Bianca shuddered from inside when they looked at her with hatred filled in their eyes. The larger one had golden hair whereas the smaller one had sandy brown hair. Suddenly the younger one started laughing like a mad. He slapped his thigh and in between his laughter said, "This is going to be interesting. Look what fate has given us!" He stopped laughing and stared at her with a clenched jaw. With his yellow claw, he pointed to her and said in a dangerous tone, "Remember to keep yourself well-protected from now on!"

Rage filled her. How dare they threaten her and who the hell were they? They smelled like werewolves but the question was how come Lazarus had two werewolves who were his blood slaves? "Guards!" she shouted. Five guards who were standing beside the cage came and stood in front of her. They bowed their heads.

​​

"Take this cage to the dungeons and inform the vampire king!"

"Yes, Your Highness," said the leader and they rolled the cart out of the garden.

Bianca saw the cart until it disappeared from her eyes and also noticed how its occupants stared at her with malice in their eyes and demeanor. The hair on her neck rose and it was difficult to shrug the feeling. She walked back to the chambers of the vampire king, but saw Brantley coming out from there.

He curled his hand around her shoulder and asked with worry etched on her face, "Is everything okay?" She was looking pale like a ghost.

She nodded and didn't tell him about the encounter. There was no point in doing so. The man had been extremely busy with his work. "You had said that Lazarus would be bringing sacks of grains. I need to look into that."

He sighed and urged her to walk with him. "Yes, he has, and you have to look into that too."

She curled her arms around his wait lovingly. "So why are you sad?"

"Because it is a lot of work for you, Bia," he said dryly. "And I want you to rest."

She chuckled. "Samobian is starting from tomorrow, so no rest for me for the next seven days!"

An hour later, after she had accounted for the grains sacks from Lazarus, she had mounted the horse and along with Brantley, they had gone to the valley basin where the festivities were supposed to take place. Everything was nicely arranged and she was satisfied with the preparations. People greeted her enthusiastically.

Spring had really fallen upon Aztec The Rochnan Mountain and valleys were a riot of colors spanning from orange, blood red, yellow to blue and white. Bianca had never seen so much beauty in her life and she was all the more pleased because she could bring it all back for her people. Brantley passed her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as they continued to trot their horses at a leisurely pace over the grassy knolls and meadows and sometimes into dense woods when Brantley wanted to skim her body and pleasure her—those were his words, not hers. He liked to give pleasure. And she—well she loved to every pleasure he gave her—greedily.

The blue skies were dotted with fluffy marshmallow clouds. They had dismounted their horses long back as they climbed up and down the hilly terrain hand in hand. Afternoon sun brought warmth in the chilly air and she was tired. She noticed Rirsyr flying overhead, just circling the area lazily.

As if understanding what she wanted, Brantley pointed to a thicket of trees and said, "Let's lie down under the shade over there."

She removed her shoes as her feet were aching badly. "Okay…" she replied wryly. Suddenly she was scooped up in the air.

"You just have to ask Bia," he whispered as she giggled.

They walked to the trees where he lay her down amongst a place full of wildflowers. She flipped on her tummy and rested her head on the pillow of her arms and looked at him with a smile. Her feet were now up in the air, swinging.

"That's an odd look sweetheart," he said, brushing her cheek with his knuckles. He had removed her tiara long back because he didn't like it hindering whilst he stroked her hair after making love. "What is it that you are thinking about?"

"You," she replied innocently and smiled at him.

"What about me?" he asked as he stopped stroking her cheek and gazed into her teal eyes.

"I think you have reduced me to being a useless person," she declared.

Brantley raised his eyebrow. "Have I?"

She nodded. She closed her eyes and then admitted, "From the moment I saw you on my sixteenth birthday, I wanted nothing more than to be with you." She opened her eyes to gaze at him.

"You are so magnificent. You were in so much pain because of me… I had no idea how you had stopped yourself all these days to stay without me. Yet you never complained, only waited… but I hate to wake up without seeing you in the morning. I want to wake up with you everyday in the morning, to your warm feeling and against that heavy weight. I think I only added to your miseries."

For a moment he Brantley was blank as he stared at her. "That is the last thing you did Bia," he leaned in to kiss her. He picked her up and placed her on his chest. As he wrapped his arms around her, she cozily placed her head over his chest. He looked at all the flowers that jutted from around them and the feeling was surreal—his land blooming wildly and his wife, his mate… "You don't know what it is to hold you, be with you and feel your heartbeat against mine… So you have only brought life… everywhere…"

She pressed a kiss on his chest and drifted off to sleep. She had irrevocably fallen in love with her husband.

When she woke up, she found herself in her bedchamber. She got up with a start. Brantley was sleeping right beside her and he stirred. "H— how did we come here?" she asked. "Without me knowing. It's a long way from here—the valley!"

He pulled her close to him and chuckled. "You forget that I can create portals."

When she had fallen off to sleep over him, he stayed like that, in that position for a long time until the sky began to become darker. He got up in a way that she was least disturbed and created a portal for them. It had started raining shortly afterwards.

Bianca blinked her eyes. She realized that her husband possessed strong magic and she had forgotten all about it because he hadn't used it, at least not in front of her.

All of a sudden, a heavy pounding on the door disturbed them. "Your Highness, this is urgent!" came Holly's voice from behind the doors.

Bianca got up and walked to the door with a frown. "What is it Holly?"

"Almost half of the grain sacks have got soaked in water!"

"What?" she scowled.

"The head cook just informed me that water leaked in the stores from walls and ground under repair," Holly fanned herself. "This is a disaster, Your Highness!"

"What ground is under repair? There was none!"