The Vampire King's Possession
Chapter 408. Wanted Her To Stay

Chapter 408: 408. Wanted Her To Stay

She looked up and he lifted her off the seat of the carriage and placed her across his legs. Mauve yelped slightly at the unexpected movement.

"You should be used to this by now," he smirked.

"No one gets used to being tossed around," she said and glared at him. "I can’t sit by myself."

She started to move away from his legs but the carriage moved again, locking her in his grip. She would have sworn she heard a soft chuckle from him.

At least one of them was amused, Mauve wasn’t, she was exasperated. Mauve didn’t want to spend the journey like this.

It was already bad enough that they were in such an enclosed space, all she could see and feel was him. To have to sit on his legs was a little too much.

She wasn’t giving up easily and she tried again, only to hear him whisper directly into her ear. "Stay," his husky voice reached her soul.

Mauve immediately froze up, she would have sworn goosebumps appeared on her neck. She grabbed her ear.

"This isn’t very comfortable," she blurted out, refusing to look up at him. Her face would give her away. As if there was any reason to be concerned about that when her heartbeat was through the roof.

"That’s because you won’t sit still and try to make yourself comfortable. Besides, this way you won’t bump into anything."

"Who’s to say we would go over bumps again? I am fine," she tried to struggle off but he held her still.

How was he holding her so easily? She could tell there was no force where his arm was wrapped around her stomach but she couldn’t tear out of his grip. Just how strong was he?

"This is the Nolands, the roads are nothing but bumpy. Sit still."

Mauve blinked. What was wrong with her? Why did the order make her limbs a bit weak? There was less energy in her struggle.

"Or would you prefer I didn’t touch you?" He asked.

"That’s not it," she said.

"Are you sure? You have been avoiding my touch quite obviously."

Mauve sighed loudly, "Fine, if you insist."

"I do," he said, bringing his head closer to the top of her head. He took a deep breath.

Mauve blinked. Was he sniffing her? What was he, a dog? It wasn’t completely unusual but was still a bit weird.

"Whatever," she said and folded her arms.

He adjusted her on his legs so she had no choice but to rest her head on his chest. It was more comfortable to do that than sit upright on his legs.

With no other option, she lay on his chest. Besides, her muscles were already sore from all the riding she had been doing for the past couple of days.

It was easier for someone else to deal with all the constant carriage movements. Mauve closed her eyes and laid her head on his chest.

She was tired but there was no way she could fall asleep. She peeked up at him to see him looking directly at her. She bent her head immediately.

He chuckled, "You haven’t changed."

"I was only away for a little over a month."

"Yeah, too long," he whispered.

Mauve looked up to see him looking out the window. She stared at his familiar features. His jawline line was still as sharp as ever.

He blinked and looked down at her without turning his head from the window. "You’re staring."

"You do that all the time," she replied.

"It’s fine when I do it, it doesn’t seem to give you ideas," he said as his eyes flickered away from her.

Mauve gave him a puzzled look, "What do you mean ideas?" She asked.

The carriage swayed a bit but it didn’t elicit any reaction from Jael. He didn’t even blink.

"Don’t worry about them," he replied and ruffled her hair without looking at her face.

"Stop it," she whispered but there wasn’t much fight in her voice.

However, Jael still pulled his hand away. She wanted to tell him she didn’t mean it but she knew they couldn’t pretend everything was alright.

They weren’t back to normal and she doubted they would ever be able to return to what they were. She couldn’t completely forget what he did and how she felt afterward.

She had cried more times than she could count. It didn’t help that all it took for her to relive the experience was to try and remember.

"Whatever you’re thinking about, stop. I can feel you getting sadder."

"What?" She jerked her head upward. "That’s not possible."

"If you say so," he said without further explanation.

"How long have you known?" She asked.

Jael glanced down at her, there was a tiny furrow in the middle of his brows from where they came together.

"Known what?" He asked.

"You know what I am talking about? Don’t feign ignorance now," she said.

Jael’s frown deepened and he turned his head away from the window. His full gaze was on her. Mauve turned away from him immediately, when he was staring this hard, it was hard to keep looking at him.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have no reason to pretend otherwise."

She forced herself to look up at his face as she looked for signs that he might be lying. He looked serious enough.

However, it could be an act. She was never really good at reading people except when they were angry at her. She could spot that from a mile away.

She took a deep breath, she couldn’t believe she had to say this directly. She looked away from him as she gathered her thoughts.

"How long have you known that I am the King’s illegitimate daughter?" She asked.

Mauve didn’t like the way her voice slightly shook at the end of the sentence. She cleared her throat to avoid any mishap the next time she spoke.

"How do you know I know?" He asked.

"You’re avoiding the question."

"Did..." he sighed. "Since Jean left."

"Was that why you wanted me to leave?"

"What? Of course not."

"Are you sure? Though it doesn’t make sense why you want me back all of a sudden. Did you attack the King because of it? Because we lied to you and it would only be proper..."

"Wait, slow down," he yelled out. "What are you talking about?"

She had so many questions. She wanted to at least wait until they got to the castle but the closer they stayed in this enclosed space, the less she could take it.

Maybe it was because her entire thoughts were filled with nothing but him. It didn’t help that she had to spend the entirety of the ride on his legs. Surely, this can’t be comfortable but that wasn’t the point.

"How do you know?" He asked as she kept quiet. "Did Louis tell you?"

"Is that important?" She asked.

"No, it’s not," he sighed and raised his hand to his hair but quickly brought it down. "I suppose you found out I attacked your father and..."

"Did you feel cheated? Was that why you asked for more blood and attacked the servants?"

"Wait, a minute? What? I never asked for more blood."

Mauve blinked, raising her head to look at him. "You didn’t? Then why did you attack the castle? Because you needed a reason to attack."

"I only did that to scare Evan to release the blood of the month," he said. "He wouldn’t give it, something about wanting our help with the forthcoming war. I suppose that was a way to get us to agree to it. I don’t care about his plans but I wasn’t very pleased with his methods."

"You didn’t ask for more blood?"

"What? Why would I? We have enough."

"What about the fact that you all have been actively hunting Palers? Surely, you need more blood."

"No, we don’t. The arrangement we have currently is fine. However, I wasn’t going to sit back and watch Evan do as he likes."

"It’s not because you found out about me?" She asked, looking at him with big brown eyes.

"What? No."

"Then why did you ask me to leave?"

Jael sighed loudly and this time around gave up trying to hold back from running his hands through his hair.

A few of the hair came undone and he looked down at her. "I didn’t think you would pick your father over me?" He said and looked away from her. Mauve thought he looked a bit embarrassed.

"I don’t understand what you mean."

Jael sighed again, "I didn’t want you to leave. When I gave you those options, I thought it would make you stay. I never thought you would leave me. I assumed you would stay if there was a chance you would never see me again."

Mauve blinked as she looked at him with disbelief. This was the most unexpected thing ever. How did asking her to leave mean he wanted her to stay?