Belle was out of breath as he slowly let her slide down his solid body in such a slow motion where she felt every inch of him graze against her. She was montarily stunned to feel sothing below his abdon prodding against her stomach as he let her slide down to her feet. What was that she felt in his trousers that grazed her?
Belle was still wondering about that when she saw his lips pull up into a smile, and then he whispered, "It’s over, little bunny." He then leaned down and pressed his warm lips against her forehead. It lingered there more than it should have, and then slowly, he pulled away from her.
"You can mingle and make acquaintances. I will see you again in a while." He turned and walked in the opposite direction, and she blatantly realized the music had stopped and had slowed down to a much softer tempo.
Belle flushed as she realized he had left her in the spotlight and disappeared into the crowds. Everyone, including the king and queen, were staring at her with an expression that seed sowhat like shock and...was it displeasure? The won in the hall and n pinned her down with a stare that made her swallow hard and utterly uncomfortable.
She had sowhat helped him, but the heartless devil left her to suffer the aftermath of it alone, Belle thought in nervousness. She hated attention.
She decided to move away from the dance floor. Instead of mingling like she should, she made her way to a set of comfortable sofa sets in the shadowed part of the hall and went to sit down and observe everyone.
As much as she knew her father—who had strictly told her to try and mingle and make as many vampire friends as possible to make the mission easier—would be disappointed if he knew she had co to sit and observe, Belle did not make herself care at this mont, as she was still cooling down after the dance that had taken more than a few minutes but then just felt like seconds to her.
She finally caught sight of her husband. He had not left the hall but was talking to so people on the other side—more accurately, so won who were smiling and giggling at what he said to them. She couldn’t see his face, only his broad back, but she could see the three won’s faces clearly.
They were beautiful, and two of them were vampires with light-colored red eyes, while the other was a striking human with blue eyes. Their dresses were revealing, baring their shoulders and displaying a generous expanse of smooth, pale skin. A sharp, hot sensation blood in her chest as one of them reached out and patted his hand. The touch had been brief, but it lingered in her mind longer than it should have, making her fists tighten on her lap.
What could he possibly be saying to them? They didn’t carry the air of refined guests, but rather resembled the kind of won who existed in the shadows of society, the ones known for keeping n entertained. Could they be part of his whore harem?
To think he had needed her help just now, and she had offered it, only for him to leave and et his whores in a public place, leaving her amidst strangers without even introducing her to anyone!
Two-faced devil! She gritted, fighting the urge to remove her shoe and hurl it at his back. And as if sensing her heated angry gaze, he turned to look in her direction, his eyes narrowing down at her before he causally looked away to resu listening to the won.
If they were not in a place where people seed to be looking at her, she would really have followed the urge to hurl her shoe at his back!
Why did she even care if he spoke to his whores? What was happening to her lately? Whenever it involved this husband of hers—this stranger she barely knew—it stirred sothing in her, sothing she couldn’t quite control. She hated how much it affected her. It was utterly ridiculous to feel this way for soone who should’ve ant nothing to her.
Belle watched as he walked from there with the human woman following behind him. They disappeared behind a corner, and she was almost tempted to follow them to see where they were going when she heard the sound of clicking shoes approaching her. She looked in the direction to see the last person she had wanted to see.
Lady Cordelia.
For soone whose family had been sward with debts, she did not seem to look the part. She wore a gold-colored gown and a pearl necklace, and her smooth black hair was styled in a way that revealed her smooth long neck. She was smiling as she walked toward Belle.
"Good evening to you, Lady Dagon. What a pleasant surprise to see that you made it to the banquet," ca her words that held hidden aning. She had not thought the human would live until now after the incident with the plants that day. Though her family was going down in debt, Cordelia refused to adjust to the life of not having everything she wanted and hiding in sha. She was never a coward, and she wasn’t about to beco one.
Her family was going down in debt, but she could easily co out of it by marrying soone wealthy.
