The Vampire King Wants Me

11: Unplanned Embrace

Ezra couldn't find himself to say a word to her, but deep down he knew the rule she had so brazenly laid out for him, had been acknowledged by his brain even if doing what she wanted was the thing he’d like to adhere to, but then the voice she used on him left no room for argument that he hated himself for having no word to say to her. They rode deeper into the field, it got to the point that Danika rode so fast that he had to catch up with her and when he did, he was panting softly. 

“Have you ever ridden a horse? You’re so perfect with it.” He was certain the Danika that stood on the saddle next to him knew barely anything about horses, but Queen Dru did. She was among the best horse riders 500 years ago.

She shook her head at him as she pulled her water gear, opened it ready to gulp down some of the water into her mouth when she found that she had drunk everything there. She was thirsty! And they had ridden so far away from the palace that she’d have to die from dehydration before they reached the stable back in the palace. She panted as she turned to look at him, “I know nothing about horses, it feels bizarre how I seem to be so perfect on Zetta.”

He noticed the worried line on her face and the fact that she had brought the water gear and found it empty didn’t miss his eyes. “Are you thirsty?” He asked instead, knowing so well where she got the talent for riding her horses from, he needn’t indulge further for he knew she knew nothing about her past life. 

“Yes, I am.” He was aware of how hard it was for her to admit to him that she was thirsty and certainly needed his help. “Do you have some water with you? I'd have to drink some before I can ride back to the palace.” He looked down where the water gear was supposed to be kept but nothing was there, and he knew it was because he was in a hurry that none of them thought about putting it.

He looked up at her with a solemn look. Even though her thirst could never be compared with his, but he would imagine how it would feel. And as a human, she can easily die from dehydration for she had ridden for over an hour now and they were in the vast forest that had no end. “It’s not here, I wonder what has gotten over them to have them get a horse ready for me without water.”

“You’re a vampire, you could survive for days without drinking water or eating food, but I can't.” His mouth rounded into an O and he nodded his head in agreement to what she had said. 

“Let’s find some water then. I can’t have you dying on me in this forest.” She geared Zetta to the direction she saw him following with Ozul as they watch side by side silently. 

“Especially when I haven't done the job I got married for, right?” She wasn’t looking at him, nor did she make any sign that she was talking to the man beside her. But he knew she was talking to him, even though sardonically and he wasn’t going to let this slide. Especially when she’d had the last words of almost all the conversations they had today. 

“I heard you came in the morning,” he said conversationally. But Eunuch Abel barely had the time to tell him that the Queen had visited his chamber when they rushed to the Throne Hall for the meeting and the same happened when he rushed them to the stable. He had sensed her presence from the door even though it were closed, he knew how much time she had spent by the door and had heard all that she had said to Lisa before they left. 

“Yes, and I certainly heard your conversation with the priest. It was no surprising and somewhat depressing knowing that you’d have to keep on living this way for the rest of your life.” His lips were pressed into a thin line, he hated where this way going. But since she was the first one that brought the topic, he wasn’t going to let it slide. The earlier they discussed it the better. 

“It’s comforting to know that you’d finally heard the purpose for which I've married you. I needed a human bride to tame down my extreme bloodthirsty. There, you have it.” He didn’t know why he would’ve prepared if she didn’t know why he had married her. Was it because now she would look down on him or thought because he was so desperate to have himself healed from his menace she’d do whatever she wanted to do and go scot-free?

She slowly turned and his bloody eyes got directly into hers that Danika had to quickly take her eyes off him. She had always been unnerved by his eyes and she knew for a fact that it would like that for as long as she stayed married to him. “But you have my sister as a human bride, and she would certainly be head over heels for you t even sacrifice her life for you if need be. Why me?” She had asked the question that had been probing her since when she heard their conversation with the priest.

Ezra chuckled and mounted from his horse with a sigh of relief. “There’s a spring over there. I’ll help you down.” He moved toward her and Danika stared at him with a bewildered expression. What’s with the softness and gentleman acts toward her? She wasn’t going to buy that, especially when she knew he’d need her to tame his monstrous self down. 

“I asked you a question, Ezra.” She said, not going to his hands that were outstretched toward her to help her mount from the horse unscathed. 

He looked up directly into her eyes before he spoke with a smirk dancing on the edge of his lips, “Every man enjoys a challenge and I plan to take one on you, Danika.” Danika, she softly replayed the way her name sounded on his lips and no one had ever called her name as perfectly as he did. She shook that thought off her head and focused on the words he had uttered to her. 

“I appear to be a challenge to you, Ezra?” She asked with a tight-lipped smile and he figured she was just going to feed her ego with what he had said and he wanted to smack himself in front of her but restrained. It was already enough that they were regarding each other with their first names that if someone overheard them, it would be a disaster. 

