Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Six
~Author pov~
The office room was filled with unspoken tension, suffocating, overwhelming, and dangerous. Lucien's eyes were darkened, his eyebrows furrowed together like a demon as he strangled them both without a hint of emotion on his face. His mind had been occupied with Elias throughout the meeting with the witches and he almost went feral with them if not for Nyx who calmed him down. After the meeting, he strolled down to Elias’s room and was shocked as he couldn’t find him.
No one knew where he was. He was about to call for an emergency when he overheard a kitchen maid. She narrated how she caught Isla, Mira, and Elias sneaking out of the palace.
“Lucien, please….” Elias's tightened voice sounded behind him, almost struggling to speak. His palms turned sweaty as he stared at his friends. Their faces were drained of blood, their pupils were dilated, lips trembling as they struggled to breathe.
“How dare you?!”
Lucien roared, his voice shaking the whole room. He wasn’t in the right sense that he couldn’t hear a word that Elias had been saying.
He couldn’t hear his boy call him.
“Lucien…please, leave them!” Elias screamed, his heart trembling, tears falling from his eyes. He was panicking, Lucien didn’t seem to hear what he was saying. He would forever hate himself if his friends died because of his mistakes. He knew what Lucien was capable of doing and still, he went against his orders.
He was stupid.
Stupid. Fool.
He kept blaming himself and without thinking twice, Elias ran toward them and wrapped his tiny arms around Lucien.
Silence.
Lucien stiffened. He had no idea of what was happening. All he knew was that he could have killed the maids within seconds but something was holding him back. Something kept telling him he would regret it forever if he killed them. His hands loosened a bit as he felt Elias's hands trembling around his waist.
“Lucien,” Elias called out, barely a sound. “Don’t do this.”
“Please.”
“I’m begging.”
“Lucien, stop, please. I’m scared.”
“They are my friends.”
“Lu—Lucien, please. Stop it.”
Before Elias could say another word, Lucien dropped Isla and Mira. They fell on the floor, their tears splattered on their faces as they gasped for breath. Mira helped Isla up and they quickly crawled outside the room.
Elias breathed a sigh of relief even though his whole body was trembling from shock and fear. His eyes traveled to Lucien’s—he looked like something else. Elias couldn’t believe his eyes, what was wrong with him? His eyes were crimson red, his fangs were lengthened and his hair was all over his face.
“Lucien—why?”
Elias’s voice crackled as he tilted his head to take a good look at him.
Within a blink, Lucien flew toward him and crushed him against his chest. He was breathing so hard that Elias was scared something else was wrong.
“Lucien—“
Lucien wrapped his tiny body against his frame, placing kisses all around his neck. His hands were trembling around Elias's waist.
“Eli,” he called out, his voice painfully tight.
Elias couldn’t stop crying. He was confused. He loved and hated what was happening. He felt like this was not the kind of thing he wanted. He never wanted to be entangled with a vampire king who could kill people without feeling remorse. How was he supposed to live like that? They were two different breeds that would never work together.
He wanted to leave.
But—his heart was starting to betray him.
He needed to leave before it was too late.
Will Lucien let him go?
He wasn’t sure.
He felt trapped.
Like his life no longer belonged to him.
“Elias, you scared me,” Lucien spoke again after a while. Still not letting him go. “I thought you left me.”
Elias closed his eyes. His palms trembling. He pulled away forcefully even though Lucien didn’t want him to move away from him.
Lucien raised his eyebrows.
Elias stepped away a bit and pointed his fingers at him. “You are insane.”
Lucien sighed deeply and ran his hand through his hair like a maniac. “I thought you knew that—“
“I’m not joking!” Elias screamed, tears dropping profusely from his eyes.
Lucien gulped down, his chest was hurting seeing his boy in tears and he tried to get closer but Elias moved away.
“Okay okay. Stop crying, boy. Let’s talk about it.”
Elias scoffed, “Talk about it? You knew we could talk about it and still went ahead to strangle my friends??”
“You could have killed them, Lucien!”
“Nah, wasn’t planning on doing that.”
“Liar,” Elias responded, his face distorted with anger and disbelief.
“Do you care about me at all??!”
“Or—all you care about is my fucking blood?!!”
