Stained By Sin

SEVENTEEN

Nero stared blankly at the walls as his men left the war room one by one. He could feel Thyone’s angry glare and half-expected him to jump at him. However, the younger vampire did not. Instead, he just glared at Nero for a few more minutes before he followed the other vampires outside the room.

Once the room was cleared of his men, Nero took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, as if doing so would also slowly relieve him of the responsibility he was carrying. One day had already passed since they had abducted Elara. Now, his fighters wanted to know what they would do with her. Naturally, all of them were against Nero’s wishes to treat her as a guest, but Nero promised them that he would never leave her side, except for times like this when they needed to discuss their next moves. He assured them that he would act as Elara’s personal guard, ensuring that she would be kept in line.

Of course, they were all well-aware of Elara’s hatred for him. He was the one that killed her brothers, after all. Because of this fact, they were adamant to let Thyone -- being the clan’s best fighter -- to guard Elara instead. That was actually more rational than what he was suggesting, but his mind just couldn’t accept it. Seeing how harshly Thyone treated Elara back in the clearing, even after she was already down, and how he seemed to be interested in her… Nero just couldn’t let Thyone be left alone with her.

Somehow, he managed to convince them, which made Thyone angrier than before. The top fighters agreeing to let Nero guard over someone they had initially assigned to Thyone was like acknowledging that Thyone’s and Nero’s strengths were now at par.

Nero would have to be more careful around him now.

Nero sighed then looked out the window, watching the stars flickered across the sky. As the dark clouds filled Nero’s vision, he remembered what happened between him and Elara this morning. Guilt flooded his heart again as the memories of Elara’s pain filled his mind.

She was a strong woman. It was obvious to him even during their first meeting, where he beheaded Cairo in front of Elara. At that moment, he wasn’t aware that Elara would be there. He repeatedly men the they should keep Elara away from where he and Cairo was, but obviously, they weren’t able to stop her.

Nero never wanted to kill Elara’s brothers, but he had to. He had no ill-feelings towards the previous king, but he was left with no choice. Back then, he only knew that the current royal family had three siblings -- two males and one female. He wasn’t sure of what to expect of the female. If he was being honest with himself, he actually even expected the Crow’s princess to be like his sister, Ava, who was fragile and sensitive. Because of this, he made a promise to himself that he would avoid meeting the Crow princess at all cost. If their paths would meet, he would be left with no choice but to kill her as well, and that was one line he wouldn’t cross. Killing the current king is a revolution, but killing a helpless female would just make him a murderer.

As if killing a freaking child wasn’t enough to be classified as a murderer, Nero scoffed at himself.

Because, yes… he did kill the youngest sibling of the Crow royalties. He didn’t mean to do it, after realizing that the youngest son was still a kid, but it was too late. The sword was already swung, and it had already hit its mark.

That was why when Elara finally showed up in the room, while he was in the middle of killing the eldest sibling, even if he would be tagged as a traitor afterwards for letting a Crow royalty member to escape, he wouldn’t harm her. He had already spilled an innocent blood that night. He refused to spill one more.

Chills ran down Nero’s body as he took a trip down the memory lane. This was one memory he really wanted to bury at the deepest depths of his mind, but at the same time, couldn’t. Forgetting about it would be disrespectful to the vampires he killed.

Thinking about the past made Nero’s heart feel heavy… a bit heavier than usual. Taking a deep breath once more, he got up the chair and began walking towards the door. He should collect himself first before he met up with Elara. If he saw Elara right now with how turbulent his mind was…

As if destiny was punishing him, though, as soon he opened the door, it was Elara’s face that greeted him. She was standing directly across the door, her back leaning against the wall, arms crossed. She was obviously waiting for him. For what, he had no idea.

Elara’s image brought back the memory of her declaring war on him before fleeing this very mansion. That was when he realized that she was nothing like her sister. She wasn’t weak. She wasn’t fragile. She wasn’t sensitive. Instead, she was strong and decisive.

That was why seeing her break down this morning really left an impact on Nero. All the times he saw her, she was always so strong. The only time she saw her became overwhelmed by emotions was when he killed Cairo, which was understandable.  

Guilt once again surged in his heart, and he had to consciously control his expression. Elara and him were in public. His council knew that he was treating Elara kindly because of guilt, but if this reason becomes evident to the other vampires as well, it wouldn’t sit well with them.

“What took you so long?” Elara asked, her voice level and cool.

Nero was surprised at how fast she recovered from the emotional turmoil she had been in just this morning, but he didn’t comment on it. He didn’t want to trigger her anger right after what happened between them.

“Just did some thinking. Why are you here?” he replied.

“I saw your men leaving this room, and one of them approached me and told me to wait for you. You were supposed to be my guard or something,” she said, raising an eyebrow at the last sentence.

“Ah, that. Yes. We had just agreed to it during this meeting.”

“Well, then, hurry up and guard me. I don’t like being followed around by that guy,” she said before walking away.

Curious as to who she was talking about, Nero looked around and saw the Thyone was standing at the far end of the hallway. He was staring at Elara, following her with his eyes as she left the place.

Annoyed, Nero followed Elara.

Probably, he wouldn’t be guarding for Elara in case she decided to escape. At this point, he would be guarding her against Thyone.