Ulric packed the car up with all of their clothes and things they had brought with them to the house. They were heading back to the castle that day. Ulric had to get back to his duties as king, though he wished he could've stayed in seclusion with his mate for longer.

He heard Amaryllis walking out of the house and heading toward the car in the driveway. What he wasn't expecting was for her to run into his arms the second he turned around.

"Hi," she giggled as she gazed into his eyes. She had a beautiful smile on her face and the sun was hitting her eyes at just the right angle to make her look like a literal angel.

She reached up and kissed his lips as she gripped onto his biceps. When she tried to pull away, Ulric placed his hand on the back of her head and deepened the kiss. He licked her bottom lip and she quickly obliged, opening up for him to slide his tongue in.

"Hello to you too," he replied once they broke apart. Amaryllis was getting more comfortable in front of Ulric. She still had reservations, but she getting more and more daring as they got to understand each other better.

"What?" He asked her. She had a look on her face like she wanted to say something but wasn't sure if she could.

"I don't want to go back," she said after hesitating for a few seconds.

Ulric kicked the car door closed with his foot and walked on to the porch before sitting down in a rocking chair. Amaryllis sat on his lap, intertwining their fingers together.

"I don't want to go back either," he admitted to her. He was beginning to open up a lot more. Amaryllis was slowly tearing down the walls he had built up. She was making a home for herself within his soul. And he didn't hate it.

She smiled at Ulric and ran a hand through her hair. She was absolutely breathtaking. He still couldn't believe that he was the only man to have ever touched her- in any way. She hadn't even been kissed before she met him. A woman so innocent was a rarity, and for a woman like that to be his mate was absolutely exquisite.

"Did you tell Thierry where we went," Amaryllis asked, twirling strands of her strawberry blonde hair between her fingers.

"Yes," he nodded. "He's been handling things while I've been gone."

"How long have you two known each other?"

"Since he was born. I'm only a few months older than he is, so basically our entire lives."

"Have you always been best friends?" She inquired.

"You're a curious little cat today," Ulric commented. Though, he wasn't annoyed. Usually, when he was pestered about the personal details of his life, he would quickly become agitated. This time, he wanted to share his stories and his life with Amaryllis. He wanted her to know him. Well, some of him.

Amaryllis blushed and looked away. "Sor-."

"Don't apologize," Ulric said as he gripped her chin between his fingers and pulled her head back to look at him. "We have been best friends our entire lives," he answered.

Thierry was Ulric's closest friend. He was family, even though they weren't blood-related. Ulric had been there for Thierry in his darkest days, and vice versa. Thierry was the one that helped him recover from her. Though, he was never the same after her. The only one truly repairing Ulric was Amaryllis. She was the only one who could.

Though it's not like Ulric was heartbroken and miserable over her. Instead, he grew angry and secluded; he distanced himself from everyone and became increasingly less tolerant and much more aggressive with everyone and everything. Hence why the humans had been imprisoned by the vampires; it was a means to manifest his inner demons.

Amaryllis was helping to alleviate his negative emotions, helping to make him a better person in general. At first, Ulric didn't want her to. He found it annoying that she was working her way into his life. But, he has begun to accept it.

"That's sweet," she said.

Ulric stood up from his spot on the chair and set Amaryllis back on her feet. He checked inside one last time to make sure he had gotten everything before locking the door. "Time to go," he said.

Ulric opened the passenger door of the car for Amaryllis and then went to his own side. They sat in silence for the duration of the car ride, though it wasn't an awkward silence. It was peaceful and appreciated.

Amaryllis was glad they took that trip. She felt as though it really provided a foundation for their relationship to grow on. They bonded with each other more than they had before and they revealed things about themselves that they hadn't outside of the house.

Amaryllis finally understood things about her mate that she had been curious about for quite a while. She was happy that Ulric expressed his emotions to her. Her entire body felt warm at the thought of Ulric apologizing to her for treating her badly. She appreciated that he cared about her feelings enough to apologize for his behavior.

At first, she thought he was a cruel, vicious man, but now she has realized that he was just guarded. But deep down, he was caring and took other people's feelings into consideration even if it didn't seem like it at first.

When they arrived back at the castle, they unpacked the car and rode up the elevator to the main floor. Ulric took the suitcase of clothes to the bedroom and Amaryllis unloaded the leftover food in the kitchen.

Amaryllis put a gallon of milk in the fridge next to the pitcher of sweet tea that she had made. Since she had moved into Ulric's apartment, there had been increasingly more human foods and drinks added to the kitchen.

She stilled when arms moved around her waist and pulled her into a hard body. "Stop doing that, Ulric," she quietly reprimanded.

"Stop doing what," he teased with faux innocence as he kissed her neck.

"Sneaking up on me like that." She tilted her head to the side to give Ulric more space.

She felt this long, sharp fangs scraping against her neck. Just when she thought he was going to bite her, he tilted his head and sunk his teeth into a blood bag he was holding in his hand. She was kind of disappointed that he didn't bite her.

"Are you hungry?" Ulric asked when he had drained the blood bag.

Amaryllis nodded, "A little."

"We don't really have much food here. I'll need to make a stop in town. Do you want to go to the dining room and see what the kitchen has made?"

"Sure." Ulric had been buying food for her recently, rather than having her go to the kitchen to get something that the staff made. He was also a really good cook. She used to love her mother's cooking, but Ulric was like a chef who had been practicing for his entire life. It was a delightful surprise.

She assumed that the need for him to cook for her was due to the mate bond. He felt the need to provide for her, and making her food rather than her getting it from somewhere else was a form of providing for her.

Amaryllis threw a sweater on and walked out of the apartment with Ulric. What shocked her was when he grabbed her hand in his. She wasn't expecting it. He never showed her affection outside of the confines of his home and the only people who knew of their relationship were Thierry and Marley.

