Heidi found the food to be more than delicious; the tender meat or the crisp fired vegetables which was seasoned with salt and spice, turning it into a masterpiece. She had never been fortunate to eat something like this and she couldn’t stop herself from eating what was served. At some point she had stopped to realize she had been tasting every little item which was on the table and she stopped herself before the lady who had been staring at her with sharp eyes would point it out in front of everyone.

Finishing her breakfast, Heidi dabbed her lips with the napkin before placing it down on the table. Last night after a lot of thinking, she realized there was no getting out of the situation she was placed in. The first time she had tried running had put Howard their house worker in trouble but that didn’t mean she didn’t regret leaving the inn sooner. Only if she had, she wouldn’t be here now but then she didn’t want someone else to be punished on her mistakes. She also felt guilty for it. She had tried escaping again but fate was too cruel to let her escape and in the end she had decided to embrace the path fate had chosen for her.

“I hope you slept well, Ms Curtis,” she heard her soon to be fiance ask her.

“I slept well, Mr Lawson,” she answered him with a small smile and he nodded before getting back to talk to his mother who sat next to him.

Heidi looked around the dinning hall, the curtains had been drawn to let the inn sunlight through the large windows. There was a fireplace behind where the Lord sat now which hadn’t been ignited and clean of any left out ash.

When her eyes met Lord Nicholas’ she gave him an uneasy smile before looking away. Even though she was taken into the Curtis’ family it didn’t mean she was one in blood and it made her wonder if the people here knew about it. Thinking about it only made her nervous. She had to be careful about it, to make sure they didn’t know about it. The Lord, she didn’t know what he was up to, a few minutes ago it seemed like he was testing her when it came to the culinary items that needed to be picked and now he had a bored look on his handsome face. She saw a maid walk in through the doors to serve another dish for the morning even though most of them on the table were done eating.

“Ms. Curtis, are you done with that,” she heard the butler pop from her side and she nodded as the plates and bowl were taken in front of her.

“I can’t say how glad we are to have you here in helping both the empires to come together,” Reuben the head council turned to speak to her after he was done with his meal, “As Mr. Lawson is Lord Nicholas’ direct cousin, this alliance will bring much awaited peace on our lands. Though we have been trying to establish a hate free relationship between the humans and vampires for so long but we have never succeeded in ending this cold war between these two communities.”

“And who can you blame it on?” Lady Lawson spoke from her seat, “The vampires were never meant to co-habitat with the humans or vice versa. It is like asking the lion to not eat the deer.”

“Is that to mean you agree that it is alright to kill and take innocent lives?” Reuben raised his grey brow at her ever so slightly.

“I don’t think meant it like that,” Lord Nicholas cut in to diffuse the tension that had begun in the room, “You being a half vampire should know that we depend on the humans blood as a source of food. Co-inhabiting might be a little…too much. We are after all pure blooded vampires and even if the humans say something else it doesn’t change the fact that the food chain is set that way which cannot be changed unless they decide to drink our blood.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that these lands belong to the humans as much as it does to the pureblooded vampires or half-vampires.”

“We haven’t forgotten that. Isn’t that why we have humans living along with the vampires in even the vampire lands, to co-exist. We only expect the humans to behave, I am sure you have heard about the rumors of humans trying to gather people to revolt against us,” Heidi saw Lord Nicholas speak not blinking or breaking his gaze from the head council.

“They are just rumours,” the old man had a deep frown on his face.

“No rumours are brought without a spark, Reuben.”

Heidi could feel there was something more to the matter they were talking about and she looked down at the empty space on the side of her table not knowing what to do. When she was at her house she would often hear the distaste from her family towards the vampires and now that she was here, she could feel the same thing only that this time it was the vampires who weren’t fond of the humans. She bit her lip wondering if it was alright to marry into the vampires when they didn’t appear to be the type who will welcome a human into their family.

“Sir Reuben,” Warren drew the head council’s attention to him, “Why don’t you make the rounds and meets ups you were talking about in the Bonelake. I am sure you can carry your discussion there with the Lord.”

“Hmm,” the head council gave a curt nod and got up from his seat to leave the room.

“Ms. Curtis,” Warren then spoke to Heidi and she snapped her head to see him give her a smile, “I don’t think you will like being cooped in the mansion here on your first day. What do you think about going out to the town?”

“Today?” she asked getting up from her seat and in a hurry, the chair screeched slightly making Venetia close her eyes before a scowl took place on the woman’s face.

“Yes, today,” the man gave her a generous smile, “It is a lovely day with the sun up and bright. So shall I expect you to be ready in an hour?”

“Yes,” And she saw Warren and his mother head to the door through which the head council had walked by not few seconds ago.

Moving carefully away from the table, she began walking towards the door to only find the Lord stand in her way, who had stood up himself from his seat to leave the room. But when Heidi moved to her left the Lord had moved to his right.

“Please,” Lord Nicholas said taking one step back and giving her the way to go with his right hand raised.

“Thank you,” she murmured, her eyes cast down and when she finally reached the door, the Lord spoke,

“Don’t go wandering around alone when you are in the town. Stay with Warren.”

Heidi turned back to see the Lord wear the cloak that had been hanging on the chair, each of his arm going through the sleeves. She hadn’t planned to wander around. She knew well not to go alone especially not in an unfamiliar place she wasn’t aware of. She didn’t know what to say to him. Since she had appeared in the mansion they hadn’t been alone and partly she was thankful and at the same she wanted to ask him why he had been wandering in Woville.

Seeing that they were alone now with no maids and the butler gone, she wondered if now was a good time. But what would she ask him? Was she in a position to ask when she was a mere human and he wasn’t a mere vampire but a pure blooded vampire Lord of the entire empire. Hearing the snap of fingers in front of her, she looked up surprised to see the Lord standing right in front of her now.

Both Heidi and the Lord stared at each other, and the more she kept her gaze on him the more aware she felt of his height and his intimidating features. His deep, dark red eyes peered down at her unblinkingly.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be the bride the council had chosen for Warren,” said Lord Nicholas.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be the Lord,” she retorted back to see the corner of his lips curled up into a small smile.

“I like to lower everyone’s expectation.” He then stepped away from her, pulling the handle of the door to open it.

“I have few questions to ask you,” she said and he stopped to look at her tilting his head. She pressed her lips before letting it loose waiting for his approval to ask the question she had in her mind but they were interrupted by the butler who called for the Lord.

“Meet me at the clock tower once you are back to the mansion,” Lord Nicholas said before closing the door.