Gripping the table on either side of her, Gavriel caged Evie between his arms as his mouth seized hers ardently. Pushing his tongue inside her mouth, he entered repeatedly until she was drunk with pleasure and too dazed to even think.

Then his mouth was travelling along her neck again as if looking for something. His mouth stopped and suddenly, he licked and then sucked on a tender pulse point, causing Evie's legs to stiffen. Oh my… what was this? What's happening to her? What was he doing to her?

Evie could no longer hold in the sounds that her throat was making that she had been trying so hard to bury. She was not certain what kind of sounds or words they were once she let them out but all she knew was that it sounded to be something like pleading. And she cannot… must not say whatever it was… but… biting her lip didn't even seem to work anymore.

To her relief, his mouth had sealed hers just before she could open her lips to voice it out, pushing back the sounds again. This time, his kisses seemed teasing… as if he were pushing her towards something. And once again, she was helpless in his manipulations and could only let him push her further towards whatever place it was that he had wanted her to reach.

Her hands slowly moved, reaching out and then settled onto his broad shoulders. She knew what her body wanted to do, to pull him… closer.

But all of a sudden, he pulled his mouth away from hers and ended the kiss with a low frustrated groan that jolted Evie from her dazed state.

He turned his head towards the door and Evie gasped, seeing a hand that had pushed the door slightly opened.

"I beg your pardon, Your Highness, but everyone has arrived and you're the only one everyone's waiting for now." The man behind the door said, who sounded like the big man, Samuel.

An electric moment passed as Gavriel appeared to marshal his thoughts. But when he looked down again at her and saw her mortified and shocked expression, Gavriel let out a shuddering sigh, looking as though he was forcing himself to bring his desire under control.

Once he loosened up and relaxed his taut muscles, he moved closer to her until his lips touched her ear. "Sorry, my wife but I have to go back now. We'll resume where we left off once I'm back." He whispered, pressing a kiss on the vulnerable hollow below her ear before he eased back and left the room and his dainty wife pleasantly dazed.

His face was dark as he scowled at Samuel.

"You had reminded me to come get you when it was time Your Highness." Samuel reasoned out as they strode ahead of the corridors, trying his best to deflect the irritation he could feel like a living entity coming from his prince.

"Yes, Samuel. I said to call. Not barge in!" Gavriel huffed, exasperated at his man's denseness.

"Actually, Your Highness…I did call out to you for a long while before I pushed the door open..." Samuel reported sullenly, feeling a little miffed that his prince was so caught up with his wife that he did not even notice him calling at all.

Gavriel halted for a moment, his scowl towards Samuel faded when he realized he didn't just forget about the time and everything else but actually even became deaf while he was kissing her. Good lord… his wife truly was dangerous. He cleared his throat and resumed walking.

"These officials are way too punctual. One or two of them should at least have forgotten about the time and came a little late. Don't they all have their own wives?" the prince suddenly complained, causing Samuel to look at him in utter disbelief. Were these words actually being uttered by his almighty prince? He almost could not believe his own ears if it were not for the fact that he is hearing it this very moment.

"Are… are you really saying that you want them to be late to this very urgent and important meeting?" Samuel asked, perplexed and still dumbfounded, but Gavriel had already entered the large door leading to the castle's throne hall.

"You're not going to join Zolan inside?" Luc, who was assigned to guard the entrance said and Samuel sighed, shaking his head as if to clear his head before he too finally entered the throne hall.

"In other word, no one believes that I'm the real royalty… is that what you are trying to say, Duke?" Gavriel's voice was dry as he stared at the Duke of Dacria who was giving him reports about their progress. They had been trying to secretly inform some trusted states within the empire about the existence of the real vampire royalty, in the hopes that these states would come to support the prince as well.

When the Duke could not say a word and just dropped his head in apology, Zolan spoke. "Their doubt and distrust are actually quite an obvious result, Your Highness." He said and everyone looked at the long-haired man whose black eyes were filled with intelligence and wisdom. "It has been more than two hundred years since the real royal bloodline was thought to be annihilated. It was supposed to be logically impossible for a true royalty to suddenly pop out of nowhere now. So, it is understandable there is no way they will believe this unless… they actually see you in person. The few vampires who saw you in the capital all started to believe just with one look. Unfortunately, those vampires at the ball in the imperial palace and the ones whom we visited when we were there all turned out to be the emperor's dogs. They believed upon seeing you, but their loyalty was long since bought over by the emperor.

Fortunately, I believe many states in the northern and eastern part of the empire will definitely accept you. Even if they all support the current emperor right now, I am certain they are not corrupted dogs like the states near the capital. They would turn their backs on the emperor if they knew a true royalty still exists today. However, you must show yourself to them. Once they see you with their very own eyes, they will believe without question like how the Dacrians accepted you. Words alone are useless at this point, because you already know that the vampires have long accepted that the true royal bloodline is long gone."

All the officials nodded in agreement.

"But that would be risky for His Highness." The Duke butted in. "Having the prince leave Dacria and sneak into the other states is dangerous. Also, I am certain the emperor has already taken precautions and made his preparations about this. If I were him, I would do anything to stop the prince from entering other states."

The officials nodded their agreement again in unison. They had just found a solution, but it turned out to be really dangerous. If anything happened to the prince… everyone was suddenly shrouded with anxiety and uncertainty.

"But…" It was Samuel who spoke this time. "His Highness and his men are a force to be reckoned with as well. We can ensure His Highness' safety. Well… in fact, I am certain His Highness can even make it in and out without our help. So that is not the problem here. The real problem here is that –"

"He's going to come and attack Dacria." Gavriel broke off as he lazily rested his chin against his knuckles. "That man is not an idiot. He won't let me take another state from him. So, he's definitely going to attack us while we are still lacking in allies. I'm guessing he is already prepared to attack at any time, and he won't just be aiming after me… he'll destroy and crush this entire city into ashes and set it as an example to every other states. So even in the case where I do survive, no state would be willing to support me again."

Everyone felt a chill run down their spine at the prince's statement. But Gavriel was smiling wickedly, a strange glimmer playing in his remarkable eyes.

"Y-your Highness, that is not amusing." One of the officials said in a fearful tone.

But the prince rested his head back against his chair, still smiling. "It's not…" he uttered and his smile finally faded. "I just find it funny that we don't have a choice but to end up fighting against our very own kind." He looked at them, his eyes now completely changed. "But fear not, men… I am here to protect this place." I told her this is the safest place… so no matter what, I will keep it safe… or else, she'll label me a liar…

___

[[[AN: Goal this week! Bring this book to top 20 this week before weekly reset and I'll give 4 chapters mass release.

P.s. Join my FB group to see the map of Lirea posted there. 🔎 for the group 'Kazzenlx's readers'. Use the code DACRIA to enter. Thank you.]]]