These amorous woes flooding the naïve faenix hadn't the chance of building until a new dawn. Word travels fast in a castle filled with insidious vampires and their servant dhampirs.
She should have known better to trust temptation hidden under the guise of a handsome Prince.
When they broke apart from the lust-filled entrapment of their lips, trapped in one another's gaze, they both noticed the once closed door now hanging open. Any prying eye or passer-by would've had a clear view of them.
Who would come for them first... The King or the Queen? A question hastily answered when an armored body appeared in the doorway, summoning the pair to the King's private quarters.
.
.
There's no 'greater evil'. The greatest evil stared her in the face.
He stared with calculating amber eyes, only looking away from her to hold his son under the same stare. Not a word spoken in the minutes spent being unapologetically criticized. For what? For a kiss that meant nothing to the Prince playing games?
The Queen entered the office, shutting it tight so gossip didn't spread further than she could expunge. With her now present, the King deemed it time to squander the remaining moments of peace for this poor girl.
"Recently I felt enlightened." The King mused, drumming his fingers on his grand desk that offered some space between himself and those who sought to ruin his reputation as a merciless ruler. "Separating your punishments is foolish, for you children will only learn that your actions impact something vastly beyond your lust-driven amusements if you suffer together."
Greatest. Evil. "With that in mind, I've decided to turn to an archaic ritual. One that will teach you both a lesson on where you rank in my kingdom... A public mating ritual will take place-"
"No!" Kaanan bellowed with enough force to rattle the stone skeleton of the castle itself. Being that he stood beside Ele, she felt the reverberation of his protest through her own bones. But he didn't stop with the one word, "This is cruel even for you! You think me so low under your reign that I'd even participate? Ele just turned of age and hasn't been afforded the opportunities to find a mate!"
Ele needed to know what this meant, so she tugged his sleeve to pull his attention to her hands and then she signed, 'What is a public mating?'
"It's... It, um..." He struggled to find the words that might explain this old vampiric custom.
The King laughed and his joke fell on a tough crowd, "Yes, tell her son."
Kaanan narrowed his view on Ele, drowning out anyone else that could interrupt. He held her captive in his gaze and he hoped she'd, too, forget the spectators. "Well, at one time, the tradition was a sacred one that demonstrated the true nature of a pairing's love. The public mating is more than a simple wedding ceremony... It extends into the bedchambers of the newly wedded and..."
The second it sunk into the innocent soul of his faenix, she visibly expressed horror.
"Except now," He wet his mouth just to get the words out. "Now my father wants to use it as a punishment. Father, this is-"
"Wrong? Just as wrong as disrespecting my orders to find a mate for the girl and leave her be? You did this! You made this far worse than it needed to be!" A twisted perception of the world made him think like this. Act like this.
Kaanan eventually turned to his mother to put a stop to this madness. She only offered a look of despair and tilted her head away from him, so she no longer felt his disappointment in her. More than anything... He loathed her for turning a blind eye.
What could she do against the commands of a King? He's only her husband and that meant nothing in the grand scheme of royal decree. Queens were crowned so the children they birthed would have a title. Her duties did not extend past that.
Ele's eyes darted between the Prince she trusted and the Queen who knew enough for this to be wrong. She sunk into her shell when she realized neither could help. Neither could put a stop to this insanity. So she had to.
Without raising her hands to give an explanation, she spun sharp and ran from the office. The grandiose doors that she thought might hold her back gave way with ease. Instinctive adrenaline pushed her forward and gave her legs new meaning to run faster... They needed to escape fate. This abrupt defiance went against her ordinary eager-to-please nature.
She didn't get far. And when Kaanan called out her name, desperation coating his tongue, she froze.
Now in the halls, free for anyone to hear, he caught up to her and that desperation turned sour.
"You're acting like a naughty child you cannot afford to be right now! You can't possibly think I want this, right? Please hear me out on this... We can defy him. We can ease your body into it so that you don't have to lose your innocence on that day. I can help you-"
She gawked at his offering. Speechless beyond her ailment.
"I can't beat him. Yesterday proved that. But I can overthrow him someday soon if we follow his plans for now."
.
.
Unconcerned with the adversity he triggered in his son, Jyosith rounded his desk and seated himself with plans of going on throughout his scheduled day.
Wylda lingered in the room, idle in speech until she could be certain their son got out of hearing range. Once satisfied with the time passed, she got to speaking her mind and by then it was roaring.
"We once conceived these plans in unison, one mind! Working together to ensure we both benefited from the outcome of our arrangements! Now look at us... You make a move and it directly impacts my design for our son's future. Why must you-"
"Why? You think yourself grand enough to question me now?" He bellowed, mere inches from her face now. He shot up from his desk the moment her voice ascended, a tone that didn't please him.
He wondered at what point did she start being so willful and combative?
She began appealing to him after the damage became irreversible. "No, my love. I only mean to say that our minds could be strengthened if we returned to the days when we worked as one."
"What do you propose then?"
The question poised hope in the Queen's heart. If he questioned her, then he was willing to hear her out. And once he heard this plan... He'd bite.
"I must start off by giving credit to our lovely niece. Sloane... My dear second cousin's girl. I know the two of us don't speak much of late, but that daughter of hers is quite exquisite. She came of age not long after Kaanan did."
"Get on with it." In truth, he saw where this was headed and he already loved it.
"Sloane is enamored with our son. She's the one who first came forward to me after seeing their entanglement in the kitchen. Heartbroken, cheeks covered in tears... It's love. If Kaanan wasn't so confused by this faenix then he'd see it too. One day he will see what we do for him and appreciate it."
"Mm, you want them wed."
Wylda had him right where she wanted. "Yes, my love. I think the union will ensure the sanctity of your bloodline and take away the guesswork in finding a mate pure of blood for our son."
"It's not rare. Just in recent times more... Uncommon. Certainly none would question it." Jyosith mulled over the pros and cons of such a union they were contemplating. Then he saw this is what his cunning wife intended all along. The grin that appeared on his face could not have been more fake. "Dear, is this the reason for the banquet tomorrow? And the request put in all those weeks ago to have Sloane attend the same schooling as Kaanan? Too many moving parts for this all to be a coincidence..."
Caught. Time to be honest. At least, her version of such with her husband.
"I used to laugh. I used to find joy in love and simple things like chocolate-covered strawberries and kisses on the cheek." Wylda used her feminine charm to her advantage and raked her nails down his chest, hoping he'd get lost in her. "Now I channel my passion into my children. Ensuring their future comes before my present happiness. I would do anything for them."
"Even risk going behind my back?" He dipped his head low, burying it in the warm crevice between her chin and collarbone. He placed a tender kiss on their mating mark and sighed. "Now I see I've ruined it by announcing a public mating. I wish you had told me."
"No, no Jyosith. I think this can work in our favor. Use that as leverage to get him to agree to marrying Sloane. It may take some convincing, but in the end, he'll wish to prevail as the hero."
"Hero." Agitation at such a notion made him scoff. Then he remembered the days when he, too, wished to be the hero. The one to save the day and swoon the ladies. Simpler times. "What have we become that we no longer find joy in our marriage?"
"Normal parents." She stroked his chest to soothe these troubling thoughts.
Even with their recent lacking connection, they remained as one consciousness. For when it came to their children, they both would truly stop at nothing.