Music Reccomendation: Dominique Charpentier – La Tendresse
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At the words of Calhoun, Madeline blinked her eyes at him. Half-sister? Calhoun had a relative? A sister, thought Madeline to herself as she wrapped her mind over the actions of the vampiress and the vampire. Rewinding what happened, one action after another, she now realised the mistake she had made when it came to Calhoun and Lucy.
All this while, Madeline had thought that Lucy was Calhoun’s first love which was why he was being sweet to her, caring for her. It was the reason why the King was kind towards his blood. Half-blood, corrected Madeline in her mind.
“Who knew, I would be seeing the little green in your eyes today. It was a wonderful sight,” commented Calhoun. He had a smug look on his face. Madeline moved away from him instantly when she noticed how close they were standing.
“What green?” Madeline asked even though she knew what he was speaking about.
“Feigning ignorance,” Calhoun tched, ” I must not have told you and waited to see you fume at your feeling lonely, sweet girl,” he said from where he stood but his eyes raking in her appearance.
“I was not feeling lonely,” Madeline denied right away, her cheeks turning slightly red at the accusation and questioned herself, if that was how he had viewed her actions.
She was quiet, but that was because she was trying to figure out what was going on between them. She had felt bad that Calhoun’s first love had been rejected before there was a chance, with the way he was treating Lucy. But look at the irony, thought Madeline to herself. Madeline was Calhoun’s first love according to the King, and she was stopping him from advancing.
Lucy had still not come out from the powder room as it was only two minutes since she left. Hence, Calhoun took his opportunity to step close to the girl, “Are you sure about that?” he asked her, “The flower I know was wilting because it felt neglected but don’t worry, I was only teasing you.”
Madeline moved towards one of the pillars before her back hit against the wall of the pillar and Calhoun advanced, “Lady Lucy will be here!” she said, but Calhoun didn’t heed to her words, he put both his hands around her, to cage her.
“Lucy won’t mind, but does that mean it is okay if Lucy was not here?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. Calhoun stared into Madeline’s eyes, gauging it on her reactions and they were much better. More than he had expected. He could tell that his presence affected her and she could deny it right now, but she wouldn’t be able to do it for a long time, one or the other day she would submit to his teasing and that day was not too far.
“I never said that,” whispered Madeline, her breath turning shallow because it seemed like the air around her often escaped in Calhoun’s presence.
Calhoun grinned at her, “What did you mean then?” As expected, when Lucy arrived, Calhoun had not let her go.
“Everything alright?” asked Lucy, making her way towards them.
“Hm, something went in Madeline’s eye. I was helping her with it,” stated Calhoun. Madeline was quick to nod her head. How was Lady Lucy, King Calhoun’s half-sister? She was sweet, angel-like with her speech without hurting anyone and smiling but then Calhoun smiled too. Only that Calhoun’s smile was one of the devils and nothing close to an angel.
“Did it go?” asked Lady Lucy, her tone oblivious like she didn’t suspect anything embarrassing taking place outside the corridor of the castle.
Madeline smiled, “I think it’s gone,” she couldn’t stop looking at the Lady and comparing her with the King. She was more than curious to know more about Calhoun now. Madeline had never heard about Calhoun’s sister. Her name had come up in the court only because her husband had made his presence in front of the King.
She remembered the look Lucy’s husband, Samuel Greville had given her the first time they had met. The man hadn’t been polite enough to keep his eyes to himself. Calhoun liked to remind people their places and what belonged to him so that he could behead people later, in the name that the warning had already been given, and the person had failed to follow it.
“That’s good. If it hasn’t, I can take a look,” offered Lady Lucy. How sweet was the vampiress, thought Madeline to herself. She felt slightly embarrassed at the thought that she had assumed wrong things about the lady and the King. Thankfully Calhoun had cleared it, before Madeline would ask something that would not add up the situation.
The three of them spent the noon together in one of the many large rooms when Theodore made his presence known in the room, “My King, the minister from Hancock is here to see you. He said his visit is short.”
Calhoun, who was sitting, stood up and went out by excusing himself. Theodore was still standing in the room, and he bowed at Madeline and then at Lady Lucy. Madeline returned the bow, but she noticed how Lady Lucy didn’t return it. She stared at the man, her eyes hard on Theodore. At first, Madeline thought that the vampiress was thinking something which was why she didn’t react, but Lady Lucy was staring straight into Theodore, and he smiled,
“Good afternoon, milady. How have you been doing?” asked Theodore.
