Chapter 127

The walls had ears and Zezi had listened through the fours of the training room.

"I think our King should mate with Lady Iriysi, she is a PureBlood and not a pest or a dog."

One of the castle's servants had said.

It was a group of people a good distance away from the training room, but now that Valerick's mark was on her, this very heightened hearing was one of the "perks" that came with it.

"Lady Delice, I prefer." Another had chipped in.

"Or put all your concerns to your business, how about that? I heard you still haven't found your mate yet, that should be enough to occupy your mind, do you not think so?" A voice she knew all too well, snapped.

A slight chuckle and another voice rose to the occasion to continue what they started.

"Don't be like this Gwen, you know how it is."

"No, I do not."

Zezi wondered where Gwen had found all the people shipping her with the King, so far so good, she had been able to confirm that she wasn't widely liked by the vampires.

She didn't care.

"It is best that the King takes a PureBlood as the Queen, he will still be honoring the fate because he will take the wolf as his concubine. Just like his father.

"His Majesty will never---"

"The King is nothing like his father!" Another voice had snapped, beating Gwen to it.

Then the sound of something crashing away distantly followed right after.

A small smile crossed Zezi's lips, her hands curled into fists by her sides, her gaze fixed on the walls as she stayed there, seated on the training room's floor.

The rumour had been flying around that the King might want to take Iriysi as his Queen.

They were spending a lot of time together lately, planning on how to kill more of her kind to make up for their lack of numbers and quality in the Vampire's army.

Zezi had stayed away and all this had happened in three days.

Just three days and there was a whole widespread rumour to deal with.

Many didn't dispute the fact that the King wanted her, his mark on her neck and hers on his, gave them no other choice but to, however, most kept the faith that he would do just like his father.

Take her as a concubine to bear him heirs.

Fulfilling the wishes of the people and the order of fate at the same time.

If she wasn't faced with a greater responsibility at the moment, she would have cared. If she wasn't already determined to kill him, jealousy would have ripped her apart.

The jealousy was still doing a number on her though, but it was something she was too preoccupied to be concerned about.

The bond she shared with Valerick felt like a painful weight these days, the distance and silent battle between them, making it have a stinging effect.

With a sigh, she pulled herself off the floor and went straight to her chambers, the one she shared with the King.

He barely slept in these days, working day and night to battle the dens and prepare the army for any uprising.

That was another rumour that had spread widely, that there was an upcoming uprising.

Zezi took a bath, biting down the hiss that wanted to slip through her lips when the cold water hit the cuts on her skin, the very ones that she had willingly allowed the silver ninja stars in the training to leave behind.

She was out of the bathroom in no time, standing in front of the mirror with a small towel wrapped around her, while she smiled in satisfaction at what she had done to herself.

At this point, she couldn't even feel the pain.

Yesterday, Lady Delice had told her about how some more of her kind were dead and the failure of the continued experiment.

There had been no news from the White Circle except that they were relying on her to start feeding the King the poison, before his army would be ready and the dens would be useless against his reign.

Zezi eased into a gown that was easy to move in, a green ankle-length gown, with free long sleeves.

Her legs carried her up to the King's study.

When she was within a couple of steps of the door, she could faintly hear his firm voice as he called out some numbers in disappointment.

A heaviness settled over her.

This was something she did lately, walking by his office just to hear his voice, she had not heard it the first time she had tried, but the next time she did, she had heard him.

The door wasn't shut, it was slightly open.

Very slightly.

She would just lie to herself that it was a coincidence, even though she knew that he must have sensed her presence the first time she tried and had done that to ease both their struggles in the way he knew how to without overreaching.

She would just lie to herself.

Finding anything good about him at this moment wasn't what she needed.

Besides, he was killing her kind. What difference was he from his father?

"We are making progress already, Your Majesty." That was the Physician. "The process has stated for some, about 70.25% of them are not dead yet, it had been 8 hours. Good news, I believe."

She knocked, stepping in before she was even permitted to enter.

There were a couple of vampires in the study.

The Physician, Laura and Iriysi.

What was she still doing in the Castle? Didn't her Province need her or something?

"Zezi."

She curled her hands into fists by her sides, her breath shaky as she tried to control the feeling that crossed through her veins, ignore the way the bond between them blossomed with happiness that they were both in the same space and the way her heart was now racing just because he has said her name.

She prepared herself to see his face but he gave her no time for that.

His hands grabbed her by either side, his voice laced with anger and worry, "You reek of blood. Training again?"

Sparks erupted across her skin and it was suddenly too much work to stand.

"Yes."

"I think I have to keep that training room out of bounds to you once and for all."

"You will do no such thing." She gritted.

"I will if you keep coming back to me like this." He snapped, seething in rage. "Nicholas, get over here and take a look at this."

"Yes, your Majesty."

From the corner of her eyes, she could see the Physician spring to action, already close to them.

"No!"

"No?"

The Study fell into silence, she could hear the sound of her own breathing, and she felt they could all hear the sound of her heart thundering.

Valerick was acting like there was nothing off between them, it had caught her off guard. She expected a different reaction of his to her presence, but she never expected this.

"I want to talk to you." Her gaze moved from him to the rest of the vampires in the study. "Alone."

A snap of his fingers and in a second, they were gone and the door was shut.

Valerick led her to a chair, mumbling about how much he thought the training room should be on lockdown and how he didn't like that she had blocked her pain from him.

"Take off your dress." He flipped open a box on the desk and her body tensed at his command.

"I just want to talk."

"And I want to take care of you. Take off your dress. You will do the talking while I do that."

"I have already taken care of my cuts." She scoffed, trying to shrug off the effect of his authoritative voice on her.

He didn't say anything afterwards, instead, he pulled her up to her feet, led her to the desk, and bent her over.