Chapter 85 - The King's Bite

To his credit, Vladislav had no problem biting the bullet and telling his younger brother he was wrong and that he apologised. He even praised his initiative for resizing and renovating the schools as well.

“I only wish you had let me in on it,” said the King. “Estoyya is my responsibility, too. I do not wish its people to think I do not care for them.”

“None of them believe that,” Niklaus reassured his older brother. “I was just enjoying taking care of the place. I suppose it became a passion project of mine. You know how much I hate my royal duties. This never felt like a duty, more like something that had to be done.”

“You have both made me proud and shown just how capable you are,” the King said as that pride echoed in his voice. “It is time to trust you with more.”

“Please don’t,” begged his brother with a groan. “Unless you let me choose, that is. Then I can reconsider, but I honestly think this was a once in a lifetime kind of thing.”

The phone call ended on a light note between the two and Allegra was grinning at her husband. Unlike his first, secretive call in the library, he had made this one in their room on loud speaker so that she could hear everything. They were seated on their bed with her legs folded in front of her and his phone lying in place between them. She reached for him with open arms and hugged her vampire tightly to her.

“I’m glad you did that,” she confessed. “And I bet it means more to Nik than you could imagine.”

Vladislav shrugged easily as if it were not a big deal.

“I am just happy you are no longer pouting,” he teased and laughed at her answering scowl. “We can now begin our honeymoon in earnest.”

“We already have,” she said thoughtfully. “It was wrong of me to get mad at you for showing concern for Estoyya even if we are on our honeymoon. It was never going to be a normal one, and I should have expected it.”

“Does this mean I will not have to face your cold shoulder when I inevitably have to deal with more of it? You know the formation of the council may detract from our plans slightly,” he reminded her gently as he took her hand in his.

“No,” Allegra said with a squeeze of his hand. “What it means is that I’m going to be beside you the entire time, whether we’re having fun or dealing with crown business.”

He smiled as he leaned down to press his lips to hers. When he pulled away, she could visibly see a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

***

Jairus brought Sabrina’s list to his King that same evening Vladislav and Allegra had just had dinner and were relaxing by the lop ppp poolside. She was debating jumping in when the other vampire approached them. His eyes shot up to his temple when Vlad told him that the responsibility of narrowing down the list lay entirely on his shoulders.

“You know most of the people on the islet far better than I do, and I am willing to bet everyone on that list as well, whereas, to me they are total strangers. You will also be sitting on the council with them. You are the expert in this situation.”

The other vampire nodded stiffly. Even of he did not want to do this, there was no way he could disobey a direct order from his King. When he was out of sight, Allegra slipped off her dress and jumped into the pool. She was thankful that it was heated, but when her head popped back above the surface, she found her husband gawking at her.

“Have you been wearing a bikini under your dress for the entire day?” he asked disbelievingly.

“Of course,” she confirmed. “That’s what you’re supposed to do in a tropical paradise. You never know when you’re going to want to jump into some water.”

She spent the next thirty minutes alternating between swimming around the large pool and trying to convince her husband to jump in with her, to no avail. He seemed to be more than content to just watch her from his seat. Jairus came back quicker than expected. They thought he would at least take the night to go over it. Vladislav shot his wife a glare that silently ordered her to stay in the water. He decidedly did not want anyone else to see her in any state of undress. Allegra smirked, but obeyed anyway.

The King took the list as Jairus stood there with his hands behind his back with perfect posture. Vlad noticed the list of over twenty names had been narrowed down to six and that, as predicted by her daughter, Sabrina’s was still there.

“This is final?” the King asked just to make certain.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I left six names because it will make an odd number when I join. That way, there can never be a stalemate when anything comes to a vote,” answered Jairus.

Vlad nodded. “Good. I will craft the letters of invitation on our stationery and have you send them out tomorrow. Until then, you can return to your duties.”

Jairus bowed and did just that. Allegra waited for him to leave before she climbed out of the pool a snatched up one of the towels laid on the chairs to dry herself off all over before wrapping it around her. She leaned over to peak at the list, but just like her husband, the names were meaningless to her. Vlad stood up abruptly.

“Where are we going?” Allegra asked curiously as her vampire led her back inside the mansion.

“The sooner we get started on drafting these letters, the sooner we can be done with it.”

His wife silently agreed and did not say another peep as they walked upstairs. It only took her a moment to shower and change before she found him at work in the library and joined him.

***

They had been on the island for ten days. After that rocky first morning, everything had been a dream. The sight of them walking hand in hand in the town had become so commonplace, no one even looked at them anymore. They had even learned some of the names of the townspeople. Allegra had suggested a preliminary meeting of the council so that he would judge them for himself and Vlad thought it an excellent idea. On one of the nights, they had been invited to the mansion for dinner and it had gone over well. The Duchess was pleased with Jairus’s choices as was the King.

When they were not trying out local cuisines and exploring the town, Vladislav drove his wife all over the islet. He had taken her to the border with Espa to see with her own eyes and she marvelled at the giant, luminescent, unbreakable barrier that was in place. Its glow was so foreign, she was tempted to touch it and see what it felt like, but he advised against it.

The rest of the time, she was drawn to the beach. They had spent so much time on it, that they had eventually stumbled upon a cave. It was large enough for both of them to fit in comfortably and they studied the symbols scribbled on the wall. She was surprised that they were as foreign to Vlad as they were to her. They eventually surmised that they must have been used in the fae rituals originally done on Estoyya.

With only four days to go, Allegra realised how deeply she was going to miss the place and understood why Vlad was so fond of it. That day, he had a meeting with Jairus and Mystik, whose predicted fight had apparently happened earlier that day. Allegra felt sluggish from the heavy lunch they had had and decided an afternoon nap was in order. She closed her eyes and slept like she was dead to the world. When she woke up, her husband was shaking her awake and shoving her phone close to her face. She blearily noticed that she had missed some calls already before seeing Aidon’s name flashing on her screen.

“Hello?, she answered, her voice rusty from sleep.

“Allegra, we can’t find Cilla,” her brother’s panicked voice said. She looked at Vlad’s narrowing eyes and knew that he could hear everything.

“What do you mean?” she asked, confused. “When was the last time you saw her?”

“Like four or five hours ago. She couldn’t have left because everyone else is still here and she wouldn’t go anywhere alone. Her phone is off,” her brother said worriedly and Allegra shot up. Cilla never switched her phone off. Not even when they asked her to do so on planes.

Allegra was pacing now. “Has Kalitsk been searched yet?”

“Everyone is looking for her,” he said and then he lowered his voice secretively. “I was talking to Jack and Channa and they said they overheard their parents talking about how Elanora never left. She’s been living in one of the hotels in the city. What if she’s involved?”

Allegra’s blood froze in her veins. Vladislav was already pulling their clothing out of the closets and packing them into their suitcases at top speed. It was a little disorienting, basically only seeing blurs of movement.

“Make sure everyone keeps searching,” she said to her brother. “We’re on our way.”