ANASTASIA

V

The peasants of all lands recognize power and they salute it, whether it's good or evil.

-Andrei Codrescu

{}{}{}

I once dreamed of being served.

While the maids tend to her drink and dessert, Anastasia felt the churning of her stomach grow by the minute. As she held the spoon for the tall ice cream serving, the coldness of the colorful dessert makes her fearful. I never thought I’ll be forced to dine with people who doesn’t even see me as a person. Digging in, she gulped and ignored the stares of the royal men.

Gavin, with a strong liquor in his hand, is observing her with his golden eyes looking like an oracle’s ball of truth. She’s simply trying to abide by his highness to simply let the servants off the hook. While she is trying to endure it in silence, he observed how her hand is unstable in holding up her spoon, her lips quiver at the taste of iced tea, and how she lifts her hand with napkin to wipe her eyes twice.

“Capri is a country of the sun, so the food is usually tasteless, dry, or unnecessarily too hot.” Carelessly insulting a nation he just signed a peace contract with, he poured himself another glass of wine without tearing off his gaze from his captive. “Isn’t the food of a country of the snow more befitting for you?”

That question caught her off guard, causing her to stop midway of eating her dessert. “Your lips.” At the mention of it, she instinctively lowered her head down and touched her dry, pale, lips.

“They were cracking from extreme heat, yet in here, it regained enough color and it’s less painful on your end, isn’t it?” the more he questioned her, the more she felt like a prey being examined bare naked. How did he know? She never spoke about how the sun makes her weaker than she already is, but with how he noticed it, she felt the fear of being an open book in front of someone as vicious as him.

Seeing her reaction, Vesper turned to Gavin who felt his shift of attention of looked back at him with formality. “You noticed it as well, right, prince Gavin?” he asked, making the crown prince glance at her before giving the king a firm nod.

“Her physical body is not cut out for warmth. I’ve examined her blo*d sample and found it oddly cold, just 2 degrees Celsius, unlike what sun-blessed beings who should have a blo*d as hot as the minimum of 63 degrees Celsius.” Gavin reported. “Besides, her bl*od, when infused with mana, is colorless.”

Hearing that, both Vesper and Anastasia turned to face him. “Colorless after mana infusion? Such bl*od exists?” the king voiced out. Bl*od is usually red, but with mana infusion, it will change in color in accordance of the race. For vampires, it will be blue, for werewolves, it will be orange. But colorless? I’ve never heard nor seen one.

While they were in the middle of their discussion, the doors swung open and cold air seeped through as strong winds entered. Knowing the cause of the ruckus, Vesper set up an invisible field to protect the entire table against the strong force seen in the hues of purple.

“You are being rude to the crown prince, Queen Mother.”

At the mention of her name, Anastasia’s surprise and confusion turned into shock. Q-Quen mother? Hurriedly, she copied Gavin who stood up and bowed to welcome her, making her shakily hold the hem of her coat to curtsy respectfully.

Emerging from the beautiful purplish mist, a woman with clothes decorated with enviable gems, hair as white as snow and is braided like a crown, a tiara with rubies as red as her eyes, and her neck tattooed with a necklace-like sequence of snowflakes and a clematis flower at the center. “What’s rude is ignoring your own mother’s letters, King Vesper.”

Walking in like a proud queen she is, her eyes are looking straight at his son who broke the force field to allow her to come closer to them. “I am simply asking a question, yet you chose to pretend I’ve never used ink to adjust to your schedule, my dear king.” with her stern tone, her eyes landed on the woman who quickly bowed down in fear and respect.

“I see that the subject of my unsettling feeling is present. No wonder the air in here is stiffer than I used to feel.” Feeling the hatred coming from a simple statement, Anastasia fought back the urge to step back and run away—with how she was regarded as an intruder, she feels the heart wrenching pressure of being judged by someone who’s probably the most powerful in the entire room.

“You just got kicked out of the Kalisa palace and you’ve already forgotten the etiquette when a foreign royalty is present.” Unfazed with how his mother reacted to their gathering, he looked at Gavin with bored eyes. “Sit down, Crown Prince Gavin. I apologize for my mother’s sake.” He said with an air of nonchalance and unmeaning what he said.

Tsk. Vampires. Without breaking eye contact with the queen who didn’t even bat an eye on him, he gave a firm nod at her before sitting down. With his guard on its peak, he kept his eyes on the Queen Mother whom he last month—back when she was still the reigning Queen.

Left standing, Anastasia feels the coldness slowly stoning her where she stands. Holding her own hands securely to not show sign of shaking, her hammering heart is overwhelming her. “What are you doing? Do I have to guide you into sitting down again, woman?”

Snapped out of the deafening silence on her end, she kept her head down, but slightly shifted to glance through the king whose eyes are focused on her. “Sit down.” As if she’s in a trance, she found her knees giving up and following his order.

