Chapter 9: Chapter 9: The Duchess of Blood and Butchery
“Yes,” I answered in favor of remaining to officially reign as the Avenadyn duchess when the time came.
“This is preposterous!” a dissenter shouted. The nobleman possessed wavy, brown hair and wore a dark green robe under a yolk-yellow vest. He stormed out of the assembly hall and those in his family joined his exodus.
Velador hadn’t looked back at me since our stare and I remained motionless, out of my element.
“This will be no duchess of mine,” a woman shouted, spat in my direction and vacated the premise. Her husband remained seated whilst staring my way. She shouted for him to “Come on!”
“Should I leave?” I asked Velador but he didn’t respond as he absorbed the turmoil we caused.
A different nobleman came up to me with his hands in his robe’s pockets and I feared a blade would follow, but his open palm greeted me. “My name is Nobleman Caston of the Nimedon Family and I think this idea, although very risky, is worth the attempt. You have my backing, Lady Yyrdra.”
“No, no!” a woman shouted after exiting a conversation with one of my supporters, I believe. “Velador, have you hit your head? Does she have a spell over your c*ck?”
“Do not talk to your duke like that, Lady Slatha!” Nobleman Caston shouted.
“He's a duke only in name. His father still rules from one foot in the grave,” Lady Slatha shouted.
“I rule in my father’s stead while he lays ill! Do not test me with your insubordination!” Velador steamed and took a couple steps towards her in the process.
“I will not sit idle and allow my family and friends to be governed by a duchess of blood and butchery!” Lady Slatha yelled and pointed at me with the utmost rage across her aging face.
“Your assets can be given to someone who will make them prosper if you so choose sedition,” Velador threatened. With her mouth agape, she had no rebuttal and Velador said, “Give it some thought.”
Before long, my new enemies cleared the room but a handful of noblemen and women and several family members from each remained.
A younger woman, sporting dark braided hair, walked over after sitting silent during the chaos. She asked, “Can I hold your hand?”
The request caught me off guard, but I obliged and she took mine in hers. Our complexions mismatched entirely and Velador asked, “How is your mother doing, Lady Malina?”
She sighed and said, “Her memory comes and goes; we haven’t much longer with her.”
“Sympathies, I know my father loved her candor,” Velador laughed after sitting down on the duke’s chair. This wasn’t the throne room, right? It’s nice but a bit underwhelming to call it that.
Then Lady Malina said, “Your skin is so cold yet so beautiful. Not a blemish or freckle. No scars, nothing.”
I smiled slightly to thank her in a way.
“I’ve seen vampires work. It’s not a pleasant sight to behold, there’s no denying that,” Lady Malina stated and looked around at our observers. “But would I ever think that I could stand in the same room as a vampire, take her hand in mine and not be afraid? Never in a hundred lifetimes but here I am, touching something cold but feeling a fire that we may be on the precipice of something magnificent.”
“Well said,” Nobleman Caston commented and rubbed Malina’s shoulder.
I smiled, unconsciously bearing my teeth - which she noticed - and said, “Thank you.”
From there, I met the rest of the supporters, heard their opinions and quickly forgot their names. As they began filing out, Velador sat back on his designated chair and I eyed the one meant for me.
“This is our first time alone together since the lakeshore,” I commented.
He nodded with a stoic visage.
My desire to feel again what I felt under the Kindred crystal remained and I contemplated if he and I will ever get there in our partnership. There were so many obstacles to overcome and I couldn’t just simply attack him in his chambers to claim what I yearn for. We had to build this from the ground up so that we had a chance to experience a feeling so timeless.
“Not very many people know about you. It’ll take time to accept,” he stated without looking my way.
I ran my finger around the channel carved into a circular, marble table. A blue, rectangular tablecloth draped off the sides and I sat upon the bench and asked, “Will the peasantry riot?”
“Some of the nobles who stormed out may try to incite dissent,” he answered.
I finally found the courage to stop admiring his nobly handsome face and realized that his off-blond hair matched the fuzz on his broad forearms resting on the chair. He wore a blue tunic with gold trim on the ends and collar. His belt held up more than just his sheath and sword but also a proper set of well tailored pants. A crown, if dukes even wear crowns, would rest nicely upon his light brown, flowing hair.
“Come, let me introduce you to my father before he steps his other foot into the grave.”
That was strangely lighthearted for such a grim subject.
* * * * *
After he led me back into the castle, we ended up on a higher floor and his two guards waited outside as we entered his father’s chambers. The circular room looked to be part of a tower based on its shape. A bed held the frail Grand Duke Maleninon. He sat up in bed under the covers but didn’t stir upon entering.
A chambermaid watched over him with care and smiled, “Greetings, my lord.”
“Can you give us the room, please?” he asked.
“Yes, okay. Is she a healer?” the chambermaid asked.
“Not quite,” Velador replied, leaving it at that. The maid left and Velador said, “His mind is sound but his body is losing whatever battle it fights.”
The vulnerability struck me for once and I offered simple words of, “It must hurt to watch.”
That might have made him remember our lake incident but he didn’t bring it up. Velador said, “Father? Father?” He knelt and patted his arm to awaken him.
“My son,” he smiled and stared at Velador. Those hazy eyes probably couldn’t see too well anymore, but there was no mistaking a son in a father’s eyes.
“She’s arrived, Yyrdra, the vampire heiress,” Velador whispered.
“Bring her close, my vision is poor,” he said in a raspy voice and ushered me over.
“Hello lord,” I said out of respect and knelt alongside his bed.
“You just might be my dying wish,” he mumbled and put his wrinkly hand upon my cheek.
“My family believes in your plan too so I’ll try to see it succeed,” I replied as he removed his hand.
He pulled me closer by grabbing the back of my dress near my shoulders and said, “I haven’t much time left. This marriage is to be consecrated as soon as possible and you must work with my son to see it through.”
I looked at Velador and I said, “We’ll do our best. I am of my father’s blood after all; a true stateswoman.”
He laughed and said, “I always liked your father.”
“You met? In person?”
“Many times when I could still walk,” he replied and Velador looked as surprised as I.
His voice sounded as feeble as his bones looked, and he truly was one foot in the grave. I felt obligated to reply so I said, “I’m glad you found solace in each other. It’s rare nowadays.”
“Indeed,” he said and pulled me even closer. He whispered with warm, stale breath, “I have a dying wish, Yyrdra. I still have plans. Please, bite me. Grant me just a few more years; it’s all I need.”
“Father, no!” Velador shouted. “That was never the plan!”
“It doesn’t work like that,” I replied as Velador pulled me away by my shoulders.
He brushed against the curves of my hips while he approached his father in discord. “Was this your endgame? You wanted to be bitten by her? Did her father know?”
“It was never part of the deal!” he shouted and began coughing. Velador gave him water and the grand duke said, “I’ve contemplated it for days and it’s what I want”
“You won’t survive. You’re too frail,” I stated. I didn’t want to bite him, truly, but I was going to need a meal soon.
“Perhaps we’ll come back after you’re given lunch,” Velador said and the Grand Duke Maleninon nodded in agreement, fatigued by whatever afflicted him.
I smiled over my shoulder and followed Velador back to the castle’s foyer where Madam Holsienne loitered with several staff. Velador turned to me, just a foot away, and stood over me silently. I stared up at him as his gaze found some focal point to my flank.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He nodded but his lips remained shut for a few moments. “Let us begin. We have a wedding to prepare for.”
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone