Bab 21: Want a drink?
Theodore's parents looked at each other and wondered what was wrong with him. For the past few days, he had been happy. Now he looked like his previous self.
"What do you think happened?", his mother asked.
"I don't know, maybe he just had a bad day".
"I don't think that's the reason, perhaps he had a fight with lord Alistair", his mother speculated.
"Martha, whatever reason he isn't happy, he will figure it out himself. Theodore isn't a kid anymore. He is a grown man, and we should know that and stop pampering him so much", his father told her.
"but....",
"no buts Martha, leave the boy alone and stop fussing, he will be okay". He held up the invite from the palace. "What are we going to do about this?",
"can't we decline the invitation?", Martha asked hopefully
"of course not, that would be very disrespectful and would only make the king angry with us".
"so what do we do?",
"we honor the invite, go to the palace for dinner, act normal and pray everything goes well",
"there should be no problems right? She is isolated and isn't allowed outside".
He held her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Everything will be fine, Martha. May be after all of this, you may consider telling Theodore the truth",
"what if he hates us after learning the truth",
"then we know we have done our best, at least we have had his love for twenty-three years". He ribbed her shoulders as he comforted her.
Alistair rode back home, deep in thought about why Theodore had behaved the way he had just done. He had made sure to ask Theodore severally if he was okay, and Theodore had given him consent. Or could he have moved too fast, the issue was that Theodore was far too tempting for him to resist? It had taken all of his self-control so far to stop himself from touching him, and now Theodore was probably scared of him.
He got to his place and met Fife in his sitting room having a drink. He looked up when Alistair entered. ''oh, you are back, want to have a drink?'', Fife asked as he raised the glass in Alistair's direction. Alistair rolled his eyes and walked up to Fife and poured himself a drink. ''it's my house, Fife''.
''I thought you would be spending the night with Theodore'',
''I thought so too, something came up, and he had to leave''.
''It's surprising you are going so slow with him, you are not usually this slow when you pursue someone'', Fife remarked.
''Theodore is very innocent, I have to take my time with him''.
The two men looked at each other and smiled, contrary to what most people in the kingdom thought, Alistair and Fife's friendship didn't just start from the kingdom of Qiren, their friendship went way back. Fife was also the only one in Qiren who knew Alistair's real identity, that he was a vampire.
''what did you think of the garlic, by the way?'', Fife asked with a smirk. Alistair glared at him and he burst out laughing.
''How could you let him present that idea to the king'',
''What could I have done? Stop him? He would have suspected something was wrong'',
''I am sure you probably had fun watching me being uncomfortable earlier'',
''I had a lot of fun, that boy is far too smart. You are lucky, I removed some of the books which contained harmful information''. Alistair smiled as he thought about Theodore. Fife was right, Theodore was much too smart,, and he hoped that he wouldn't be able to figure out his real identity soon.
''you should be cautious with how you have been feeding Alistair, the kingdom is pretty much on guard now, and I don't want you to be caught''.
''I know, I will be careful. But whatever possessed you to report what he said to the king, you are basically the cause of all of my troubles right now''.
Fife put his glass down and sighed, ''Ralfe was present that day, as soon as Theodore talked about vampires, his eyes sparkled, and I could hear the wheels turning in his head. I knew it was only a matter of time before he told our uncle and passed it off as his idea. So, I seized the opportunity, at least this way I can keep a close eye on everything and warn you in advance''.
''thanks a lot, fife. I don't know what I would have done without you'',
''you are welcome. By the way, aren't you mad at Theodore for lying to you'', fife asked curiously, he really wanted to know how Alistair felt about this.
''actually I am not, he was just following the king's order. Besides, he didn't tell his parents the truth too, so why should I be mad at him''.
Fife nodded his head, ''that's true. By the way, I think you should start thinking about leaving'',
''why?'',
''the king has informed your kingdom that he suspects a vampire is here, and they have promised to look into the matter, unless you want to be dragged back home, I suggest we start searching for an alternative place''.
''it would take them quite some time to get here, I should still have a month or so, lets not panic''.
''I have heard you, so are going to tell me what happened with Theodore now?'', Alistair poured himself another drink. ''nothing happened okay''.
''fine, if you say so'', fife shrugged and poured himself another drink too.
''so Fife my dearest friend, when are you going to tell your mother that you would rather not get married to Betty?'', Alistair asked him.
''never, what am I going to tell my mother is the reason for breaking up the engagement'',
''you could tell her the truth",
"what truth? That I like men, she would die of shock if I ever told her that",
"so what are you going to do? Keep avoiding Betty and hoping she gets the hint and breaks the engagement",
"of course". Alistair raised his glass up to him. "Good luck".
Hadiah
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