William allowed Henry to take the bed and brought pillows and blankets out onto the floor by the fireplace. I watched him from the wall where I always sat on the ground. He had moved the chairs and set up where he was going to sleep. He looked at me before he stood up.
“Come here and sleep.”
“No. Here is fine.”
“Elias, this wasn’t something I was asking you to do.”
“Oh.” I said. Wondering if he was actually going to make a big deal out of this. He had let me sleep here before. But normally, as of late, the chairs by the fireplace were where I slept.
“Elias, If I have to ask again—-”
“I’m coming, relax.”
I took my time making it over there, and this hammered home how much I missed my bed and my bedroom. Laying down, I tried to put the most amount of space between us.
“Do you know what happened to my bed?”
“Nothing. They haven’t started in your room yet. But everything from there is to be brought here. Your bedroom and all its contents, included. The only things that aren’t coming here are the graves and the fucking stones that built the place.”
I nodded in soft light of the fireplace. I hoped he saw it.
“I will look into a room being added on here, for your things, and you. So that you at the very least have a bed to sleep in.” William whispered into the darkness.
Closing my eyes, I laid my head on the pillow farthest away from William. He covered us both with the blanket. I wondered if he was going to ask me to get out from under the blankets. He kept yanking them and rolling as if he was uncomfortable. I panicked when he grabbed me and pulled me closer to him.
“William, release me.” I hissed into the dark, not wanting to accidentally disturb Henry.
“Calm yourself. I was only pulling you back, so you got the proper amount of blanket and I didn’t have to worry that I was pulling it off you.”
“I was fine.” I muttered, closing my eyes again.
He sighed, but also just tucked in for bed. Sleep didn’t take long. I opened my eyes once to look at the fire, before I closed them again.
I felt warm and voices drifted into my ears as I slowly woke up. Not willingly, though. Rolling over, I pulled the blanket over my head and tried to return to sleep. The sound of movement and footsteps getting closer. I growled when I felt someone pick me up.
Cracking a single eye, William looked far too happy to be up. I tried to move from him, but the blanket that was around me limited my movements.
“Put me down.” I hissed.
“I’m taking you to the bedroom. Henry and James are sleeping in a guest house tonight. You can sleep here.” He said, his voice soft and deep.
“Down, put me down.” I groaned, now getting annoyed with him.
“I don’t understand why you’re annoyed with—--”
“Stop that. My emotions are mine. Stay out of them!” I yelled, struggling in his arms now.
William set me down finally by the bedroom door, the blanket wrapped around me. He looked far from pleased now. He crossed his arms and spoke.
“That behaviour is hardly needed.”
Closing the space between him, I showed him my fangs, a soft growl rumbling from my chest. He sighed.
“All that sleep and you’re still miserable.”
“You are—--”
Someone cleared their throat, and I remembered that we, in fact, were not alone. Henry and his lover, James, were here too.
“Sorry.” I muttered before trying to run off into the bedroom. William stopped that effort, though. He held me in place.
“We are going to grab breakfast. You are coming.”
“We hardly ever get breakfast. Let me sleep.” I groaned.
“Not happening. You’re hungry and—--”
“Stop that. I don’t like that. My feelings aren’t private.”
“You think I enjoy knowing when you’re hungry or angry, or lustful?”
“I am not lustful!”
“You were last night when I woke up because I could feel—-”
“Shut your mouth!” I screamed. Launching myself at him.
Henry’s lover quickly yanked me off of William, and Henry helped William up.
“Breakfast, we should do that.” He said, nodding for James and me to go first. Having lost the blanket when I jumped on William, it was absolutely freezing outside. I didn’t miss James looking me over either every few minutes as we walked to the eating hall. He finally spoke, nearly giving me a heart attack.
“Are you well?”
“Mostly. I’m assuming you mean how William keeps me here against my will?”
“Yes, you assumed it correctly. William is not always the gentlest of males, of his kind, but I assure you, not all of them are like that.”
“Henry seems far different, so I understand what you mean. William is the way he is because my father was a monster—--”
“I know what your father did to him, as does Henry. We helped him after he escaped and nursed him back to as normal as we could try to make him. Though that seems, he only took what I said to fuel his own damage and destruction of your people.”
“What’s done is done. They deserved to be put to death for the crimes they committed.”
“Do you deserve to serve a punishment that was not for your own crime?”
“I’m fine with it.”
