A Blood Oath

A brief silence passed, and Mineah frowned when she received no response from Nikolai. Why? Did she say something wrong?

Lifting a single brow, he continued to stare at her, his disbelief very apparent in his burning gaze. "Do you intend to put my control to the test, Mine?" he curiously asked. "I cannot simply agree to this. Why are you even asking for such a thing? Tell me why."

"Do I need to tell you the reason? Isn't the reason obvious enough?" Mineah justified with a steady voice.

Didn't this vampire know that it was only natural for a woman to long for love in a relationship? Why was he asking the obvious?

Mineah fought the urge to roll her eyes as she spoke, "I'm a woman who married you for a marriage alliance. I demand love in this marriage, which is what any other human being in a marriage would have married for. Of course, I will do the same… As your wife, I promise to do my best and give you my all."

What she just said was genuine. Of course, she had other reasons behind marrying him aside from what she mentioned to him, but she truly dreamed of having a good marriage like her parents who loved each other and always supported each other through thick and thin.

There was a deafening pause, and Mineah could almost hear and feel her own erratic heartbeat as she anxiously awaited Nikolai's answer.

"There should be a timeline for it then, Mine," Nikolai responded, finally breaking the silence. "You don't expect me to wait for the inevitable. Four months."

"One year," she quickly bargained. Four months was simply too short for a vampire with no beating heart! She would need more time.

Deep lines appeared on Nikolai's forehead before he whispered, "Three months…"

Her eyes widened. "What? No! Why are you shortening it? I need more time…"

"Didn't you sound confident earlier?" he challenged. "I told you I don't have admirable patience, Mine… One season or less should be enough for this wager of yours. I don't intend to wait long to consummate my marriage with my wife, what do you take me for? Besides, it's something that should have already happened last night."

Mineah pressed her lips together. She had a feeling that Nikolai would cut her timeline shorter if she insisted on giving her more time.

"Fine!" she blindly scoffed. "One season then."

Nikolai chuckled at her capitulation. But just as she thought that it was over, he suddenly leaned closer to her as he whispered into her ear, "But if you give yourself voluntarily to me without making my heart beat, then it won't be my fault…"

"Don't compel me and I won't!" she defended, making him frown. She purposedly mentioned that she knew she was being compelled because she wanted him to be aware that she knew he was manipulating her to do his bidding.

"How do you know I've been compelling you?"

Pouting her lips, she mumbled, "I know enough about vampires and their powers to know what it looks like when a vampire compels a human. I clearly don't remember how I ended up approaching you or sitting on your lap, this leads me to one conclusion, I was compelled."

"Hmm, don't worry then. I won't compel you for reasons like that, Mine. From here on, I will only use my natural charm to woo you to my side…" Nikolai reassured her with a smile.

Vampires! He was too smooth with words, making her heart flutter effortlessly. Maybe she should copy his seductive antics and do the same with him, both in words and actions.

"Promise me, let's make a blood compact," Mineah demanded with a stern face.

"A blood compact? Aren't you scared of letting me have a whiff of your blood? I might end up sucking you dry," Nikolai chortled, and this time Mineah did not stop herself from rolling her eyes at him.

"You're a famous vegetarian vampire, Lai," she snorted.

"Seems like you really studied well and did your research. Tell me more," he hummed as he ran his nose on her neck. For a moment she stilled like a wall but her insides were in chaos due to the sudden delicious sensation traveling through every cell in her body.

'He should be the one feeling those things at this point!' Mineah inwardly retorted. She tried to compose herself as she acted as if her body was not affected by him sniffing her neck.

"You don't like human blood. It made you sick according to my research," she replied with a sigh.

"That's true. I think it's some kind of a disorder. It's really funny how I'm nauseous and would even vomit at the smell of human blood. That's why I only drink animal's blood."

"Fine, let's just do a blood oath then…" Mineah murmured with a pout. With a blood compact, they would have to drink each other's blood but with a blood oath, mixing their blood would do.

"Don't you trust my word, Mine? I promised I won't bed you if you say no," Nikolai murmured on her skin.

"Stop that," she unknowingly voiced out.

"And why?" he murmured.

"I'm ticklish!" she lied. She was glad Nikolai obeyed or else her chest would already burst open with the loud banging of her heart against it!

"Can you blame me for not trusting you this early? I don't want you to compel me and use your abilities to take advantage of me like now. I don't want you coaxing me to fulfill my responsibility for you in bed as your wife until that one season has passed, so please let's proceed with the blood oath," another lie on her part.

"I'll think about it first. I will decide once we embark on my ship. Having a blood oath about this matter honestly sounds ridiculous," Nikolai mumbled.

Mineah's shoulders dropped at his answer. She was immune to compelling but then she simply used it as an excuse for the blood oath to happen because she was not confident that her own body could resist Nikolai's charm. Her body seemed too weak when it came to his advances, like it would willingly surrender in due time and she couldn't afford for that to happen.