The first whispers of the dawn crept across the sky , brushing the horizon with enchanting strokes of gold and ember lights.
Shadows of the night retreated reluctantly, curling back with the first hit of the fragile light of dawn.
Trees shimmered with the night dew and it glittered like diamonds with the touch of the birds feet on its leaves.The air hummed with a refreshing murmur of awakening creatures.
Iael's eyes fluttered open gazing silently at the white ceiling of the room.
There was a soft knock on the wooden double doors of the room. And the voice of a girl sounded.
"Your Highness please this is maid Veva I am assigned to taking care of your needs. If you are awake can I come in?
I stood up removing the luxurious soft and thick blanket from my body. I told her to come in . "Draw my bath and bring me a glass of blood " I instructed her unbuttoning my linen shirt."
"b..blood, Your Highness?" She stammered fidgeting with her fingers, clearly anxious about me asking for blood.
I turned from the mirror to look at her.
"Why, the one who sent you here did not inform you about me being a demon? I asked her bending to her height .
"I am sorry Your Highness, I did not mean to offend you " she said kneeling down abruptly to my amazement. Back home I have ordered all my servants and knight to not apologize for unnecessary things so it's a bit new facing this.
"Why are you apologizing " i said , you did nothing wrong i touched her shoulder and held her up " its normal if she didn't tell you about it ."
"Thank you, thank you Your Highness she bowed again her face now flushed red before scrambling off to the bathroom.
Bathing in the morning light as he sat elegantly by the windows, Iael's appearance seemed quite irresistible. Especially with his shirt off and now only dressed in soft linen trousers , showing off his well tanned olive skin and those well defined abs. The maid find herself blushing all over again. Clearing her throat and regaining her composure she said " i'm done drawing the bath Your Highness. "
"I thought you were scared earlier but here you are now ogling at my noble body" I said and smiled at her before entering the inner Chambers.
I paused mid steps and siad to her before she exited the room " call my knight for me."
"Yes Your Highness "
...
I came out of the bath and saw kevin waiting on the couch.
" Your Highness "
"Kevin you left your prince for such a long time do you have any excuses? Iael spoke rubbing his long velvet hair with a towel.
Kevin became visibly tense when he heard the seriousness in Iael's voice.
"I wanted..." befer he could finish what he want to say Iael interrupted.
"I am just kidding, that is what you get for addressing me that way early in the morning" he flashed him a wide smile showing his sharp teeth.
Kevin visibly sighed "I brought your blood take it. You look thirsty would this suffice ? Your fangs are even showing.
"Don't worry I'm fine with this."
" i can get you a maid or one of the noble women ."
" No don't bother, the maid who served me this morning freaked out when I told her to offer me a glass of blood. I don't think they know anything about our kind or it either they are afraid ." I said as he help wear my cloak .
" It can be possible that they don't know about demons or even vampires either." He said
"Her reaction was too profound to be deemed as ignorance , maybe from scary encounter with our kind.?"
"That will be bad though" he commented with a frown
" i will ask Preda about it when I meet her "
"Check on Serena while I'm gone you can meet me at the fountain later so we can leave for the palace.
He stood there unwilling to leave me by myself. I patted his shoulder and said. " she will be worried if she wake up and sees our rooms empty. You know that."
"I will be on my way then." He bowed again and left.
This friend of mine, I thought and shook my head.
....
Opening the door to Preda's office and entering , I saw her clad in armor and black golden striped leader boots with the breastplate enhancing her womanly curves perfectly.
She turned to look at me and without speaking , she reached into her pocket and pulled out a purple paper rolled into the shape of a parchment. " This purple paper is a contract you need to sign . I adjusted the year to reflect a decade ago. It's material is made by our best witches in this tower that it cannot be broken by any inexperienced witches.
"Why should I sign a contract that cannot be revoked?" I asked.
"Oh, dont fret about that, it cannot hold you back when you want to leave . To verify your identity to the king you need a solid and convincing proof.
"Indeed " I agreed with her thoughts.
" And also take note that if you sign this then you will have to stay here . We don't tolerate our student leaving anytime time they want. It can be put the location of the tower at risk. She added sternly.
I smiled widely at her "you know I can't follow that rule I'm not really a student here and I think you are strong enough to keep concealing the location of the tower.
"Still minimize your movement " she said with a glare.
"While on that topic why did you not tell your servants that I'm a demon ? She was scared when I asked for blood this morning."
"Oh, that, she may have thought that you were a darkshade . "
" what is that ?"
"They are the dark contrast to light shades the royal family of lumeris. They are incredibly strong and a sworn enemy of the drape.
Rumors have it that two prince was born out of the union of a light shade queen and a darkshade king and their offspring were supposed to be darkshades but the queen gave birth to a darkshade prince and a lightshade prince.
With the first born being the darkshade prince he was meant to be the king but unfortunately or fortunately he didn't have any magic. So the lightshade prince was the one to take the throne after the death of the king .
No one knows the reason why they are fighting and the reason why the drape came into existence. You can know that when you meet king Tharion.
"So where is the darkshades right now ?" I don't think they are also here in Lumeris. I asked
" No they are not, they are scattered in the ice kingdom with the straight descendants of prince Vaelric no where to be found . It says they have hidden themselves"
That is incredible. I will go to the palace now then we will meet again maybe tomorrow if I'm done with exploring the city . I winked at her and vanished from the room.