know yet. I suppose after I find out why I am here.

Do you have any idea about it or do you intend to keep me in the dark like everyone else?"

At this point, she was certain it was a deliberate act to not tell her what was going on. Mauve didn’t like that at all. She was worried she would end up being cajoled into something she could refuse like before.

Malcolm sighed, "It hurts that you think the worst of me."

"I don’t. I just got tired of pretending that at some point I would be treated as part of the family and right now the current facade is starting to wear on me."

The only other reason why she could think of why they wouldn’t tell her what was going on was incompetence. It wasn’t like she could be of any use. It reminded her of why a certain person had easily tossed her aside.

"I suppose it is. It must be hard," he said.

"Not really," she shrugged. "Just tiring."

She had only spent a day here and if she had to call the King father one more time she would likely lose her mind.

"So, are you going to tell me or not?" She asked.

"I don’t know why Father asked you to come back but it might have something to do with the forthcoming war.

"There is a war coming?" Mauve gasped.

"Yeah, all we know are whispers of it. However, we are certain there is going to be a war in a few months."

"That’s terrible."

"It is. I don’t know if that’s the reason why father called you but it’s the only thing I can think of."

"That doesn’t make any sense? It’s not like I can help."

"I don’t know the details, I just got here and there is only so much he can send through a letter for fear of someone else reading it."

"Oh okay. Why did you tell me though? You know you didn’t have to."

"I am trying to convince you that I am on your side even if it doesn’t look that way. To me, you’ll always be my little sister, like you’ve always been."

That’s a stretch but Mauve didn’t say this out loud. She was more like the random kid that his parents took in and he was nice to because it was the thing to do.

"Is there anything else?" She asked.

"I supposed not," Malcolm replied, laughing sadly. "I should let you get back to Galath."

"Yeah," she said and started walking back. He caught up with her easily.

"Any special reason why you suddenly want to learn how to ride a horse?" He asked.

"Do I need a reason, let alone a special one?"

"I suppose you don’t. If you need my help let me know."

They were closer to the stable now and Galath stood in front with the horse in hand. She wondered if he had been standing there since they left.

She nodded, "Sure thing. You should get some rest. You don’t have to follow me all the way to the stable."

"Yeah, I should get back inside. I am sure Mother is looking for me already."

"I’m sure," Mauve smiled faintly at him.

"Yeah, there is supposed to be a party in our honor."

"Our?" She asked, feigning ignorance.

"Yeah, didn’t they tell you?" He looked genuinely concerned.

"They did, it slipped my mind."

It didn’t, it was annoying that she was tagging along for this party and Malcolm pretending not to see it was just annoying but as she had found out a long time ago his family came first.

He nodded and started to pull away. "See you later," he whispered and turned away from her.

"Malcolm," she called.

As his name left her lips, she remembered the time the Queen had found out she called him by his name, she had been scolded.

The worst part, it wasn’t even the queen who scolded her, she had sent a servant. The queen had dutifully ignored her most of her childhood.

He stopped and turned around, Mauve could see him try to hide his smile. "Yes, Mauve."

"Perhaps I couldn’t leave and I wanted to stay, would you let me? Do you think that’s possible?"

Malcolm stomped towards her, he stopped in front of her, his eyes glancing over her face. "This time yes, I promise you."

"Thank you," she smiled and turned away this time.

"Leave it to me," he called out to her.

She waved at him without looking back, rushing to Galath. She got to where he stood feeling a little out of breath.

"That took a while," he said.

"Sorry."

"Nah it’s fine. I am sure you had a lot of catching up to do."

"Yeah," Mauve replied absentmindedly.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yeah," she repeated in the same tone.

Galath frowned, "We could call it a day if you want."

She looked up at him, "I suppose I should."

"Yeah, you’ve learned enough for the first day. Tomorrow is another day. As I said before, it’s best not to over-exert your muscles so you’ll need a short time to recover. You don’t feel it now but by tomorrow it will hurt like crazy."

Mauve nodded, that wasn’t the reason why she was stopping but yeah it was better Galath thought it was that than having to explain herself.

She needed to mentally and physically prepare herself for the party. She didn’t want to go but it didn’t look like she could escape it.

"Galath."

"Yeah," he turned his gaze from the horse to her.

"Would you be attending the party?" She asked.