Seeing that sight, Queen Mother Elysia Thorne, the royal lady who refused to carry her husband’s last name, and the mightiest woman who led the nation in winning several conquering expeditions and wars even back when she’s still a princess-in-training as the general’s daughter and the prospective crown princess, she felt every fiber of her pride being stepped onto.

“I can pretend I heard the crown prince acknowledge my presence, but I cannot tolerate shamelessness of a woman from unknown origins, hailing from herbivorous country, and sitting on the assigned seat for the crown princess. Not to forget,” the pause she gave was full of hostility.

“My son, the king of this prideful nation, asked to guide her into sitting down, yet the woman did not reject nor shown proper response in such an excessive, honorable, offer. Such thick0skinned and unladylike, am I right?” Hearing that, Anastasia’s eyes quivered as it began to water. Just when she’s about to stand up and beg for forgiveness, a voice saved her from breaking down right there and then.

“Did the east wing of Maharlika Palace possessed by a troublesome soul?” chuckling, Vesper, kept his pride firm and remained still on his seat, eyes focused on Anastasia, and tone severely disrespecting his birthmother. “I did not expect you to be wary of nearly everything, mother. Does aging makes you regress into an uneducated, spoiled, child?”

“Vesper.” Not bearing it anymore, a purple magic circle written in ancient runes appeared above the entire, long table. The reflection of the overwhelming, dense pressure that surrounds them caused for Anastasia’s fear to rise tenfold, her chest tightening in pain.

“Yes, mother?” not backing down, his own mana countered hers, creating a magic circle tainted in a mix of white and red, written in the opposite ancient of hers, and gave off the sensation of being cradled by a comfortable mist, despite the magic circles creating sparks as they floated above them.

Given a better space to breathe, Anastasia felt relief for the first time. Biting her inner cheek, she kept her strength in line to not faint in the middle of a critical situation. Tsk. Vesper leaned back on her seat and drank his wine—and as if on cue, his magic circle doubled and devoured his mother’s unreleased spell.

Blinking, Queen Mother Elysia turned her back against them. “I see that you’ve grown up quite like me.” That woman—she’s the reason, is it not? “I’ll come back.” Saying nothing else, she disappeared just as flashily as she arrived.

When her traces are completely gone, Anastasia finally lost consciousness, causing for Gavin to quickly stand up and support her—but before he could, Vesper already teleported next to her and carried her up.

Seeing that, he went from looking down at her, and back at the king. “Why did you wait?” he asked. “Her breathing was unstable ever since Queen Mother arrived. Her heart beat exceeds of normal, and her complexion is getting paler the more you conversed. If you have the plan to do that, why did you have to wait until she’s on the brink of unconsciousness?”

With a side of his lips slightly curving in a smirk, Vesper looked at him. “Your job is to research and use our resources to succeed. It does not include you questioning me, Crown Prince Gavin. Are you stepping out of your boundaries for 001?”

“I am a researcher who abides by the laws of nature. I don’t tamper with life. As much as I want to regard of her as a simple test subject, she is still a breathing being.” Gavin responded firmly. “If I possess enough abilities to go on par with vampires who are born to have a direct connection with magic and immortality itself, I would tend to the weak in a heartbeat.”

Tsk. Werewolves. “My decisions are excluded in your field. Do not inject your principles in mine as I do not force mine in yours.” Saying that, he then turned his back against him. “I’ll be bringing 001 in the Moon’s guest room. I’ll inform you when she wakes up.”

As he teleported to go to the said room, Gavin was left with questions in his irritated mind.

Meanwhile, upon arriving at the Moon’s guest room, just right beside Vesper’s personal quarters, he gently laid her down and sat on a space beside her. looking at her closely, he examined her—her lips are still pale, she is breathing irregularly through her mouth, her skin is cold, and traces of sweat is trickling down her forehead.

“How odd.” The main reason he prolonged the stay of his mother is to observe what abnormalities might happen, considering that she, 001, is of existence he cannot completely understand. “The spell was not activated yet, but she still felt threatened by it. Her body is of cold bl*oded beings, like us, but she’s far sensitive with mana.”

Was it because she’s malnourished? While in deep thought, he looked from her fatigued face down to her visibly sick entirety. Despite the evidence of shortcomings, the air of unusual sense of belongingness in Mariana is confusing Vesper.

When she moved her head, he moved back in surprise. But upon seeing that she kept sleeping, he leaned in once again. During dinner, she breathes far better and regulated here compared when we’re on Capri, she looks more relieved here too—a sign that her system is more adapt in cold places. If I’m not scaring her, she seems to be at ease. “I purposely ordered a thinner coat for her to test her body.” He murmured.

“Looks like I am right.” Her physical requirements include low temperate places. “Then why the hell is she in Capri?”