“You say that only to soothe the guilt you feel.”
“Whatever reason I do, it is mine and only mine to endure.” I said politely, and James understood I wanted to drop the current subject.
Henry and William finally got to the hall, and they hushed their conversation. I didn’t feel like eating, so when we were inside, I sat down beside William and across from James and closed my eyes. It was just barely light outside, and the hall was freezing too. William touched me, but I felt his presence getting closer well before he made contact.
“Are you cold, Elias?”
“I’m fine.”
I opened my eyes when William got up and got me a fur blanket from beside the fireplace, where they were kept. James looked at the other vampires on the other side of the hall by the other fireplace.
“Are those your people?”
“Yes, they are all the ones who are left who were not involved with keeping wolves as pets.” I said, before William dropped the warmed furs into my lap.
“They seem to be doing well here.”
“William treats them well. They are fed, clothed and have warm places to sleep. They are doing very well.” I said.
“I made sure they have all their basic needs looked after. We are moving them around and letting them have cabins of their own with things from their houses. They all are adapting to our lifestyles well. We have a few of them who help with night hunts now.”
I turned to William, shocked by this. This was the first time I had heard about this at all. I had no clue that he was taking some of them out for night hunts. It made me feel a little better about them being in this whole situation with me.
My aunt came in and sat down, getting a warm cup of tea, and looked directly at me, her eyes boring holes in me. She most likely wanted to talk about the events of the night before, when I bit William. Standing up with my blanket, I wandered over to the table where she sat. She poured me tea even after I told her I was fine.
“Did he hurt you last night?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, he was fine after I bit him last night, besides the blood bond—--”
“That will get you into trouble. Your mother had a blood bond with your brother’s father.”
“We can’t have children, I am not concerned with—-”
“Elias, you should be. That bond can easily replace a mate bond a werewolf would normally seek in life, and if you are not prepared to spend a life with that male, then you need to let that bond die out.” My aunt said sternly.
“I can promise you, that man over there thinks of me as the last person he would want to spend a life with.”
“You say that now, but you have the proof that it works and can be a healthy relationship, right by him.”
“Do you know them?”
“I know the vampire, James. He helped me with your brother when we hid him.”
I glanced at him quickly, not wanting to get caught looking at them and looked at her.
“I hope for my brother’s sake that he is well. I hope in time that we might have a relationship.” I hummed.
“You have all the time in the world to get to know him. One of you just needs to make the first move.” My aunt said, softly, looking at my tea that I hadn’t even tried yet.
I picked it up and took a sip, and it reminded me of home and my mother. This was the tea she drank all the time. My aunt smiled softly.
“Reminds you of better times.”
“Yes.”
I finished the tea off before heading back to William and sitting beside him; the furs pulled tightly around me. The blanket smelled like him. That spicy deep scent I was finding I enjoyed.
“Is this yours?”
“Yes, We all have a few here. The weather is often unpredictable here, away from the safety of your stone walls.”
I nodded.
“It’s mostly made of rabbit and wild wolf furs.”
Shock settled in, and I looked at him. He killed the wild wolves. Wasn’t that taboo or something?
“You kill the wild wolves? Why?”
“They will attack us too, even in our wolf form. They are not too kind.” Henry spoke suddenly. He rolled up his sleeve and showed off a nasty set of scars.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware that they would attack you, too.”
“We only kill them if they get too close to our hunting ground, otherwise, we just scare them away constantly.” William spoke.
“What will happen to my horses?”
“You have horses?” James said, almost shocked.
“Yes, I’ve had them for a long while. There are only a few left, since I stopped breeding them and allowed them to live comfortable lives.”
“Your horses are being looked after, at the kingdom until we can build a place for them here, where they can live.” William said, looking more frustrated that I was asking him questions.
“I just wanted to make sure that they are well looked after and comfortable, as they are special to me. They are the only thing aside from my people that truly matter to—--”
He snapped and shattered the cup in his hand. James looked at me with understanding eyes, and William growled.
“You don’t need to look at him like he is one breath away from being beaten to nothing by me. I won’t do to him like his father did to me.”
He picked up the pieces of the cup and set them on the plate he had. I looked at hands when he looked at me. Shame filled me again.
“Everything you had there will come here. There will be some changes, but worry not, your highness, you won’t go without your precious horses, or people or anything else that you’re attached to.”
The tone he spoke in filled me with feelings of sickness. I didn’t like it at all.
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