An Invitation To Love

Second chapter

In the meantime, Lily shut down her negative thoughts, put on her shoes and went inside again.
Holding back her tears she was going to pretend that she was alright.
Looking around the hall she found Ciel in the middle of a conversation with other royalties. Lily walked towards him. As she came closer, he extended his arm and she put her hand on his palm.
"I was waiting for you" he sounded genuine.
They made eye contact, and he pulled her toward himself while touching her waist.
His pupils were fixed on her; she felt her cheeks going red.
Everybody was looking at her, judging her. Their eyes were literally undressing her soul.
She didn't want to be here, so she avoided eye contact.

"My dear, it took you long" her now stepmother said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
That didn't make Lily feel less uneasy.
"The corset is killing me" Lily leaned towards her and whispered.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw her father and Allora coming.

The music stopped and Lily could hear a throbbing in her ears.

"Congratulations, we wish you a healthy crown prince" the northern king said out calmly.
"Unfortunately, me and my princess have to go back" he tried to put his hand on Allora's shoulder, which she avoided.
This didn't go unnoticed by the royalties and Ciel.
Something was wrong with this family and Ciel really wasn't in the mood to think about it.

"Lily I'm sorry "Allora couldn't sound sadder.
"You could stay for the night" Ciel tried to sound welcoming, but it came out very cold.
He couldn't bring himself to like this man.

"I really don't think it's alright to stay here longer, some of the attendants are my enemies and it's not safe to put us longer in the same room" he was referring to Davian, Ciel knew that. 

"Well if you swear to stop the war, we could even have a drink together" Davian's voice came out mockingly. 
Ciel sighted, Davian loved drama.

Davian's blue eyes got wide open as he looked beside the northern king.

"I wish you a save trip" Ciel brock the tension and led the king and Allora to their carriage.

"Lily my dear we will miss you" her father smiled.
"Don't fucking miss me" she whispered, venom dripping of her words.

Ciel acted like he didn't hear her.
The carriage drove away, and she let her tears fall.
"You can meet them whenever you want, I will not abandon you from your family" he said.
"Where is my room?" quenching her tears, she asked in a cold voice.
She really wasn't mentally prepared to face these people again.
He massaged his temple then looked at the servant near them and ordered "accompany her to the room."
Reaching the door of the room, the guards opened the door and she slowly walked towards the foreign bed.

Later on that night he went to the room seeing his little wife on the bed in a fetal position. He brushed her cheeks with the back of his hand.
She was pretty this must be said. His finger touched her lips, he wondered how she would react if he kissed her. His eyes darkened.

———————
In Davian and Vivian's room

Davian was on the balcony still thinking about the girl next to the northern king. Her brown waist-long hair, her huge eyes that took literally the half of her face with the long lashes, her soft delicious lips.

That was not allowed, he had a wife. Although he didn't love her, they both respected each other. For god's sake he even had a son.

Davian and Vivian never slept with each other. Well technically it happened once...while he was extremally drunk.
However, that doesn't mean he didn't adore Nikolai the apple of his eye. The thought of him brought a smile to his face.
Vivian loved him and she also was the mother of his only child, but he couldn't force the feeling, he couldn't love her.
To be fair he asked her if she wanted a divorce, but she declined. "I just want to stay with you, I don't care if you don't love me, I have enough love for both of us."
He felt bad for thinking about another woman. He was 35 and he isn't a teenage anymore.

———————
"This ungrateful embarrassing child how dare she humiliate me in front of the royalties not once but twice, she's just like her mother" Kair, the northern king was angry.
His face was so red, and one could see the veins on his forehead.
Allora regretted taking the same carriage as him.
"Your majesty, it's not healthy to get angry" she just wanted him to be silent.
She didn't put anything in her mouth for the past two days and the alcohol was hurting her stomach now. Drinking so much was never a good idea.
She hoped Lily was fine. At least she never had to see this so-called father ever again.
But Allora had to, she was promised to the son of the war minister, Ivan.

She didn't like Ivan, he frightened her. Ivan was two years younger than her; he was twenty-one years old. However, he looked much older. He was a tall, muscular guy with long black hair, that he mostly put in a ponytail, sharp blue eyes that pierced her soul, and since he was the son of the favorite minister of her father, he had some big ego. Yes, he was the most egotistic, self-centered person she ever met.

Ivan behaved or more like believed he owned her. He would sleep with countless girls in the palace but would threaten her every time he saw her glancing at, talking to or smiling at a man.
"Mine, you're only fucking mine, do you understand that, or should I engrave that in your fucked up nonexistent brain" the words were hurtful and humiliating enough but the fact that he even was holding a sword to her heart was more.
"As you wish" she said at the time.
She was trembling, nobody was there to help her. She knew he wouldn't kill her and she's going to marry him anyways. Even if she told her father, which by the way she did once, he wouldn't help her. "It's normal, get used to it, he loves you and he's jealous, jealousy can cause a lot of trouble, remember your mother" what a perfect father figure.
"Ivan, my son, go easy on her, that behavior flows in their blood."
She wanted to kill him at that time. How could he be so heartless. Is that even possible?

That night she wished she could fall asleep and never wake up again. God was cruel because the nightmares didn't let her out of their grips, and she woke up the next day feeling even worse.

Her tears shattered remembering that incident.
"Are you fucking crying?" her father was enraged. He sounded more terrifying. She shivered at his voice.
"I..." she couldn't speak. The words stuck in her throat.
"I'm really going to fucking give you a reason to cry now" he grabbed her by the hair.
"Either you stop your fucking tears now or you see what I'm capable of, alright?" he sounded harsh.
Kair let her go and she just turned away.

"Stop the fucking carriage!" he shouted out loud enough for the carriage driver to hear.

"I'm going to take a horse. I really have no desire to be looking at your mother-like face" he looked disgusted.
Allora didn't talk. Yes, he hated Lily because she looked like her mother and has the same eye color, but he never talked to her. On the other hand, there was Allora, she endured every word and every action.
That was not new and to be honest he actually got better, at least he wouldn't invite her and Lily to his room at the middle of the night and look at them weirdly or caress their faces. Sometimes he had a predator look on his face. Allora was terrified of him.