Vampire Mates

21 - The Dress

Vampire Mates
21: The Dress

“You’re kidding, right?”

Demetri, who stood behind Lily, his arms wrapped around her waist, his chin to her head, was clearly enjoying himself, amused by my current situation. Lily bit her lip as she stared at the roomful of terrified and wide-eyed servants, maids, cooks, and the mattress that was displayed.

“Dem,” Lily thankfully said, leaning her head backwards so that it leaned against Demetri’s chest. “Is there no other room for Rose to sleep in? Or she could sleep in our room; I honestly don’t mind at all.” She offered, giving me a smile. I smiled gratefully back.

But even though Lily didn’t mind if I were to stay in her room for the following nights, Demetri obviously minded, a lot. He pursed his lips. “There are only three rooms left. And the Queen and Kind of Macel, rulers of what you guys call the Atlantis, and their family are coming tomorrow for the ball are coming tonight.”

“Family of how many?” Lily tried again, trying to persuade Demetri to get me – the, ahem, royal companion of the Prince’s soul mate – a real room, and not some flimsy, probably infested mattress.

“Family of 6,” Demetri said. “A suite for the King and Queen, of course; another one is for their 4 kids. And the third room will be used for their personal chefs, maids and hairdresser.” Lily frowned, concentrating deep on how to fix the problem. Behind her, when she wasn’t looking, Demetri shot me a smug smirk and a look that said ‘what you gonna do ‘bout it?’

“You know what, Lil? I’ll just stay here. Maybe learn a thing or two from them,” I bobbed my head over to the servants. They all looked really nervous and very jittery around the His Highness – yes, His Highness is to be capitalised. Screw them, court laws – a reaction of people when they fear someone.

“You sure?” Lily asked, chewing on her bottom lip, a trait she practiced when she get worried. I nodded assuredly. “Alright. We’ll get going now then.”

“Make wise choices,” I called out as the couple began to walk out to of the large area. “Oh, and use protection if necessary.”

The maids began to squirm. Some even winced, as though they were waiting for Demetri to strike me or hit me or something. Yeah, right; as if he dared, in front of Lily. But I was waiting for him to at least give me a glare, a warning look or something. But he didn’t. He wasn’t mature enough.

Nah, he flipped me the bird behind Lily. I snorted.

Classy.

-----

I made my way around the servants’ quarters. They were all working. The chefs had went to prepare dinner, and the servants to set the big-ass table, but the maids stayed in, sitting behind their looms and weaving devices. Some were even hand knitting small parts, or knitting.

The maids each had a bed to sleep on, like me. Nothing else; just a simple single mattress. Each section – I was in Section Zealot, aka Section Z, aka the last letter, aka the last section – had their bathroom, and a jug of water that was refilled every day.

I saw a few girls at the corner of the room, all of them in the maids’ uniform, their hair down in pretty fishtails. They were murmuring to each other, their eyes darting around to see if anyone was paying attention to them. Nobody was. Only I.

I walked stealthily towards them, staying a good 3 feet from them, just about hearing distance. I, being bored, immature and very lonely, began to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“-she is, like, so pretty. Did you see her hair? Flawless.” One of them, a green-eyed one, gushed.

“Who is she?” Another asked. “Demetri was so head over heels for her.”

Lily.

“She’s his mate, Gina.” a brunette rolled her eyes. “I’m so jealous of her. Demetri is, like, the most sought after man in Alfea, and is sexy as hell.”

“Oh my Lumia Goddess, did you see how his muscles bulged under that button-down that I sewn for him for his trip to the human world?” A girl exclaimed. “I would so want to jump him. I wish I could have a man of Danny’s spirit and Demetri’s body. Oh wow.”

“Fanny!” Gina exclaimed. “Danny’s just there!”

“He’s not looking, is he?” Fanny rolled her eyes. “And Danny doesn’t like me at all. Just this morning, he called me ‘bro’ and punched my forearm jokingly. And told me my hair looked like a bird’s nest in front of his friends.”

Even I winced. That was hard.

“Oh, wow,” Gina said, “yikes. Well, at least you’ve got a lover, right, Jules?”

Jules, a pretty blond with the green eyes, blushed. “Well, Kian asked me out on a date to the stables during midnight. We’re sneaking in.”

“Ooh, horseback and breaking the rules. You go, Jules,” Fanny giggled.

“Kian’s a total sweetheart. But it’s just that he has this weird habit of rambling. It’s cute, actually,” Jules muttered.

“Please, James used to mutter in his sleep. It was so annoying,” Gina snorted. “Demetri, however, probably makes you mutter in your sleep. Mutter stuff, like moaning his name, you know.”

“Oh my Lumia Goddess, Gina,” Jules blushed fervently. “A wet dream? Really now?”

“Ahem,” I finally decided to make a noise. They’re heads snapped to me. Fanny paled instantly.

“Miss R-rose, we weren’t… we weren’t referring to Dem- I mean, His Highness. And certainly not Lily… Princess Lily, that is.” She stuttered.