For a moment, Theodore didn’t speak as he tried to decipher why she would need to carry her blanket to his room.
“You don’t have to worry about it,” said Theodore realizing what she meant, “I am sure, you wouldn’t mind sharing it, do you?”
Lucy blinked at his words, her lips immediately closing and the toes of her bare feet curled on the cold floor. “You wouldn’t need it for yourself?” she asked him.
Theodore didn’t know what Samuel had taught Lucy about the concept of marriage, but with the way she asked him, something just didn’t feel right to him. “I would be more than happy to share it with you, unless you aren’t comfortable.”
To his words, Lucy quickly shook her head as if that was not what she meant.
“Then it should be fine,” Theodore offered her a smile, and they started to walk through the corridors.
Reaching Theodore’s room, he pushed the door open for Lucy to step in, and she walked inside it. She noted how the guards were not present in his room, and the corridor was rather empty. Did he not need any protection as he was the King’s Advisor? Questioned Lucy to herself.
“Make yourself comfortable,” she heard Theodore, and the door closed for her to hear a click sound of it.
The room was locked, and they were away from people. Though she was still in the castle, staying with Theodore at this hour of the night and spending it with him, there was something very magical about it. She felt like time had moved backwards, and if she was alone, she would have raised her hands, dancing awkwardly out of happiness.
But instead, she cleared her throat while looking around the room and seeing the fireplace where the woods burned lowly as he wasn’t present in the room for quite a few hours. Lucy didn’t know what to do. She did come here to spend time with him and even sleep in the same bed, but she stood at one place, watching him.
Even in her younger days, Lucy had never spent the night with any other girls in their mansions or castles as her family didn’t approve of it. She had always been kept away from people, living in the bubble of the Hawthrone’s.
Theodore walked to the cupboard, which was next to the fireplace, and he pulled out the log of woods before placing them in the fireplace so that the room would be warm. The time of night brought snow from the sky, dropping the temperature of the surroundings.
Lucy slowly moved towards one side of the bed, and she asked, “Which side do you sleep?”
“I don’t think I have a specific side, I don’t think it matters. Pick whichever side you want,” he gave her the option to choose, and Lucy got on the bed from the right side.
Were they really going to sleep together? Asked Lucy to herself. With the little spark ignited in her, the flame hadn’t reduced and still continued to burn brightly.
Lucy wondered if they would kiss again, but then she shook her head. She didn’t want to come off to be a wanton vampiress, and she bit into her lip.
Theodore had closed the windows to stop the snowflakes from getting inside the room.
When he went to the other side of the room, Lucy couldn’t help but look at him. It wasn’t every day where she was given the opportunity to look at the person she had held dearly in her heart. Theodore’s hand moved to his back before he grasped his shirt and pulled it from his body, standing in front of the cupboard with only his trousers and his bareback facing her.
“I got to hear something today,” said Theodore and Lucy’s gaze broke to look at the back of his head. “When I was still in the streets, I had picked up a different last name, Chauncey, hoping to forget my actual family and the parent who abandoned me. I had forgotten the name that belonged to me and todayVladimir reminded me of the name that I had forgotten.”
It would have annoyed him if it was before, but he had grown out from the hate and pain. He had learned how to deal with it, by hunting and killing people—getting into fights. Remembering his forgotten name didn’t bother him as much as it did in the past.
“What was it?” asked Lucy, who had pulled up her knees close to her, to hug them.
“Hosteler,” replied Theodore.
Thinking about it, Lucy wondered if that was where he had gone after they had arrived at the castle to meet Vladimir in Hell. She tried to connect the dots with the black blood and his visit to Hell, and her eyes subtly widened in realization. He had gone to meet Samuel…
“You don’t have to worry about him anymore,” stated Theodore as he watched the expression on Lucy’s face.
When his hands went to place at the edge of his trousers, Lucy quickly looked away, her cheeks turning redder as she heard the rustle of clothes from where Theodore stood. Sensing him leave the other side of the room, she lifted her gaze to notice he didn’t wear a shirt and his chest was still bare.
“Aren’t you going to feel cold?” asked Lucy, trying to keep her eyes on Theodore, and she wondered if this was what temptation felt like.
“I have the habit of sleeping without the shirt. You don’t mind do you?” he questioned her back, and Lucy shook her head.
“Why would I mind,” she whispered before sliding inside the blanket and pulling it until her nose so that she could still look at him.
On his way, Theodore blew out most of the candles so that the room wouldn’t be completely dark, but enough to let one sleep peacefully, and he then slid into the blanket.
Getting comfortable in the bed, they faced each other, staring at each other, and Lucy lowered her eyes as she wasn’t able to keep up with Theodore’s eyes that looked at her intensely. Not to mention his bare shoulders and chest was enticing her to inch her eyes from his eyes. How strange that it was only a few months ago that she wanted to strangle him, but with the truth out, her feelings were back to before and maybe more profound.
“Do you think it is okay for me to move in closer?” questioned Theodore.
Lucy smiled at his question and replied, “I would like that very much.”
When Theodore moved closer to her, Lucy did the same, the blanket sliding off her face and neck as she laid on the side of her body. She closed her eyes when he caressed her cheek again, a blissful sigh escaping her lips.
“I don’t think I can resist from not touching you,” Theodore confessed his true feelings to her. His finger moved from her cheek to her lips, grazing across the softness to hear her breathing hitch.
Saying this, Theodore moved closer than before, lifting himself, and he placed a hand on Lucy’s delicate shoulder so that she laid on her back. She raised her hands, welcoming him to her as he descended his face, capturing her lips once again.
