May Death Do Us Part

108 Chapter 108 : She’s married?!

When Ronda left prince Gareth’s chambers she felt drained, was the prince really that blinded by his love for this woman? Was he really planning on proposing to her at the ball? She couldn’t allow it, if Gareth married Melissa that would automatically put her next in line to be queen. The hand maiden shook her head, “I can’t allow that to happen, we can’t have a nosferatu woman as queen that’s preposterous!”

But what could she do? The ball was the very next day, if she was going to put a stop to the proposal she was going to have to think of something quick. Ronda nibbled the inside of her lip as she pondered on her options, maybe she could just tell the queen? No, that would make Gareth hate her, she had promised him that she could be someone he could trust.

“Think about it for a minute princess..”

Ronda halted in her steps and peeked through the small crack of Melissa’s chambers. Inside stood the two nosferatu women who had arrived earlier and they seemed to trying to convince the nosferatu princess to do something.

“I’m not going back to him,” Melissa responded, “I cannot be with a manipulative man like him, not for a second.”

“I understand your reasons princess,” Vivian spoke in hushed tones, “but after weighing the options it might be better to go back to him..”

Ronda pursed her lips and leaned her ear a little closer to the door, who were they talking about? Go back to who? Were they talking about prince Gareth?

“Elric is on a rampage right now and will stop at nothing to take you back, he has already set the wandering woods alight and will be here to wage war before we know it.” Vivian took Melissa’s hand in hers, “little cousin, if that happens the elves will detest you and our people even more for bringing war to their doorstep.”

“I personally want us to head back to the snowlands immediately,” Maria added on, “but at the moment I have to agree with Vivian princess. Pacifying Elric is of at most importance right now, we already have a score to settle with the humans and can’t afford to have wars amongst ourselves.”

.....

Melissa sighed heavily, “I don’t want any animosity between Gareth’s people and my own.”

“And to do that, you’ll have to return to Elric, just for a little while,” Maria comforted her, “it won’t be so bad, after all he is your husband.”

“Give me time to think it over..” Melissa responded in a whisper.

“Of course princess,” Vivian responded, “we plan to leave after the ball. The sooner we surrender you to Elric the better, we can’t let him reach Ervelon.”

Melissa nodded and the two women got to their feet and walked towards the exit. Ronda quickly moved away from the doorway and got behind a large pillar in the hallway. Gods this was priceless! So Melissa was actually married?! And to top it off her husband was on his way to Ervelon to reek havoc?! Ronda almost jumped in excitement, this information couldn’t have reached her at a better time. Once the queen and the prince knew of this, the proposal had no chance of happening and that little nosferatu princess would be thrown out of Ervelon for good.

Of course Ronda wasn’t going to disclose this information herself, she couldn’t risk having prince Gareth thinking she betrayed his trust no, she would instead discretely leak this information and crash all hopes of Gareth and Melissa being together, it was absolutely perfect.

*

Night had fallen on the beautiful kindom of Ervelon and with it brought a unique beauty of its own. Vivian couldn’t help but step out of the castle and wander the enchanting gardens, the serene atmosphere of Ervelon did well in helping her unscramble her thoughts. Other than her actual duties to the princess, she couldn’t stop thinking about Zander. It had become so obvious to her that she had developed feelings for the elf but because of her stupid stunt at the lake she feared she had lost her chance with him.

‘There’s no romance here..’ those were the words Zander had spoken that kept ringing in her head.

“I’m so dumb,” Vivian mumbled to herself. She stopped by a bench underneath a large willow tree that was decorated in tiny crimson red flowers in bloom. “Maybe it’s for the best, we wouldn’t have worked out anyway.”

“Who wouldn’t have worked out?”

Vivian yelped and jumped off the bench. She turned around and saw Zander leaning casually against the willow tree. How long had he been there? The blond elf moved forward and leapt over the bench before sitting on it.

Vivian’s cheeks were warm and pink as she gazed down at the man’s face which was beautifully bathed in starlight. “Why the hell are you standing around in the shadows like a creep?!” Vivian yelled.

