Chapter 7: 6
Silver woke up peacefully before he looked over to the tiny alarm clock on his black wooden nightstand and realized that it was nearly 2:00 in the afternoon. When he sat up and saw Nick was already sitting there on the side of his bed in front of him, staring at the wall absently.
He wore his signature black suit and held a tired gaze. He hadn't even seemed to notice that Silver had woken up and was staring at him.
Silver would never admit this out loud, but he actually really liked Nick's face when he was unfocused. Or rather when he was focused on something in his head, instead of something right in front of him. His eyes seemed brighter and blurrier, and his eyebrows were furrowed curtly, but the rest of his sharp features were perfectly relaxed.
Silver eventually reached over and poked him in the cheek to wake him out of his daydream. Nick looked at him, shocked for a second, before giving him a small smile.
"You sure slept a lot, seeing as you didn't drink anything," He commented.
"I'm getting my full night's rest," Silver shrugged, "Sober or not."
The prince just smiled widely with a slow nod. Silver continued, "Is it just, like, vampire-manners to be right next to the person when they wake up?"
"Only when they love you," he grinned before shaking his head, "I just have to talk to you about something."
"About the people who are trying to kill me or about my cousin barfing all over you? Because I'd love to talk about the latter," Silver laughed.
"Haha. No," Nick pretended to glare, "the Dragons are trying to kill you. I just don't know why is the thing."
"Dragons?" Silver nearly choked on his own air, "You mean the big scaly things? That fly in the sky and wreak havoc? You know, from history textbooks? Those dragons?"
"Nah" Nick shook his head with a snort, "They're a company- well, more like a bloody gang. Dragon co. They make-"
"Curtains and carpet and literally everything under the sun, yeah I know what you're talking about," Silver caught on, leaning his chin on his hand "But what would they want with me?"
"That's what I was gonna ask you, love. They seem pretty bent on killing you too," He shrugged, "But we're not gonna let them get to you."
"I feel so reassured, a vampire I met days ago is gonna make sure I don't get killed," Silver rolled his eyes.
"This may sound like a shock, since I'm such a monster to you, but I actually care about the people of my country," Nick sighed. He scooted closer and looking back at the wall again, "And, most importantly, I care I about you. In a very special way."
"Why?" Silver leaned in, forcing Nick to look at him directly.
"Because I actually have feelings for you," he said.
Silver shook his head, "You don't even know me, Nick."
"You might've been able to say that days ago," Nick took the sides of his face gently in his hands and Silver almost thought he was going to kiss him again but he just kept talking, "But not now. I've gotten to know you, even if it's just a little bit. Your fiery attitude and how adorably but terribly flushed you visibly become whenever I compliment you, and how undoubtedly devoted you are to your family. I've learned all that about you in just a few days Silver,"
"You-"
Silver couldn't put into words the tremendous heat that just took over his face. Their heads were inches apart, Silver could smell Nick's breath.
Then Nick dropped his hands and stood up. Silver ignored the coldness that took the place of where Nick's hands previously were and raised an eyebrow, "Where are you going?"
"My room. I didn't sleep last night. You know I gotta get my beauty sleep," he winked "I'll see you later, love."
***
Klara, Angie, and Darius were wandering.
Truthfully, Klara was walking with Angie when Darius suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He claimed to had been visiting his dad.
Angie, who was entirely too nice, told Darius that of course he could join them, and so the aimless walking around began.
Klara was surprised about Virlaq, to be honest. She wasn't expecting it to be this big or this city-like. There were skyscrapers and other tall buildings and people almost everywhere. They soon reached an area deep in the kingdom where it seemed like the crowds had thinned out. They eventually found a building that seemed to be an old elementary school.
It was beige with a rainbow mural painted across the perimeter with poorly drawn kids frolicking through flowers. It seemed abandoned by how there were no children and several of the windows were broken. The letters on the sign in front read, ST. R CH RDS ELEM NTAR , with several letters missing.
"Does this place have a playground?" Klara asked, walking around the building. Angie and Darius followed her silently.
Sure enough, they found a fenced playground. Nobody spoke as they all hopped the fence in the play area and they followed Klara over to the swings. They sat on the swings on either side of her.
She sat down with a sigh, "I used to sit on the swings in the nearby playground back at home all the time," she said to no one in particular, "To think."
"That's surprisingly cute," Angie giggled, Darius laughed as well.
"I was gonna say the same thing," He said to her, "Really ruins your tough-girl image."
"I don't have a tough-girl image," Klara answered indignantly, "Or if I do, I didn't make it for myself on purpose."
"You just don't strike me as a thinker, you know?" Angie pitched in, trying to help.
Klara pretended to glare at her, "Are you trying to politely call me dumb?"
"No no no!" she put her hands up in surrender, despite the giggles that escaped her mouth, "I'm just saying you seem like the person who likes to live life freely, you know? 'Cuz thinking can really hold some people back... or at least that's the vibe you give off at school."
Klara was about to, ironically, think about what Angie just said when Darius suddenly spoke up, "Why do you even go to school if you're friends with the prince?" he asked, "I mean, can't you get private education like he did?"
"Uh well I'm not really friends with him," Klara furrowed her brows, "He's just... helping my family out for a while."
"Have you ever been alone with him?" Darius asked
"Um... Once, I think," she answered, trying to ignore how weird the question was, "when he was helping me move into my dorm."
"He helped you move in?!" they both gasped at the same time, Klara just rolled her eyes at them.
"It's really not that big of a d-"
"That's so cool," Darius continued, "I can't believe my friend is friends with the prince,"
Klara didn't care enough about this conversation to point out that she wasn't Darius nor the prince's friend really. Instead, she just shrugged and wished the conversation topic would change.
"So have you ever been in the castle?" Darius asked, clearly not catching on.
"That would be so cool," Angie said.
Klara turned to Darius, "Why are you so fixated on my relationship with the prince?"
There was a moment of silence, where Darius seemed to not know how to answer, when he just shrugged awkwardly, "I guess I just... I'm really fascinated with royalty and the royal family. Knowing you just made me overly excited I guess."
"Yeah okay," she sighed, "Listen, I really don't know the guy. I met him days ago and it seems like his only motive is to get with my cousin."
"They were so cute together," Angie squealed, "Are they dating?"
"I don't even know anymore, can't really do anything about it anyway," Klara answered.
"oooooh, Klara! Are you giving your blessing?" Angie gushed.
"I don't think Klara is giving her blessing," Darius interrupted, "I think she's just saying 'it is what it is'. I mean, if your cousin were to not accept the prince, you'd be okay with that right?"
He looked at her so expectantly, it made Klara feel uncomfortable. He licked his lips, awaiting her answer.
Klara shrugged again, "Sure, whatever,"
***
Of course, Nick wasn't actually going to sleep. His mind was racing and the only thing he did when his mind was racing was walking around where no one would find him.
He was trekking through the woods behind the castle ground when a certain smell tickled his nose, but it was gone the second he turned his head. His phone rang in his pocket, startling him out of his thoughts and, lo and behold, another goddang blocked number.
He answered it angrily, "What."
"This is... Prince Nicholas of Virlaq Kingdom, hm?" said an irritatingly familiar voice.
"Stella Rose, we're not doing this again. You know I am," he seethed into the phone.
He heard a slight giggle on the other end right as an awful smell crept up into his nose. Where was that coming from? