Lost in the Castle

~29~

Vlad laughed softly, the sound disappearing in the surrounding noise.

"There are not many of them around usually. The Guards are not like the knights. They are my friends or my friends' sons. Being a Guard is more a position of honour than duty. I only call them when they are really needed. Mostly, it is just Ioan who is present because of Clara and a couple of his closest friends."

"Do you need them now?" I asked, frowning in confusion. "Why?"

"For your protection," he announced simply, and noticing my frown added, "Until we find out more about the fire..."

I rolled my eyes at him. Vlad was exaggerating, of course, but there was no point in arguing with him about this. This was one battle I could not win.

At least one thing was good about their number. They were making such a bustle that no one had noticed us entering. I would hate being in the centre of attention of this amount of people. Vampires, I corrected myself.

"What about the knights? Are the maids off tonight?" I asked, dropping our previous subject as I noticed some knights streaming in and out with trays of food, cups, and bottles.

It reminded me of my first night in this castle, about the dancing guests in this very room and how, later, it was the knights and not the servants who brought the food for me and lighted the fire. That night, I was too distracted to notice properly, but now...

"Well, if the guests are purely vampires, then we don't use the human servants and maids around them, just as a precaution, you see..."

"That is a rule, actually, the Council's rule." A strange male voice spoke from somewhere very close behind me.

I was proud of myself that I didn't jump or even flinch. I was starting to get used to them materialising out of thin air.

"For instance, we wouldn't want too many of our men falling for human girls, following His Highness' example. That's against our rules, too," the man continued as he stepped into my field of vision, looking at me intently. Then he bowed and smiled so broadly that I caught a glimpse of most of his small, white teeth. No fangs. "Or getting... other ideas. In our view, the humans and vampires fare better when they are apart," he explained.

I started to fear for Clara and Ioan at hearing this. If this man was one of those who would decide about their future, then I wasn't sure they would let them get married at all.

Vlad wrapped his arm tighter around my waist before he introduced the man to me, "My lady, this is Lord Petru Rareş, one of the members of the Council."

I noticed a shadow pass behind the short man's eyes, and he frowned slightly, as if he wasn't happy with Vlad's introduction. I didn't particularly like him, but I had to smile when I noticed how fitting his name was. He really was rare-haired. Or maybe Rareş is only a nickname, I thought. That would explain his reaction.
However, the sparseness of the man's hair reminded me, out of all people, of William, my ex-boyfriend. This man even had the same baby blue eyes. If he was a head taller and slightly more muscular...

I grinned at the thought, and Petru The Rare-haired took my grin for a sign of cordiality. He smiled back, exposing his perfect teeth again, kissing my hand.

"You are definitely different from our regular humans, my lady," he said as his gaze pierced through me, scanning me from head to toe. I had to resist the urge to fidget under his unwavering scrutiny. What did he mean? Different how? My manners? My looks? No. I don't like him, I decided.

Suddenly, Petru turned away so fast that his grey cloak flared around him like a fan, revealing its silver lining. He called towards those present in the Great Hall on top of his lungs, "Their Highnesses, Prince Vlad and Princess Samara!"