Lady Lucy appeared almost doll-like right now, “I am doing fine. You must be busy, being the King’s left-hand man and advisor can be a lot of work,” came the cold voice that took Madeline by surprise. Was it a taunt in there? Asked Madeline to herself. Lady Lucy’s entire demeanour appeared to change one that was unfriendly. Did she dislike Theodore? More than dislike, it appeared to be of hate.
Theodore didn’t seem offended by the cold tone. As if he was used to it, he offered the lady a polite smile, “Yes, it is. I hope you are doing well back in your mansion. The King worries about you.”
Lady Lucy finally smiled, “I am doing fine.”
Theodore offered another bow and left the room leaving the two girls sitting in there. Madeline didn’t know what to take, with what happened but she didn’t want to assume any more than what she had tried about Lucy Greville.
“I am sorry about that,” came the sweet voice of the vampiress, “Do you want more tea?” asked Lady Lucy.
“Let me get that,” Madeline reached for the kettle to remove the awkward silence where the air had turned cold.
“That is fine,” Lucy swatted Madeline’s hand gently without using too much force. The vampiress’ demeanour changed back to a gentle one compared to the ice princess earlier, “I might be the King’s sister, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know my way around the teapots. Not that you told it to me,” added Lucy with a smile, “People tend to believe that growing up in the castle, I wouldn’t know anything.”
Madeline placed her hands on her lap, listening to Lady Lucy, who was a good company. After many days, she felt that there was someone who held the same frequency as her. Someone who was tolerable and not overbearing or pompous.
“If you are getting married to someone in the castle, there is no need, but if you are marrying out of it, it becomes a necessity,” Lady Lucy picked up the kettle with both her hands and poured the tea into the small teacups, “Not that I need to, we have plenty of servants. Before getting married, I liked to cook.”
“Did they allow it?” asked Madeline. She had seen how Sophie had not bothered to cook until she had taunted and the royals’ cooking was unheard of.
Lady Lucy shook her head, “My mother used to be angry when she found out, not because I was cooking in there, but I often had the habit of spending more time with the servants than with the guests who came to the castle.”
Madeline couldn’t help but smile at Lady Lucy’s words, “That sounds nice.”
“How about yourself, Lady Madeline?” Lady Lucy handed over the saucer with the teacup to Madeline, “How have things been in here in the castle? I hope brother Calhoun is not giving you too much trouble.”
If it were someone else, Madeline would have started her complaints, but the girl in front of her was close to Calhoun, his half-sister. She was also a kind person where she didn’t want to complain unnecessarily, “I have been trying to cope with things here. I miss my family,” replied Madeline.
“I am sorry to hear that. I know the King can sometimes be…overbearing?” asked Lady Lucy not finding the right word, “But he is a good person.”
Madeline didn’t know why it was hard to consider it. It was probably because of how Calhoun behaved with her, being wicked with her while trying to get under her skin. When she didn’t reply to it, Lady Lucy said,
“We all get married to some place, and then we try to adapt to it. It is the story of most of the daughters of our era, don’t you agree?” she took the teacup with her slender hands and took a sip, “We all go through it. It is either that or this. I know its not my place say this, but you aren’t in a bad place. The King is surely difficult, but if he has fallen in love with you, he will love you until the very end.”
Madeline stared at her teacup, looking at the pale light brown liquid that had small fresh flowers that were placed for fragrance before the tea was poured, “I would like to believe that one day,” tearing her eyes away from the teacup, her eyes made its way to look at Lady Lucy who was watching her, “I wish he could let me spend more time with my family. It was too sudden for me to grasp anything, and I didn’t get a chance to do things that I wanted to do.”
Since the day Calhoun had announced about their marriage, Madeline was trying to come to terms of the situation, realizing there was no way out and she would have to go through it. If she had the chance, she would break away free, and Calhoun knew that which was why he was not letting her go.
During the first week in the castle, which was days ago from now, she had noticed the gazes of the maids and the servants even though they didn’t talk to her. It was as if they were questioning her, on why she was refusing the King when she could have everything. But was that all that people thought about? If it was not Calhoun but some other man, who was old and fat, would the servants still look at her like that or in pity?
Though she would have to agree to herself that things were different now compared to how they were before with each other, not to forget the kiss that had taken place.