“A challenge so easy to win, Your Highness. Do you perhaps still need to quench your thirst? Because it appears to me that you’re rather more interested in something as frail as the challenge I find you to be, which is in the least of my worries at the moment, or would it ever be.” He intended for his words to hurt, for her to feel so pained that she couldn't hide it from her expression and they did. He watched the way her expression changed and from the way she looked at him Ezra knew for certain if she could, if it was Queen Dru, not Danika seated on the back of her horse while he waited to help her mount from it, she would’ve unsheathed her sword and even if she didn’t kill him, blood would’ve been oozing out of an opening she made on his body. 

But Danika sat while she flared him a heated glare before she tried to mount from the horse on her own but instead, she fell directly into his arm and they bounced and fell to the ground, with her on top of him. Their hearts frantically beat at the same time and Danika was about to abruptly get off him when he pulled her to his body and had his arms possessively around her waist that she had no choice but to either have her fully blossomed chest on his or have her both hands placed on his chest which she didn't have enough balance to, so she was forced to opt for the former. 

“Let go of me, Your Highness. We’re in the middle of a forest and besides, I'm thirsty.” He could feel the way her heart was erratically beating against her ribcage, as though it were going to explode any minute from now. He realized that he was no different and silently prayed that she wouldn't notice it as he did hers. 

“It feels nice laying on the grass with the sun casting its light on us and having you...in my arms, D...” He realized she was a second away from calling her Dru and that would’ve certainly, without doubt, provoked her and they would’ve fought, not that they weren’t in one anywhere- and everything would’ve spoilt the perfect ambience. 

She cut her eyes into a slit and tried to smack his chest but he just appeared so majestic that she couldn’t even dare do that to him. Instead, she tried to wriggle out of his hold but it all proved futile, “A farmer, a hunter or someone could walk in on us, Your Majesty. What a scandal it would make, the King and Queen of Phaya empire, lying in an embrace on nothing but grace and with no guard insight? please...” She let an exasperated sigh and oh, how he loved seeing her disturbed and desperate about something!

“I can easily cut the person’s throat into two before you, that way he or she wouldn’t be alive to get the scandal to town, right?” She knew he was only trying to prolong their embrace and she knew it brought him ultimate joy seeing her as disturbed as she was now. 

“Are you perhaps doing this to prove that I'm an easy challenge, Your Majesty?” She couldn’t bear to ask, because the word ‘easy challenge’ hadn’t left her mind, not even for a second since after he voiced the words out and she was shell bent on proving him and he would have to be on his knees for before she would soften. She knew so long as they stayed as a married couple, consummating their marriage was something inevitable, he was a King that was expected to make an heir sooner or later, and she wouldn’t say no to that, at least. But she won’t be easy, she would be as hard as a rock to be drilled into. 

Before he spoke, something spiked into her mind and she instantly screamed softly. “Ezra, a snake is rushing toward us, we have to stand up from this grass!” And in one swift movement, they both were on their feet as he abruptly began to check for the snake she proclaimed she had seen. He knew it couldn’t harm him, but he was afraid for her, he surprisingly didn't want any harm to touch her for he knew she’d have to be healthy to be able to withstand the kind of harm he intended to inflict on her. 

“Watch out for your legs, Danika! Hop on the horse before I catch the snake,” he said frantically as he moved about, trying to see where the snake was and when he turned, “It could kill you, Danika, hop onto the...” He found out that she was laughing. Not in a mocking way or the way that would make him feel as though he were a fool for probably believing her lies to get away from him, but in an amusing way that for the first time in his entire life, Ezra saw the two perfectly etched dimples on the both of her cheeks as she laughed heartily. 

He sighed and turned with his hands wrapped around his chest as he stared at her. “The minute I lay my hands on you, Your Highness, consider it over for your life.” He wasn’t threatening her, his voice was soft as though he wasn’t the Vampire King that killed at an instant and she, the Queen of Trunnuiven dynasty everyone feared. 

Her laughter echoed through the forest as she happily jogged into the spring, her feet sending the water flying in his direction as she drank from her hand. He watched her silently, not having a word he could utter until she had quenched her thirst and she looked up at him with a mischievous look in her eyes, not the mischief of the Danika he knew, but this mischief looked like that of a naughty child.

“Your Majesty,” she began in a quivering voice, but her eyes still held that laughter, “I think you’d have to catch that snake in here. Look! It’s frightening!” No matter how Ezra wanted to look all bossy and not at all affected by this side he was suddenly seeing of her, he found himself smiling as he walked toward her with determined steps.