His Other One

15| Nine days And All Kinds Of Hunger

"Scu....who passed this judgement?"

"His royal highness ma'm. He is in charge of your ..."
Taylor hadn't waited to let her finish, she had turned, gathered her skirts and ran in the direction she had come from.

The girls looked scandalized for a moment but quickly gathered their wits, and ran after her.

Taylor barged into the room, adrenaline flying and temper on the rise.

"Anghel, how could you...."
Taylor's hot words dried up in her throat as her eyes widened in shock. Anghel stood in the middle of the room half naked with only a slip of a towel wrapped around his hips.

Her eyes traced his figure involuntarily, his damp hair fell almost to his shoulder, his chest was chiseled and powerfully built. She caught a glimpse of a whitened scar a finger long some inches away from his left nipple. The towel hung low on his hips to show off suggestively, a v line.
He cleared his throat and her head shut up from her line of glorious vision to meet his raised eyebrows.
The only reason she didn't  run
was because she still wanted to grill him....and also because of the group of five girls giggling behind the half opened door.

She closed the door fully and covered her burning face with her hands.
"Am so sorry" came a mortified and muffled apology.

"Its okay. It's not like I mind anyway"
Taylor could actually hear the smug smile in his words.

"You can turn now, although I can't imagine you turning every time I have to undress"

Taylor cautiously turned and breathed better when she saw he was now on jeans and black turtle neck shirt. The casual look was made for him and for the umpteenth time that day, Taylor found herself loosing her train of thought.

"Am sure staring at me wasn't the reason you barged in"

Taylor gave him the stink eye, he was enjoying her embarrassment a little too much.

"Why did you take Olivia away and drop a couple of strangers at my service"

"Olivia was a stranger" he pointed out nonchalantly.  He walked to the adjoining  door that led to a parlor of some kind.  It looked like a standard setting off of a Victorian era novel.

She followed him
"You knew how much I liked her, yet you demoted her to dish washing?!"

He was browsing through a table sized bookshelf full of what looked like encyclopedias.

"Serving in Adelean castle  is an honorable work most Ardeleanian vampires would kill for....literally. And scullery duty is no less"

"Anghel! She is like a sister to me. Since I arrived here, she has been a wonderful companion, someone I could trust and now you want to take her away, why?!" She wasn't giving up so easy.

Anghel dropped the book he was holding in a huff and turned to look at her,
"I don't trust her, ok? Until I dont find a reason not to, she will continue as a scullery maid"

"But..but she didn't do anything to you!" Taylor stammered indignantly

"Exactly. But it's what she can do to you. It's a dangerous world out here, especially in this castle. It's my duty to protect you and keep you away from danger, whatever or whoever it might be"

"Why do you hate Olivia?  What did she ever do to you. I want her as my hand maiden, only her or no one else" Taylor folded her arms, ready to argue it down till  her last strength.

"I do not hate that girl. Don't you get it? Vampire servants aren't supposed to be too close to their masters. Dangerous people could use her to get to you, and then automatically to me also"