"Good evening to you too, Lady Cordelia," Belle replied with a half-smile. She did not want anything to do with this woman, but then she couldn’t simply choose to ignore her.
"May I join you?" Cordelia asked, but without even waiting for Belle to reply, she made her way to sit down beside her on the sofa and then snapped her fingers to call one of the servants moving around with trays of drinks.
"Why are you sitting alone instead of mingling with the guests?" Cordelia questioned conversationally as she took a blood wine from the tray and then passed Belle the lemon juice glass. Belle took it but did not bring it to her mouth to drink, as she did not trust the vampiress or any vampire. Knowing the abilities they possessed, she was wary of them, and among all, her husband was the only vampire who she felt safe around, no matter how twisted the man was.
"I find it tiring to mingle. I’d rather sit and observe the activities going on. What about you? I heard what happened to your family—my greatest apologies for your loss," Belle conversed, aning the words sincerely. Even though she did not like the other woman, her family had done nothing to deserve such a fall from what they were used to.
However, instead of accepting the offered sympathy, Cordelia took offense that a re human—who had, just a few days ago, been beneath her in wealth and status, now dolled up in expensive things—would dare feel pity for her. She didn’t want anyone’s pity, especially when it was coming from soone who had stolen the attention of the man she wanted.
Her smile tightened as she replied,
"What happened to my family doesn’t an it’s the end for us. We still have powerful connections, influential relatives. Our position may have shifted, but it hasn’t disappeared. People like us don’t just fall—we rise again, always." She sipped her blood wine and swallowed as she eyed everything the stupid human wore.
The necklace around her neck had been one Cordelia had noticed in the jewelery shop when she went to shop for her attire for this banquet and was told there was only one of its kind, but the price had gone way beyond what she could afford now. But she had wanted it desperately, and when she sold a few of her things and went back to get it, she had been told it had been bought by the Duke of the South, Lord Dagon.
Now, seeing it around the human’s neck made her want to reach out and wrap it around her fragile human neck and choke her to her death. When she died and Rohan finally forgot about her, he would rember how much he had once found amusent in her before the human. But then she fought back that urge—for now. She would kill the human, but it wasn’t now, where everyone was watching them.
Belle decided not to say anything again, as it seed the pride on the vampiress was too huge for her to accept that a debt could cause one to lose everything in this day and age.
"Are you looking for soone, Lady Dagon?" ca Cordelia’s voice as she noticed Belle looking around the hall.
Of course, she was looking for her husband, who had disappeared with one of the won, as she couldn’t help but be bothered that they had not shown back into the hall. However, she did not tell the vampiress that in fear that she might sohow add salt to her wound by telling her what her husband had gone to do with another woman while his wife sat alone in the hall.
"I was wondering who among the guests are the royals," she said, not completely a lie, as she had not seen the prince and princess Farrah had told her she would see at the banquet, and Rohan had not bothered to make the introduction.
Cordelia chuckled softly, "They do not like to mingle that much with humans or anything that has to do with their cousin, Rohan. But I will show you. Look there, the young lady in red and brown hair standing with a group of four won is our Princess Zora. And the prince is the man with long black hair with two blonde won—he is Sebastian. The other siblings are not here. It seems they do not want to make acquaintance with a human." She giggled as if she had said sothing funny.
Belle did not take offense to her giggling. What really caught her attention was how none of the royal vampires had anything similar to her husband. Just like he did not look like his parents, he did not look like any of his relatives.
None of them had black eyes and blue hair—it seed Rohan had gotten different genes that set him apart from his entire family. One would almost think he was not related to these people.
Belle was still looking around the hall while sharing a few words with the vampiress beside her when her eyes fell on soone, and her breath and heart seed to still. What was he doing here? How did he get here?! Those thoughts went through her head as her eyes fell on the blue eyes of the man she loved—no, loves. Jamie!
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