025:- A Visit From The Queen

Silvan was grateful to return to the privacy of his room, Alessio stopping him at the door to his chambers. The Vampire hesitated at his door like he had something to say, Silvan waited quietly, giving no encouragement.

"Goodnight, Your Highness." Alessio finally broke the silence, walking away.

Silvan ducked into his room, he would have done this earlier without giving Alessio a chance to say what he wanted to say but he still had a faint wisp of guilt in his heart, one that dissipated just as quickly as it came.

He saw that the food that had been left in his chambers had been cleared out, save for a few bottles of wine and bowls of fruits. He had barely eaten at the welcome dinner, and although it was supposed to be a dinner, very few had eaten.

Silvan undid his cravat and shrugged off his overcoat, it was quite late already, the welcome dinner had taken more time than he thought. He walked deeper into the room, the lattice doors that led to the balcony were closed, the drapes drawn. Just as he made to unbutton the silver buttons of his waistcoat, there was a knock on the door.

He paused, looking over a shoulder at the door, it couldn't be Prince Alessio returning to make small talk, could it? Silvan reluctantly went to the door, he would prefer the Vampire Prince's presence to his father's dreary company.

It was neither of those people behind the door, instead, Queen Nadia stood with a benign smile, her slender hands folded in front of her.

"Your Majesty?" Silvan acknowledged, a question in his eyes. It couldn't be that she mixed up his room with that of her son, could it?

"Sorry to bother you so late, Prince Silvan," She said kindly— her presence didn't look to be a mistake. "Do you mind if I come in for a moment? I have some things to speak to you about regarding tomorrow's wedding."

Silvan's expression turned wary, he wasn't given much of a choice, he stepped back to let the Vampire Queen glide into his room. Her dress was an odd shade of dark orange, a smile in her dark eyes as she lingered close to the door like she didn't want to intrude.

"How do you like your quarters? Is there anything you would like to be changed?" Queen Nadia started with small talk.

Silvan noted that she didn't offer for him to have his room changed, which was what he wanted, not new furniture or more treasures to weigh down the walls and dressers. He invited her to take a seat on the exquisitely carved sofa, forced to sit as well because he couldn't stand over her. He sat across from her, giving a polite response. "Not at all, Your Majesty's hospitality is unmatched."

Queen Nadia beamed, pleased with his response. "I understand that the news of a wedding ceremony was just made privy to you," She delved right into the reason she had paid him a late-night visit, "Simply think of it as a ceremony to make you a part of the Royal family of Vallyn."

Silvan hid his grimace well, nodding sagely with nothing else to say. The wedding might be an empty ceremony, but there was no denying the fact that he would be treated as a member of the Royal family of Vallyn. He was already a Prince so this held no allure for him, if anything, it was difficult to accept.

"The ceremony itself is quite brief," The Vampire Queen said sympathetically, "We don't have a religion like humans do, but we do have our customs."

Silvan listened intently, he had an uneasy feeling that Queen Nadia was about to say something he wouldn't like to hear. And just like everything else, he would have no choice but to concede.

"When Vampires form a marriage bond, they exchange bites as a seal and a promise of their love. You're certainly not a Vampire but Alessio will still be required to keep to custom." She let the axe fall on his neck.

Silvan stiffened, unlike the days before the alliance, Vampires no longer forcefully drank from humans and were instead willingly given blood so humans being bitten by Vampires was no longer something of a novelty— to most people. To Silvan who lived such a sheltered life in the castle and the temple, it was indeed a novelty to him.

He had never once had that thought that he would have to feed his blood to a Vampire, that would completely sever his already strained ties to Saint Kalla. All the color drained out of his face but he couldn't utter a word of protest, listening to Queen Nadia's words.

Nadia had learned from King Rolfe that Silvan had been a High Priest of the Kallenic Faith. She knew well of the human religion, long before the alliance, they had been a bit of a nuisance, forming groups to attack Vampires. It had explained a lot about the cold and reticent Prince.

She also knew that belief in the religion had waned after the alliance, so he was a young High Priest of a dying religion— the human Prince kept getting more and more interesting. So she pretended not to see his stricken reaction to her words, despite her intentions to use the human Prince as entertainment, she had no interest in seeing him come to harm.

It was why she had taken it upon herself to personally inform him about what would happen at the ceremony, she was also a little nosy. "So how was your walk with Alessio?" She blithely changed the conversation, not bothering to hide her intentions. She hadn't been able to pry anything worth hearing from her son, he had been sulking so she could guess that it hadn't gone too well.

"Pleasant," Silvan said the word without inflection, distracted. It was clear that his thoughts were still occupied by the customary bite he would have to endure during the ceremony.

Queen Nadia knew when her presence was no longer required, she rose to her feet, wisely giving the distraught human Prince his privacy. "How nice. If you have any worries about the ceremony tomorrow just let me know and I'll do my best to assuage them. Have a restful sleep, Silvan." She said cordially, walking to the door.