Captured To Become A Vampire Prince's Bride {Book 2}

Captured To Become A Vampire Prince's Bride {Book 2}: Chapter 19

At the top of those stairs, stood none other than Austin himself. He'd grown out his hair from the last time I saw him, it reminded me of how he used to look before all of this happened. It was tucked behind his ears, not a hair out of place. "Like what I did to the place? Now that the castle is mine, I'm free to decorate it to my own preferences. I even had my dungeons custom made to detain Alexander. It's great right?" His face lit up like a child.

I stared up at Austin, not amused. "I didn't come here to talk about your decorating skills, I-"

"I know, I know." He made his way down the stairs slowly, keeping his eyes targeted on me. "Well, our councils are waiting for us."

"I've changed my mind," I started, "I want us to talk in private. Our ears only, and not a single distraction."

Austin paused and smirked at my sudden assertiveness, but nodded his head in agreement. He whispered something to the guys who lead me in and they were quick to take off.

He then turned back to me, a sickly smile on his face which made me nothing but queasy, "follow me."

I glanced back at Leandra and Charlotte who both flashed me small, reassuring smiles. They didn't reassure me much, but it was good knowing that they were here if anything did go wrong.

I walked in step with Austin, my hands knotted together in front of me awkwardly as I tried my hardest to keep my head up. I didn't want him to feel like he had the upper hand in this situation. I wasn't going to be easily swayed or manipulated, probably like he had expected.

"I enjoyed your wedding, you know. You looked beautiful in your dress and Alexander looked... charming. You guys probably thought I was planning something, right? I mean, I could've. You would get a bad name throughout Nox Aterrima and it's neighbouring countries. Alexander would probably never forgive you, and his family," he clicked his tongue, "I'd hate to see how they'd treat you. Why did you invite me anyway?"

I looked up at Austin, to see whether he was amused or confused. He looked truly perplexed; his face was scrunched up slightly, he had a hand on his chin as he looked directly ahead. I figured he was being serious.

"I figured you wouldn't do anything. I made my response to your letter pretty clear," I answered simply. I didn't want to hold too much of a conversation with him, he was good with words, and I didn't want any put in my mouth.

"Because you'd kill me right?" He questioned mockingly.

I side-eyed him and held my tongue. I hated him. This was all like some kind of game to him, he was taking and destroying lives as a pleased and didn't even seem guilty in the slightest. Instead, he seemed amused, nonchalant even. He killed Gemini and had her sent back in a box addressed to me and now wouldn't even bring it up! Instead, he wanted to talk about his decorating skills and the wedding. My wedding to a man who he'd had kidnapped for longer than we'd been married!

I was fuming but made sure my outward appearance appeared calm.

After what seemed forever, we made it to a room at the far end of the castle. It, too, had huge double doors, not quite the size of the entrance's, but equally as intimidating. They were opened by the two boys that let us in the castle who appeared from nowhere. I glanced over at Austin to see why he wasn't going in first, when he flashed me a sly smile and held his arm out, letting me enter first.

I slipped past quickly, muttering my thank you.

Austin sat at one end of the grand wooden table while I sat at the other. The table could fit 10 people on, but it was just us.

Before we could start the discussion of the peace talk, we had to wait for the papers that had all the rules of the previous treaty between Nox and Drecott. We could hopefully try to build something off of that, maybe something that would have more of a benefit for the people of Drecott, so Austin wouldn't feel so cheated, as he claimed.