“They are indeed handsome and gorgeous to look at,” agreed Lucy, “But it was Mr. Howard who came near me first. He seems like a curious fellow, and I think he’s warm.”
When Lucy heard Calhoun chuckle, she looked at him, confused, “Wolves are warmblooded, but they are quite cold when it comes to killing people. Very loyal, you should get one too.”
“I don’t think mama and papa would agree to it. Do you think I can come to play with them?” she asked.
“Sure,” replied Calhoun, and before Lucy could get up, the brown wolf got closer to Lucy, sniffing her and her hair that she had let down. When it pushed its muzzle against her arm, Lucy was startled to feel its cold nose. “Looks like he’s already warming up to you.” Calhoun’s eyes shifted to look behind Lucy, and he said, “I think you should go back now.”
“I should?” asked Lucy in a questionable tone.
At the same time, Lucy heard her mother’s voice, “LUCY! Get back here right this instance!”
“I guess I should. Thank you for bringing them here. I will see you around,” Lucy offered Calhoun a smile, and she quickly walked to where her mother stood next to her governess with wide eyes.
Ms. Lewis had been searching for Lucy to continue with their lessons, and she had found the princess sitting around the wolves. Too scared to approach, she had quickly gone to Lady Samara to inform about it.
“What do you think you are doing, Lucy?!” her mother held a bewildered look on her face.
“I? I was with brother Calhoun and meeting his wolves. They are so dazzling. I cannot wait-“
“Enough!” Lady Samara looked disappointed at Lucy, “How many times do I need to tell you that he is not your brother and not related to our family! And what do you think you are doing with those feral creatures? Do you wish to die?! Have you forgotten everything I have taught you until now?”
Lady Samara’s voice had turned loud, and the servants who were working around stopped their work to look at the princess and her mother.
“But mother, I didn’t do anything wrong,” Lucy’s words were enough to irritate Lady Samara because her husband was busy focusing his attention on his ‘new son’ instead of his daughter’s learnings and her marriage.
Lady Samara caught hold of Lucy’s arm in a tight grip, making the princess wince, and dragged the young vampiress into the castle towards Lucy’s room.
“Mother, father has accepted him as his son, and he will be the King one day,” Lucy tried to speak on the way, which only added more fuel into Lady Samara’s already agitated state.
Lady Samara pushed Lucy into her room and locked the room from outside.
“Mother!” Lucy quickly went to the door, banging on it, but her mother didn’t open it.
“It is time for you to reflect on what you do and what you speak. You are not only shaming yourself but even me,” said her mother frustrated on the other side of the door. “It is my fault for not being strict enough. Do you even know how humiliating it is for me that you aren’t a son, and now I am now forced to welcome a whore’s son into the castle!. Until and unless you don’t remove the thought from your head, you will be locked here in your room.”
“Mother, please!” Lucy banged the wooden door, but no one opened it for her. She heard her mother’s retrieving footsteps, and her forehead touched the door.
She didn’t understand why her mother was being like this when her father had already accepted Calhoun into the castle and announced him as the next heir.
“Mother,” Lucy whispered, but there was no one to listen to her words, and her hands that were on the surface of the door slid down.
Hours passed, and nobody opened the door for her.
Lucy could only tell that her mother had decided to punish her by making sure the servants wouldn’t open the door for her, nor would she be allowed food. It wasn’t the first time things like this happening, and as the thought sunk in her mind, Lucy clutched onto the pillow while she laid on the bed.
She didn’t know what time it was, but when something creaked on her patio, it woke her. Getting up from the bed, Lucy padded her feet on the cold floor that was as cold as the castle people’s feelings.
Pushing the doors to the patio open, Lucy gasped when she realized who it was.
“Theodore?!” she whispered on seeing him climb up and when he came near the edge of the patio, she helped him get on her side before he landed on his feet. Theodore had climbed up through the walls before coming to the patio that was attached to her room. “W-what are you doing here??”
He brought his hand forward that had a flask, “I thought you would be hungry, and you could use some blood for the night.”
Lucy frowned, looking at him. She turned away from him and said, “I cannot. I am not supposed to eat until my mother says so.”
Theodore had not seen her in the dining room, and when Lady Samara had lied about her daughter throwing another tantrum and not wanting to join the dinner. Queen Morganna had ordered her servants to not give Lucy any food until the next dinner for her continued misbehaviour. Though Theodore didn’t have his ears everywhere, he had seen Lady Samara in anger dragging this young princess towards her room.
“Would you stop breathing and living if she asked you to?” questioned Theodore, and her head snapped around to look into his eyes.
“It’s complicated,” whispered Lucy. It wasn’t because her mother had denied her meal and she obeyed it. Lucy was hurt over her mother’s words, for putting her on the receiving end of her mother’s feelings.
“You should leave before the guards notice you standing here,” said Lucy in worry, but Theodore didn’t listen to her.
Instead, he walked towards the wall and he sat down making himself comfortable.
