Leaving Freya's room Leander felt his jaw tight. Gods, that woman was something else... Watching her in that fragile state did some odd things to his hoary heart.
She gracefully kicked him out the door, but his hearing caught that silent sound of a hard-shelled demeanor cracking—that protection she had painstakingly donned around herself. He wasn't sure what that pain inside him meant, but surely he could at least suspect that he somehow became quite empathetic after all this time.
Maybe it was the mere fact of developing such an odd quality for a vampire that pushed him to support her to this extent. But he was being genuine—he wanted to help her, and he wanted her to see him as a friend in all of this—not an enemy.
Seeing her falling apart made him hate his brother even more. She didn't deserve this. He couldn't tell if anyone did, but when it came to her, she was truly an innocent woman. He already could see how the role of the vampire queen fitted her perfectly. Maybe she wasn't one of his kind, but he had a feeling that her way of seeing things would make a great deal of changes in that society. The only one standing in the way was his brother. The King-fucking-Cassius himself—with all of his greed, pride, and injustice.
He didn't deserve her.
Leander understood her behavior. He already noticed she used to play tough, but on the inside she was as scared as any human would feel at her place. Strangely, he felt lucky to be the person she decided to open up with a part of her doubts, even if just for a brief moment.
He knew she needed some space now. Some insecurity got to him that she wouldn't take his offer of help, but a rational part told him to wait and see.
Fuck, it was the first time he wanted to be in somebody else's good graces this much... What was happening to him?
He had a hint that maybe he should be honest with her from the very beginning. Tell her about the danger and explain his brother's motivations. But seeing her just a moment ago, with those carefully hidden emotions... He didn't feel strong enough. Perhaps it was better for her not knowing... At least for now, until she accepted her fate as the vampire queen. Then, he would tell her everything and maybe even be able to present her with some solutions.
Standing inside his room, he felt tremendously tired thinking about all of this. One glance outside the window told him he should better get some rest.
So he took his shirt off and, with a loud creak, landed on the bed.
⋄⋄⋄
"My Lady, wake up." A soft voice echoed around her, filled with warmth and an odd sense of familiarity. What was that? Was she dreaming? "Freya, wake up."
Hearing her name, she started to stir. One moment of blur, the next she was sitting face to face with her longtime friend and the only trusted maid, Giselle.
What the fuck?
"Giselle?!" She shouted, almost falling from the bed because of the sudden movement.
"Shush, my lady. No need to scream. My butt is already aching like after that good shagging incident, not need to make my ears trouble me as well," she said, smirking wildly.
Freya couldn't believe her eyes. What was her maid doing here? With her? After days of her departure? Did something happen at home? She decided to ignore Giselle's shagging comment though. Freya truly did hope that her pain was strictly horse-riding related.
"Giselle, what are you doing here? How did you find me?" She managed to utter.
Her maid became sullen all of a sudden, giving Freya an angry look.
"What? Not happy to see me? Already friends with these bloodsuckers who took you?" Her fierce tone of reprimand made Freya come to her senses.
"Oh gods, no! Of course, I'm happy to see you, Giselle! I'm just surprised, that's all! Why are you here?" Freya tried to sound less shaken than she actually felt. A futile effort, her maid knew her to the bone. She could always sense when Freya felt troubled.
"Calm down, dear. Nothing had happened at home," Giselle started with the piece of information being the most crucial at the moment.
"What is it then?" Freya frowned at what Giselle responded with a loud snort.
"I'm joining you. Even though I should truly play offended after how you've treated me. I jumped on a horse as soon as I've heard. Had to talk to your father as well for him to give me information where you'd be staying—"
"What the hell are you talking about?!" She yelled, interrupting Giselle in the middle of the sentence. "No way, I'm allowing you!" Freya couldn't hide her bafflement caused by this ridiculous possibility. She didn't care about anybody hearing her right now.
"I don't care! Did you think I would let you go alone through all of this? This is why you avoided me before your departure, asking for other maids and staff to prepare you for travel?" Giselle wasn't hiding her anger anymore, truly and utterly pissed. "I got to know about all of this fiasco from a stable boy. A stable boy, Freya! For god's sake! You even didn't give me a goodbye hug!"
"I knew you would start fussing about it! And look at you, I was right!" Freya huffed.
"Of course, I would fuss about it! I cannot believe you've thought this idea of going alone would look reasonable in my eyes!"
"I don't want you with me! Can't you understand? This is what I must do alone, Giselle." At this point, Freya was truly furious at her maid. As to confirm that, she stood up from the bed and drew close to the woman facing her with eyes showing only pure determination.
"NO. YOU. DON'T," Giselle said through clenched teeth, meeting her gaze. "Don't think for a moment, that after all this time you being treated like shit, I'll leave you alone. You've never turned a blind eye toward others' problems. Now, when you're the person in need, you suddenly want to isolate yourself just like in old times? That's it, Freya. That's the limit. I'm not allowing you to do this by yourself. I've been always there for you, as useless sometimes as I was, but I'm going to be now as well, even if you hate me for it."
Freya's surge of emotions didn't allow her to think calmly. She felt such a fury! Not for the girl herself but for the situation they were in, bringing yet another person into their snares. She knew Giselle was loyal to the bone, she knew she could count on her and that her presence would bring her an immensity of happiness during the times approaching. But one thing was stopping her from allowing the woman to join her and that was her own fear. Fear of losing her, fear of putting her life in danger by mingling with the vampires. Who knew if they were going to play civilized around them? Who knew what the life around them would look like? Certainly not Freya, and probably also not Giselle. That was a big if, and Freya couldn't allow for her friend to test it on herself.
"You're not having my permission. I won't let you sacrifice your life for this cause. One is enough."
"Your permission is not needed." Giselle sent her a firm glance. "Your father, the King, might I remind you, agreed and that's final. I'm joining you and it'd better for you to swallow it quickly, showing that you truly care about our friendship or, help me gods, I'm going to be a very unpleasant maid in the near future." She turned toward the door and by the time Freya could gather her thoughts, she was leaving, saying by her shoulder, "I'm going downstairs. Be back in half an hour. Hope you'll manage to calm down until then."
And she left, leaving Freya without any words to say—truly and utterlyrooted to the spot. She could only guess that taking such a major change in hersituation, a walk around the docks would probably not happen...