“I needed some air,” Zander responded casually, “what are you doing moving around in the gardens in the middle of the night?”

“I... I... ” the dark haired nosferatu woman whipped her head to the side, “I too needed some air.”

Zander pat the space next to him on the bench, “take a sit, we could get some air together.”

Vivian’s blush intensified, she drew in a breath before walking slowly towards the bench and sat down. The bench was not very big so she was sitting really close to the blonde haired elf, so much so that she could smell his manly musk.

“What do you plan on doing?” Zander asked, his head leaned back and his eyes looking up at the stars.

“Huh?”

“With princess Melissa,” Zander asked and looked down at Vivian, and for a moment their eyes met, gods she had such beautiful blue eyes. “You have to get her out of here before Elric arrives, and you’ll have to do it without prince Gareth knowing because he will not let her go without a fight.”

“That’s true,” Vivian responded, “we plan on putting on an act like we are giving the princess up to Elric for the time being, just to stop him from attacking Ervelon.”

“I see, it’s going to break Gareth’s heart,” Zander added on, “there’s no wound more difficult to heal than that of a broken heart.”

Vivian looked away feeling a little guilty, why did it sound like Zander was talking more about himself than Gareth. She opened her mouth to apologize for the incident at the lake when she heard the rustling of the brunches of the willow tree. She looked up and was shocked to see that the branches of the tree were bending toward them on their own. Was this Gareth’s magic? She’d never seen him use it before.

Zander stretched out his hand, plucked one of the crimson flowers and held it in front of Vivian’s face. “I know you have no feelings towards me,” he spoke with sheepish smile on his face, “but I was wondering if you’ll accompany me to the ball tomorrow, after that long journey we need a day off.”

Vivian gazed at the little flower for what seemed like an eternity, did this mean that even after all that had happened this handsome blonde elf still had a thing for her? Was there still hope of them being together.

Still holding the flower with one hand, Zander nervously scratched the back of his head with the other, “and besides, after you leave Ervelon I don’t know when next we’ll meet again. It wouldn’t hurt to make this last moment a memorable one right?”

“I...”

“But if you don’t want to I under-

“I’d love to!” Vivian blurted out much to her embarrassment. She didn’t mean to shout it out like that, but at the same time she didn’t want to lose the chance to make amends. “I mean.. it’s not like I have anything better to do.”

Zander’s lit up when he looked at Vivian’s face, was she blushing?

“You know, balls in Ervelon are pretty top notch,” Zander explained, “not just anyone can attend them, especially this one that involves welcoming the crowned prince. It will be restricted to highest nobility and invited guests.”

“Oh, sounds exclusive,” Vivian responded, so the elves were as snobby as they looked. Suddenly a thought crossed Vivian’s mind and she turned to look at Zander who was smiling warmly at her. “Are you of high nobility Zander?”

The man leaned back on the bench and cleared his throat, “no not really,” he spoke sheepishly, “nothing big just.. well.. my father may or may not have been the king’s younger brother.”

Vivian’s jaw fell to the ground, “so you and prince Gareth are cousins?! Does he know that?!”

“It’s not a big deal,” Zander responded with a sheepish grin, “and I’m sure Gareth will be made aware of all his relations at the ball. But enough about my stature, I’d like to know what you’re going to wear as my guest Vivian.”

Oh that’s right she had to dress all poffy for the ball, and she didn’t even carry any clothes except slacks, shirts and cloaks. “I don’t know..”

“You should come with me to me house tomorrow, it’s not far from here,” Zander spoke. There was a hint of excitement in his voice, “I’m sure my sisters have something that you can slip on for the ball.”

“Your house?! Your sisters?!” Vivian looked at the man wide eyed. He wanted to take her to meet his family? But she was a nosferatu, they would never accept her into their home. “Zander I appreciate the sentiment but I’m not sure-”

“My sisters would love to meet you,” Zander spoke with a smile that melted her heart. “They’ve been pestering me about bringing a lady so I was hoping you could help me out with pacifying them?”