In Your Eyes

CHAPTER 7 - Shall We Work Together?

Micage quickly returned to his position by her side as Kirrian vanished from her side.

"What was that? You seemed to have enjoyed your dance with the vampire king, Seraphina." Micage said. His voice was calm, but she was a bit annoyed at his hinting.

"He is an intimidating man. Isn’t he your highness?"

"And an exceptionally good-looking one too.” He repeated himself in that tone. Sera let it slip once again, running her hands against her dress.

“He said some fascinating things to me.” Sera responded vaguely. She didn’t mean to say it aloud, but there was no way Micage would have missed it. He looked at her quizzically, almost waiting for a follow-up on her earlier statement. Sera wondered why Micage hadn’t listened in on their conversation. Was it a trick of the vampire king?

“If I change my mind, I might just decide to tell you, your highness.” She said. Micage wanted to argue but decided to drop it. Instead, he sighed again, wondering when she would listen to his request to use his first name.

“It seems you are not too keen on dropping the title, Seraphina.” Micage said, his voice low.

“You know your highness, only my father calls me by my full name, and he only does that when he’s angry at me. You, on the other hand, seem extremely comfortable calling me by it, Micage.”

Cage smiled. For a second, just a brief second, Sera thought her heart had skipped a beat. She sucked on her bottom lip to keep her heart steady. She didn’t want him to hear her out-of-rhythm heartbeat.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting that one, but let’s call it even, Seraphina.”

Sera groaned in her sleep. She had been hearing her name for a few seconds now. The urge to ignore the person and continue sleeping was so strong, she threw one of her pillows in the person’s direction.

“Kyaa! Lady Sera. You must listen to me and get up. His highness has been waiting for you for the past few minutes! You mustn’t keep his highness waiting for you.” Tyla said this while trying to drag Sera’s blanket off her body. Sera was completely naked under her blanket, and Tyla screamed like she was a birthing lamb when she took off the covers.

In a flash, Micage came bursting into the room, his visible left eye expressing his distress towards Tyla’s outburst. Tyla looked at Micage dead in the eye and then back at her mistress, who was comfortably sprawled on the bed, her naked body in full view. Micage took a moment to hold his breath before turning his face swiftly. Tyla screamed again, embarrassed on her mistress’s behalf. Sera got up to look at Tyla, slightly annoyed that she had been screaming up and down. After flipping her hair out of her face, her eyes landed first on Cage, then on Tyla, and back on Cage again, before burying her head back in her pillows again. Tyla bounced on her heels and gently pushed Cage out of the room.

“How could you just come in like that, your highness?! My lady was... undressed! I know both of you are soon to be married, but at least wait until your wedding night! I can’t believe you saw the lady naked…. Undressed before your wedding night.”

Cage cleared his throat to prevent his voice from sounding hoarse. He waved his hand slightly, as if signaling Tyla to stop her frantic movement .

“If you hadn’t screamed so loudly, I would have had no need to barge in like that. And thousands of men see naked women all the time. Why are you making a big deal out of it.” Cage asked as soon as he found his composure again.”

Tyla blushed beet red before burying her face in her hands. Cage patted her head lightly and gently pushed her in the direction of Sera’s room.

“Tell her I’m still waiting for her, Tyla. Our wedding is in 3 days. We should at least get some things sorted out; don’t you agree, Tyla.” Cage remarked teasingly.

Tyla, with her obviously dirty mind, blushed and ran into her lady’s room, giving the door an audible thud. Cage smirked and went back to his position, casually waiting for Sera to be done getting ready.

Sera came out some time later. She was dressed casually. Her small white dress lay loosely on her body; small silver sandals adorned her feet. Her wild red hair was let down, after bickering with Tyla that she didn’t want any styling.

“I’m ready.” She said immediately she spotted Cage waiting for her.

“The party must have worn you out, you had me waiting a great deal, Seraphina.”

“I was tired. Who can blame me? I had too much to drink yesterday.”

Cage nodded and let out a hand for her. “Shall we?”

“Where exactly are we going?” She asked suspiciously.

“Nowhere in particular. I just thought that since our wedding is around the corner, there are things you should know about the capital before we wed. Best to prevent you from finding out some things before you get compromised.”

Sera eyed him suspiciously once again. “Compromised?”

Cage led her out of his quarters and into the gardens. “You’ve only had a tour of the palace. Would you like to have a tour of the royal capital? “

“I see no harm in familiarizing myself with where I’ll be stuck for the rest of my long life.” Sera said, somewhat sarcastically.”

“Then. Shall we.”

The two passed the city gates and entered the town. Little kids ran along the road, some, if not most, in their wolf forms. Both stared at the children, running, and playing without a care in the world. A younger boy, who was probably a late bloomer, followed his evolved friends, and fell down. Sera broke into a little laugh before walking to help the boy up.

“You don’t have to run to catch up to them. Wait for them to come to you. Okay?” The boy sniffed his nose and nodded. A few seconds later, two boys still in human form walked up to the three of them. Micage ruffled their heads, and they took the other boy and went away, running and smiling.

“You know, when boys are at the time of their lives when all their friends are shifting, they often tend to feel a little left out and reflected. Because to them, the friends who have shifted are one with their true selves.” Sera said casually, continuing their walk.

“I was also a late bloomer, a very late bloomer.” Cage said.

“Why? I thought members of royalty usually experience theirs much quicker.”

“Call it a psychological delay or so.” Cage said.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“It’s fine. It’s basically an open secret anyway.” The two continued to walk further and further, past the towns to the great expanse of land surrounding the capital. A gentle breeze blew, and the dancing trees gave a picnic worthy shade. Sera sat down under one of the trees along the path.

“Should we work together, Seraphina?”

“To what end, your highness?” Sera teased. Cage leaned his head into the tree trunk. "When my uncle betrayed my father and took over his throne, my mother’s body wasn’t found. I believe my mother is still alive, and my uncle is holding her hostage. Once I decide to take back my kingdom, I need to confirm if my mother is alive.”

“Why would you need my help with that?”

“Cage chuckled and crossed his legs. “When my uncle informed me I would be getting married, I thought it was his way of getting someone to spy on me or finding something to blackmail me with. But I think, to some extent, I’ve realized you aren’t that type of person. I’m just playing along right now till I find a lead on my mother.”

Sera thought back to what Kirrian had told her the day of the introductory party. “What would I get out of this?

”Whatever it is you desire, and if at all you decide to leave after the whole ‘marriage’… If you insist, I will let you go.”