The Crown's Seduction

Chapter 28: Nikolai’s Red Eyes

"What's wrong?" 

Mineah couldn't help but ask her husband as she saw how Nikolai was staring intently at their clasped hands. Fidgeting, she was about to repeat herself when it suddenly dawned on her that he hated human blood. 

How could she forget? In fact, she recalled that he hated it so much that he would sometimes puke at even the slightest sight and smell of it.

Cautiously, she asked, "Nauseous?" 

Nikolai didn't respond. Instead, he continued just staring at her hand. Taking in his expression, Mineah paled the moment she saw his fangs starting to elongate.

Something was wrong. Why would his fangs appear if he was feeling sick? 

Alarmed, Mineah tried to pull her hand out from him, but to no avail.

"Lai, my hand…" she weakly whimpered. 

Her wrist was starting to hurt. He was grasping onto her so tightly that she felt like her bones were about to crack if he didn't let go of her hand soon.

But just as she was wondering on what to do, a sequence of events happened so quickly that before Mineah even knew what was happening, Dani had already appeared with a man rushing towards her.

"Leave this instant!" the man barked at Dani as he himself moved to break Nikolai's grip on her hand. "Bring Her Majesty to her own quarters now!" 

As soon as Mineah's hand was freed, Dani was quick to wrap the injured hand in a handkerchief before promptly pulling her away from Nikolai. All the while, she still had no idea what was happening.

"What's going on, Dani?" Mineah weakly asked. "How are you here?" 

She didn't get the instant reply she wanted, however. Instead, she could only watch as they left Nikolai behind them. Somehow, she felt bad leaving him like that. She wanted to know what was happening, but she at least understood the importance of her security.

Before long, Mineah found herself in another room with Zaila and Krisha immediately receiving her to start healing her. Zaila chant out a healing spell, making sure that her bleeding wound was quickly closed. 

It was a relief that Zaila could easily heal minor cuts using her magic. After all, the ship was filled with vampires, and it would be more than an inconvenience should they smell her blood.

Mineah inwardly cursed at yet another careless mistake on her part. She had been too consumed in trying to finish with the blood oath that she forgot all the other things that came about such a ritual. 

After a few moments of calm, everyone in the room breathed out a collective sigh. It would seem that the worst had passed, which meant that Mineah could possibly now hear the answers she had for her unsaid questions.

"I'm with Taro. He is His Majesty's Scion and right-hand man," Dani explained. "I think His Majesty called on him earlier because he was practically dragging me along with him saying that you had a cut on your hand and that we must make sure that we covered it immediately."

Currently, they were inside the Queen's quarter which was just next door to Nikolai's room. A Scion was connected through a link to its Turner which meant that they could talk telepathically like how things worked for werewolves with their pack's mindlinks.

"Nikolai is a vegetarian, so why would his fangs appear like that?" she weakly asked as she let Dani lead her to a nearby chair. "His eyes turned red like a hunter's as well… I wonder what happened…" 

"I will go and find out more, milady," Dani hummed. 

Mineah nodded in agreement, prompting her to leave. Then, there was just silence as Krisha and Zaila accompanied her into her quarters.

"Maybe His Majesty likes your blood, milady?" Zaila broke the silence.

She hummed in thought. Could that be the case? Surely, her blood was nothing like any other human. She had special blood flowing through her veins, and no one except her family, the royal Wizard Lurio, their royal healer mage Jayra, and Seer Beirut knew of its properties.

Based on those facts alone, the scent of her blood was probably different enough that it instinctively brought out Nikolai's hunter side. 

"This isn't good… He already got a proper smell of my blood…" she worriedly grumbled "If that was the case… He'll probably have the urge to bite me on the first chance he sees me."

"Maybe it's the opposite, milady," Krisha reassured her. "Let's just wait for Dani and see if she can find out more from Taro." 

Mineah weakly smiled. She knew that Krisha only said those to alleviate the worry that was starting to creep within her.

"Krisha is right, milady. According to Taro, His Majesty hated human blood to the point that all his Scions were turned not because they were bitten by the king, but by simply injecting them with his venom using his pointy fingers," Zaila hummed. "Still, I can't believe how Exordiums are just that privileged among their kind."

"Although he is not an Exordium, His Majesty is still a pureblood from both Exordium parents," Krisha added. "It's no wonder then that he is that great and exceptional even among the other Purebloods!"@@novelbin@@

Mineah couldn't help but nod in agreement. Purebloods were almost extinct as well since female vampires had no ability to conceive. There were still a few fortunate ones who the heavens probably favored as they miraculously conceived and gave birth to Purebloods, however. 

She had read in a book once that there were only around twelve exceptional Purebloods written in history so far, and two of them were Nikolai and his sister Ezme. The two were the only ones that had Exordium blood flow true inside their veins.

Despite all the reassurances, Mineah let out a heavy sigh as she stared out the opened window. After a while, she suddenly stood up and said, "This won't do. I need to check on him personally."

Just as quickly, both Zaila and Krisha burst out in chorus. "But milady!" 

Mineah promptly ignored them as she rushed out the door. She had no open wounds on her now, so it should be safe for her to check on Nikolai. In just a few steps, she was almost at Nikolai's doors when two men suddenly blocked her path.

Mineah's eyes widened as she hissed, "Move!" 

None dared to move, however.

"Are you disobeying your Queen!" she barked out. 

The two men looked at each other as if waiting for the other to move. Before long, they quickly moved to give way. With that, Mineah immediately moved to open the door only for her to freeze as soon as she entered. Her heart slammed hard inside her chest at the scene before her. 

Nikolai was feeding on a woman's neck, and that woman was that viper Rosela. Nikolai firmly held onto her neck from behind as his fangs sunk deep into the woman's bare skin.

"Lai…" she weakly whispered. 

She felt sick to her stomach, especially upon seeing that damnable smirk on Rosela's face while she looked at her. 

Mineah met Nikolai's red eyes, and it was only then that they suddenly turned back to their normal amber hue. Instantly, he pushed Rosela's body away before he promptly vomited out all the blood that he had presumably drunk.

"All of you outside!" Mineah gritted through her teeth. "Get out!"

******

AN: For those who read The Crown's Entrapment, please avoid giving comments that will give spoilers to new readers who haven't check yet the book The Crown's Entrapment which is the story of Princess Xenia and King Darius. BTW, both books are stand-alone so you can read them separately.