The Vampire King's Possession
Chapter 732. Cancel

Chapter 732: 732. Cancel

"What happened between you and Mill?" Mauve blurted, hoping to catch Louis off guard. At first, she had thought to ask the question while both of them were in the room but decided against it as she didn’t want to stress Mill any further.

Without blinking, he asked, "What are you talking about?"

Mauve looked confused, wondering if she had misinterpreted. "Both of you seem awkward. I’m sure something happened," she smirked.

"You’ve had too much time on your hands lately, Mauve. You’re seeing things."

Mauve frowned. She had simply been teasing, but Louis sounded very serious, and it was clear he wanted her to drop the question. "Yeah," she replied halfheartedly.

She expected Louis to make a joke about the situation, but he simply turned his head away from her. Mauve ground her teeth; now the situation between them was awkward. Why couldn’t she just keep her big mouth shut? But it couldn’t be so wrong to be curious. Mill was usually self-conscious around Louis, and now she seemed even more so.

The silence dragged on until Mill returned, and Mauve tried to console herself with her drink while staring from one person to the other. Mill stood to the side, barely lifting her head, while Louis sat with his arms folded. After a while, when her drink was done, Mauve had enough and slowly stood to leave.

"Are you leaving?" Louis asked.

Mauve glowered at him before slowly nodding. "I’d rather go knit than—" she paused, looked at Mill, and then back to Louis. "Anyway, I have a lot of work to do."

"Okay," Louis replied. "I will still be here."

"Mill, would you come with me?" she asked.

"Of course, my lady," Mill said and slowly trotted after her, but not before shooting a glance in Louis’s direction.

They walked to Mauve’s bedroom in silence, and Mill helped her set up. "Thank you," Mauve said as she stretched out a hand to accept the yarn Mill was handing her. "Something happened between you and Louis, right? You’ve been so self-conscious around him today."

There was a little pause, but Mauve didn’t miss it. Just before the yarn would fall into her open palm, Mill held back slightly before letting go. "No," she stated, and when she saw Mauve wasn’t buying it, she sighed. "It’s my fault, really. Don’t think much about it."

Mauve frowned. "Are you sure? If Louis has been mean to you, let me know so I can scold him accordingly. The ass! Telling me I was seeing things."

"No, no, I just can’t help it. Lord Louis, like the Primus, is one of the people I am very grateful to. He didn’t do anything wrong."

Mauve didn’t look convinced. "I’ve seen you around Louis before; it was nothing like this," Mauve insisted.

"I was just caught off guard by the Primus’s order. I promise there is nothing wrong." There was no way Mill could tell Mauve about the kiss. Like Louis, she wanted to forget it.

Mauve nodded. She had asked both parties, and they both said there was nothing wrong. She couldn’t do anything about that now. All she could do was concentrate on her work.

"Is there a reason the Primus wanted me to keep you company?" Mill asked.

"I have no idea, Mill. He just suddenly came up with that. Besides, you don’t have to stay with me; I know you’re busy."

"It’s fine. I have less work now that the lords have all left. I heard Lady Sabrina left after the first meal."

"Yes, she did."

"I thought she’d stay for longer," Mill said.

Mauve shrugged, not really knowing what to say to that. She had enjoyed Sabrina’s company, but it was pretty clear she only came to check the pregnancy. As soon as she got the information, she didn’t have any reason to stay longer.

Mauve was more concerned about Jael’s worry than the fact that Sabrina left. She did ask Sabrina not to fuel the rumors, but a part of her couldn’t help but worry that things would get even messier.

When Jael came to pick her up from her bedroom, Mauve didn’t miss the suspicious look on his face. "What happened?" he asked sarcastically. "You’re usually at the library."

Mauve gave him an unimpressed look. "I’m sure Mill had things she needed to do. I didn’t want to make her watch me for too long. Besides," she turned to pick up the mitten she had been working on, "all done."

Jael smiled. "Well done."

"Thank you," she grinned at him and dropped the mitten. She rushed at him and interlocked her hands with his. "I have been working all day, I am famished."

"Is that so? Anything in particular you’d like to eat?"

Mauve simply shrugged. "I’m fine with anything," she mumbled and led him out of her room.

Jael let her pull him away, and the conversations drifted in and out as they made their way to the dining hall. Everyone was already seated, and Jael led Mauve to her seat, which he pulled open for her.

She sat down, and Lady Marceline immediately started speaking to her. Mauve responded accordingly, and a conversation immediately ensued, leaving her to ignore Jael for most of the meal.

By the end of the meal, he was even grumpier and was quick to leave her by herself before heading out of the castle. Mauve sighed. She was the pregnant one, yet he was the one with an attitude. Unfortunately, she couldn’t be angry as she knew just how busy Jael had been for the past couple of days. Aside from the Palers, he still had her to worry about.

She pushed herself off the bed and walked toward the door. She had spent the first half of the night there; there was no way she would do that for the second half.

She was barely four feet from the door when a knock rang out. Mauve couldn’t help the confused look that appeared on her face, so instead of giving the order for them to come in, she just continued to the door and pulled it open.

"Louis," she called, genuinely shocked.

"Can I come in?" he asked, looking over her into the room.

"Yeah, of course. Is something wrong?" she asked as she stepped aside for him to come into the room.

"No," he stated. "Well, it’s not a problem unless you think it is."

Mauve frowned immediately. Louis was annoying like that. She didn’t need anyone to tell her that whatever this was about, she wouldn’t like it one bit.

Mauve shut the door behind him and folded her arms. "I’m listening."

"You’re not even going to offer me a chair?"

"Why would I do that? You just said what you want to tell me will displease me, and you think you’re going to get comfortable to give me some bad news? No way."

"I never said it was bad news, nor did I say it would displease you," he stated.

"Exactly why I think it would. What is it? The fact that you came to my room means it must be serious."

"Yeah," he said and started walking away. When he put some distance between them, he turned and looked her right in the eye. "I think we should stop the magic lessons."

"What?!" Mauve asked angrily. "You’ve said that before. No!" Mauve gasped. "Did you just roll your eyes at me?"

"No, I didn’t. I know you’d be stubborn about this, but listen to me for a minute. You have your child; you need to focus all your attention and energy on the pregnancy. And knowing Jael, he won’t stop at just Mill. Next, he would come to the library himself. I’d very much like to avoid that."

"But it’s not like we have lessons every day, as you complain about conserving my strength."

"Yes, but I do think we should stop, at least until after the birth of the child."

"No," Mauve stated.

"Argh! I just knew you were going to be stubborn about this."

"Yes, because I don’t see why. We just started learning a new spell. I am not going to let you stop halfway because you don’t want to deal with Jael." Mauve wanted to mention Mill, but she had already decided to let this go as Mill told her nothing was wrong. Even if she felt otherwise, she couldn’t meddle in their business.

"It is not my job to deal with him. He is your mate, and even you can’t handle him. That’s not even important because he is not the reason I am canceling this. I am worri—"

"I appreciate the worry," Mauve cut in, "but I assure you, I am fine. There is no need to cancel. I am fine with a few days off, but to completely cancel the lessons? I think you might be overreacting a little, Louis. And it was just one day. Jael will have gotten over this by tomorrow night."