She wasn't sure what he was doing, but she wasn't averse to it and kept her hand locked in his. Maybe he was finally ready to show his peers and his subjects about his mateship. The thought put a smile on Amaryllis's face.

They walked into the human dining room where most of the servants were already at as it was lunchtime. When they walked in, everyone grew dead silent. They thought the king may have something to say, and they did not want to speak and interrupt his presence. They were intimidated to speak in front of him; afraid to say the wrong thing, afraid of being punished.

Not only that though, but they were also staring shocked at the couples joined hands. Servants who had been there for many years stared in shock, surprised that the King who they knew to be so brutish and cold was holding hands with a human. Other girls, Kayla in particular, were staring at Amaryllis with jealousy and resentment.

But, Ulric had nothing to say. He was simply there so Amaryllis could eat. "Don't let my presence stop you from speaking," he said and led Amaryllis over to get food. Some chatter picked up, but the noise didn't dare resume its previous level out of fear. They didn't want the king to hear what they were discussing and be reprimanded, nor did they even want to be heard. They were afraid of his power and authority, of what he -a vampire- could easily do to a measly human.

Ulric let Amaryllis's hand go when they made it to the food line. He picked up a plate and began to pile all of the foods he knew she liked onto the plate. "You know I can do this myself, right?" She asked as she followed behind him.

"Mhm," was all he said. "Do you want to sit anywhere in particular?"

Amaryllis gazed around the room until her eyes landed in an empty table. "Over there."

"Don't you have friends you want to sit with or sit with the girls you came here with?"

Amaryllis looked around the room and saw the familiar faces of the girls she arrived at the castle with, but she didn't want to sit with them. She wasn't friends with them, and she didn't share a connection with them or any of the other servants since she was isolated from them all.

"No, I don't really know any of them," she said. The only one she was close to was Cameron. She missed Cameron.

"Okay," Ulric replied and led Amaryllis toward the empty table. When they sat down, Ulric sat in the seat right next to Amaryllis. She was glad to have Ulric there with her. She would've been nervous if she had to come there by herself. She hadn't formed any relationships with any of the girls or any other human servants. She was an outcast really.

The only ally she had- that was human- was Cameron. So she was happy she had Ulric there to shield her from the embarrassment of eating alone. She was glad to have Ulric there to diverge the attention away from just herself. She was glad to have Ulric as a newfound ally.

Ulric glanced around the room making eye contact with Kayla, who quickly looked away when she was spotted. Ulric had a talk with her a few weeks before him and Amaryllis left the castle. She boldly approached Ulric and demanded to know why he had been ignoring her.

He quickly pointed out that her perception of the way she could behave was flawed and that immediately shut her up. He was the king, and she was a useless, pathetic, insecure little human that needed to learn her place. And if she didn't, there would be grave consequences. Then he told her that she was delusional to think there was anything between them, and that she was only a hook up that he used to distract himself.

After he reprimanded her, she cried and ran away back to her quarters. It didn't phase him at all. It may seem heartless, but a.) Ulric was willing to hurt other girl's feelings in order to protect his mate's, and b.) he told her when they first started to hook up that it was simply that- an occasional hookup with no strings attached.

He placed his hand on Amaryllis's thigh, waiting for her to be done. After she was finished eating he needed to meet with Thierry to discuss some new training techniques for the soldiers.

Amaryllis pondered upon their trip to the house. Ulric had revealed more of his inner thoughts and emotions in that few day trip than he did during her entire stay in the castle. It was a change of pace, a good change of pace.

He was obviously very guarded when it came to his feelings. But she felt as though they had made major headway that trip. She felt like it truly helped to strengthen and mature their relationship after the torture it had endured at the beginning. 

A little while later when Urlic was in his office with Thierry, Amaryllis was walking around the halls, bored out of her mind. Ulric had been working for a few hours at that point, and her only friend was gone.

A vampire that she had seen around the castle before that reminded her of a sweet middle-aged mother was walking toward her. Other than Ulirc and Thierry, she was the only other vampire that had ever shown her an ounce of geniality. She often smiled at Amaryllis when they saw each other in the halls, and even helped Amaryllis pick up some cleaning supplies when she dropped them one day.

"Amaryllis," the woman called out. Amaryllis stopped walking and turned to face her. 

"Hello," she greeted.

"Hi, I'm Binta. I'd thought I'd finally introduce myself. I don't mean to pry in your and the King's business, but I wanted to know if the rumors were true?" Amaryllis didn't think the woman had any ulterior motives. She seemed harmless, just wanting to confirm some rumor. Maybe she was close to Ulric and just wanted to see how he was doing. 

"Wait, what rumor?"

"That you and King Ulric are mates," Binta replied.

Wow, word travels fast around the castle, she thought to herself. Only the human servants in the dining room and some of the guards who had seen them walking around the halls had witnessed their intimate hand-holding. 

 "Oh, yeah. We are mates," Amaryllis confirmed confidently. She was happy to admit that she was mated to Ulric. 

A bright smile appeared on Binta's face. "That's lovely! I'm so happy to hear. I used to babysit King Ulric back when he was just a little boy. I'm so happy to know that he finally has a real mate, a second chance mate after everything that she put him through."

"Yeah... wait, what? A second chance mate?" 

"Oh, did he not tell you about her? Ulric had a mate before," she said sounding confused. Binta would have thought Ulric would have told her.

"No," Amaryllis said as the smile fell from her face and a feeling of dread filled her stomach. She felt ill, a gnawing nausea eating at her. "He never told me."

"Oh, well I think I've overstepped, dear. I'm sorry, I will just be on my way then," she said and quickly scurried off before Amaryllis could ask her about Ulric's other mate.