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1050 Words
**Jasnah's POV**
We rode home in silence. I hated it because it made me nervous, and gave me time to think of what was waiting for me once we arrived.
The wedding consummation. I had never touched a man before, father made sure of that, and now I would.... He obviously won't spare me.
"Your Highness?"
"Yes!" His voice was clipped and low, carrying the edge of someone who didn’t like to be interrupted.
I swallowed, my hands tightening on the folds of my gown. “I... I wanted to ask what will happen tonight.”
I shouldn't have asked. Mother had told me to be careful and not to make my husband angry, but I didn't care, I needed to know what was waiting for me once we reached home.
He turned his gaze to me and narrowed his eyes. Did he get angry?
“What do you think will happen, little Sun?” His mouth curved, but it wasn’t a smile. It was a taunt.
Heat rushed to my face. “I... I don’t know.”
“You do.” He leaned closer, so close that I could feel the unnatural coolness of his breath against my cheek. “That’s why your pulse races every time I look at you.”
I flinched, pressing back into the seat.
His hand moved suddenly, catching mine before I could recoil. His cold fingers lace with my trembling ones. I gasped.
“You’re trembling,” he observed, tilting his head as though studying a curious specimen. “Do you fear me that much... or is it something else?”
"Your Highness?"
"You may call me Kael when we are alone." He said, leaving my hand.
Kael. I repeated the name in my head.
After a while, the carriage stopped, and then a guard informed us that we had arrived. Kael stepped out of his carriage and offered me his hand. I took it and he helped me down.
The castle was magnificent, made of ivory walls and three tall, square towers. With paintings of archery and artillery.
As we strode through the cold halls of the castle with Kael still holding my hand two maids appeared in front of us.
"Your Highness," they greeted with a bow. "With your permission we would like to prepare Her highness." They inquired.
Prepare me for what?
At first, Kael didn't let go of my hand, but when the maid gave him a pleading look he released my hand and left without a word.
The maids motioned for me to follow them and led me to a dressing room where they helped me get out of my wedding dress and slip into a beautiful white nightgown with its matching robe, both made of silk.
They took out the pins in my hair and let it fall in waves. After putting some scents onto my skin, they served me tea.
"What's this?" I asked.
"It's a herb tea that will help you relax and decrease the pain, Your Highness. "
"What pain? " I said, but then realized what they were talking about.
They must have seen the horror on my face because I could see pity on theirs. Why did they pity me? Was he going to be rough with me? Well, he didn't seem like the gentle type from the way he gripped my hand earlier. It was as if his hand was made of steel.
"I don't need it, " I said and stood up straight. "Just take me to the chamber".
They hesitated but then followed my orders and led me to our private chamber where they sat me down on the bed. Adjusting my hair and gown they took one last look to see if everything was perfect.
"We will inform His Highness that you are ready," they informed and left.
The worst scenarios appeared in my head and my heart pounded so hard in my chest that it was getting difficult to breathe. My hands started to sweat and my head began to spin. I waited for what seemed like hours but was likely just minutes.
After the long wait, the door finally opened and Kael stepped inside. Closing the door behind him he just stood there for a while, studying me with those odd eyes of his before approaching me slowly.
"Aren't you tired?" he asked standing a few steps away.
"I am, Your Highness. "
"Kael," he corrected.
"Kael." I repeated, in barely a whisper.
"Then we should go to sleep," he said and lay down on the bed next to where I sat. "I am tired too." He whispered.
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**Narrator's POV**
Kael looked at the woman in front of him. She looked so frightened. He wondered if she was scared because of the obvious reason, the consummation, or if she was scared because of the rumors about him.
Either way, he didn’t blame her. Most people feared him, even his own father. He never dared meet his son’s eyes, not since the night he lost the woman he loved. To him, Kael was not a child, but the curse that had stolen her life.”
He had always known he was different. The first time it happened, he made the veins in a guard’s body burn and seized his heartbeat with nothing but a single thought.
That day, he was terrified. He had rushed to his room, curled into a corner, and cried, wishing he could tell someone. But who? His father despised him, and the maids feared him, whispering that he was a vampire's child."
Kael looked at the woman now laying beside him. The woman who was his family now. She was laying so far out on the edge he was afraid she would fall from the bed.
She didn't even move, she was so stiff. Even though he told her to sleep, he could still hear her heart beating wildly inside her chest.
She had surprised him earlier with her bold questions. She amused him. Kael remembered the look on her face when he told her that she knows what will happen at night. She was probably the shy type. I guess I like shy, he thought, smiling to himself. And when she had whispered his name. It was soothing to his ear.
- Writer