Lucien chimed in, “Stop screaming, Elias.”
Elias nodded, “Fine.”
He moved to leave the room when Lucien carried him and the next thing, was Elias finding himself in an unknown room.
He looked around. Shocked. But he didn’t have the time to think much as he tried to unwrap himself from Lucien but it was too late. Lucien carried him, his legs wrapping around his torso.
“You will listen to me and not say a word.”
“Huh-?”
Lucien took a shaky breath. He was tired of raring a stubborn human.
“Don’t say a word or I throw you out of this window.”
Elias gulped hard. Even though he knew Lucien wouldn’t do that. The threat still sent a cold shiver down his spine.
Elias looked away from him, his chest heaving.
“Listen. You have no idea how important you are—“
“Ohh stop the lies—“
SLAP!
The remaining words got stuck in Elias's throat as Lucien smacked his butt hard. His face turned red from the pain and pleasure.
“I cherish you a lot and I have no idea how else you want me to prove this.”
“You left this place without a word, Elias. Anything could have happened. How unreasonable can you be not to know that you are now a target?”
Elias looked at his face. He looked genuine. Like he was telling the truth.
Lucien sighed before he continued. “I was angry, furious when I couldn’t find you. Those maids deserve that treatment because they know better.”
Elias rolled his eyes.
“But I didn’t plan to kill them. Do you think it would take me that much time?”
Elias squinted his eyes, trying so hard to pick what to believe and what not to.
“I just wanted you to talk. You have not been saying a word to me and I know how much you care about those maids—“
“So manipulative,” Elias hissed under his breath but it didn’t pass Lucien's ears.
Lucien smiled a bit, his hands rubbing Elias’s butt. “You were so angry and I had no idea what to do to make you talk.”
“You could have done anything else! Not hurt my friends.”
Lucien twitched his mouth. “That seemed to be a good plan though.”
“Say sorry.
Lucien chuckled, dark and raspy. “What have you done to me?”
Elias blushed hard, trying to hold himself back. He didn’t want to melt that fast but how could he not when the vampire king was a total different person to him?
“Lucien, I understand that you were scared and angry but violence is never the solution.”
Lucien shook his head, “You are wrong. Violence is the solution to all problems. Death is the way.”
“Huh?—“
“Have you forgiven me?” Lucien continued again, that was his main concern. “For everything?”
Elias sighed loudly, “For hurting my friends? Maybe yes. I need to go see them later. But for—“
“I don’t care about your friends. About that day.”
Elias's palms suddenly turned sweaty as his mind traced back to that day. How he begged, how he cried and suffered all because he was scared for Lucien.
Silence.
Elias didn’t say a word.
That made Lucien anxious. He couldn’t avoid the issue forever. He didn’t want Elias to see him as someone who could hurt him.
“I know you don’t want to talk about it but listen to me,” Lucien started, voice low and deep.
His fingers raised Elias’s jaw to make him look at him, his thumb gently rubbing his lips.
“That day—It was dangerous. You could have died. Elias, you were reckless and careless. You are human. You can’t withstand any of Jae’s attacks.”
Elias blinked.
“I didn’t know how else to make you see that you were wrong. But I guess I did it the wrong way. I hurt you, it wasn’t my intention.”
Elias felt his throat burned, “You—You didn’t punish me because you were embarrassed?”
Lucien furrowed his forehead, “Embarrassed?”
Elias nodded, sniffing his nose.
“I thought I embarrassed you for stopping you from fighting Jae. Maybe I made you weak.”
A dark chuckle released from Lucien’s throat. “Ohh Eli. Should I kill Jae to prove to you that I’m not weak?”
Elias pouted and playfully hit his chest.
“Trust me, my boy. I was just scared for you.”
Elias suddenly felt bad for thinking otherwise about Lucien. Lucien continued to prove to him that he was different. He cared for him even if it was just because of his blood.
At least, he cared.
That was all he needed.
But—his heart was hurting. Bleeding.
“Elias—don’t do that again. Don’t come in between any fights. Don’t leave this palace without my knowledge. Don’t meet any fucking ex. Don’t keep anything away from me. If Ana or anyone else hurts you, inform me.”
“Wait—hold on….”