Lola and Elena walked hand in hand back to the party. The princess kept looking back at the place where she stood with the perfume guy, she hoped to catch a glimpse of him. They entered the hall and she went over to her grandmother's side, her heart was racing like crazy.
"My dear where were you?" she asked her. " Granny I had gone for a walk at the garden," she replied her searching the crowd for that man. He was about to give her a gift but Lola interrupted them and he didn't give it to her. She wanted her gift and she didn't want to wait for it.
"Dear, it time for you to cut the cake," she said pulling Elena along with her. "It is a tradition in our house to take all the candles and hand them over to your lady royals as a sign of acceptance. Here take them and find your ladies and hand them out," she said handing her five candles.
Elena took the candles and went down to give them to her lady royals. She handed one to Lola and hugged her, she looked for the others and did the same. She went to find Cordelia who at the sight of good-looking men disappeared in the crowd. She found her talking to the son of the head magistrate. She handed her the candle and hugged, as she did someone took hold of her hand and squeezed it. She looked up from Cordelia's shoulder and there was the man her eyes had been searching for. She hugged Cordelia longer while staring at him the whole time.
"That's enough my dear, there are other matters for you to attend to so let her go," her grandmother said taking her by the shoulder away from Cordelia. She took her to the center of the room where a five-tier cake stood. The cake was an antelope blood flavored cake, antelope blood was the princess's favorite blood. She had her eyes on him the whole time and didn't even hear a single word of the speech her grandmother gave on her behalf.
She wanted to go to him and force him to give her the gift, she would force him to give her his perfume as a birthday gift. "Now let's give a round of applause to the princess as she cuts the cake," she heard and turned her attention to her grandmother. She took the knife from her and cut the cake the people sang to her. Her grandmother fed her the first piece and she also fed her granny a piece. She took a plate full of cake and fed her ladies. She wanted to feed him too but Lola took her hand. "Give me that I will give the cake to Cordelia. It is time for you to dance with the Queen," she said and took her to her grandmother.
The song began and they moved to the tune as everyone else watched. She was happy to dance with her grandmother. Her birthday had gone well except for the fiasco that happened in her room which her grandmother is yet to explain. They did their dance routine together and enjoyed the music until it came to an end. The vampires clapped when the dance ended, the princess hugged her grandmother all smiles.
They went and sat down as the guest took the opportunity to enter the dance floor and let loose. "What was that about?" asked Lola from her side.
"What was what about?" she asked confused at what Lola was going on about.
"You and Cordelia, you hugged her longer than normal," she said.
"Are you by any chance jealous that I hugged Cordelia more than I hugged you?" she teased.
"Not at all, it's just that for someone who doesn't like to be touched or to touch other people longer than required it was weird. And Cordelia of all people made it even weirder," she stated.
"It was not strange, I was just in the for a hug and that is all. You need not worry I am fine now," she responded.
"Okay but why do you smell like a dog?" she asked.
"What! What do you mean by why do I smell like a dog?"
"You smell like one of those filthy shapeshifters. At least that is what I can make out from the natural werewolf scent in your dress," she said.
"And what exactly do I smell like?" asked a confused Elena. "A mix of lavender and mint," she said and Elena's jaw dropped. She was attracted to a werewolf's scent and not perfume, that man was not wearing perfume but he naturally smells like that. She was fuming mad at how stupid she was to have thought like that. She couldn't believe that she had danced with a werewolf and even talked to him. She hated dogs and werewolves were just a bunch of wild dogs that could change into human form. She kept her head in her hand and cursed her stupidity of not knowing that he was a werewolf. It didn't matter how good they smell or how handsome they looked, she and werewolves were opposites that would never attract.
Lola's father was a hunter and before Lola was her lady royal she used to hunt with her father and if she says that she smelled like a dog then it was true. She had a nose for such things. She wished for the night to end so that she can retire to bed. But she knew that the night was still long and there was still a lot to do before she goes to bed.
"Are you having fun my dear?" asked her grandmother and she nodded. She didn't trust her voice not to curse everything at this damn party. Everything seemed dull now that she found out that he whose name she didn't know was a werewolf. "Good, the blood would be here soon and then the birthday girl will have to make the first toast," she said in a cheerful voice.
Elena watched the vampires dancing to entertain herself before her eyes met with his. He was staring intently at her and it gave her goosebumps all over. She looked away immediately but she could still feel his eyes on her. She couldn't help but feel nervous in her seat and her heart was also beating rapidly in her chest making her situation worse. She didn't want to look at him but her eyes moved on their own and made eye contact. Her breath hitched and her heart almost stopped. She got a warm fuzzy feeling when their eyes met, her flesh tingled and her skin flushed.
His eyes went from black to golden and then back to black. She was shocked at what she saw and turned to her grandmother, she has never of a werewolf's eyes changing color so seeing it for herself terrified her. For vampires, the blue blood, when their eyes change to golden color then they exhibit extra super strength. She had no idea if the wolf was a hybrid combination of blue blood and werewolf or if werewolves did have special abilities. She hugged her grandmother's hand and leaned on her shoulder.
She could very much still feel his intense stare but tried to ignore it. It was becoming hard for her to avoid not looking at him as her eyes itched to see him. She looked up slowly and when their eyes met she looked down again. She repeated the same process over and over again. He didn't stop looking at her once which made her wonder if he had magical eyes, it was normal to stare at someone for so long without blinking and yet he was doing it.
"When will I make a toast granny, it is taking too long," she said in a husky voice.
"Sweetheart is alright? Your voice sounds funny," asked her grandmother to which she said she was fine. She didn't know why her voice had suddenly changed, she glanced at the dance floor to check if he was still there and he was. This time his face wore a smirk, he was enjoying the princess's reaction to his stare. He was happy that he affected her because it meant that he had a chance of succeeding in his mission. A black blood vampire princess being affected by a werewolf sounded too good to be true. Had someone told this to him instead of experiencing it himself he never would have believed it.
He had to make sure that she does not take a liking to anyone else at the party, if that happens then she will no choice but to marry him. He just needed to create a good opportunity for that to happen but first, he needs to keep her attention to him. As long as her eyes are on him she won't look at anyone else. She was his and no one else and had that lady royal not interrupted he would have had a chance to taste her beautiful lips that were so inviting.
The blood arrived and Iclyn took the glass and gave it to Elena, who took it and stood up to make a toast. "For the Love of Atria," she said and raised the glass.
"For the love of Atria," the whole crowd shouted in unison.
"For the love of Elena," she read the werewolf's lips say and swallowed a lump in her throat. She took a drink from her cup and nervously swallowed the blood. She sat down and tried to calm her racing heart.
"What happened princess, do I make you nervous?" she heard in her ear and looked up. In his hands was the red jade necklace that makes silent things heard. He was using it to speak to her, her breath became heavy and she clutched her dress. She was so terrified, if her grandmother saw her talking to a werewolf she had no idea how she would react.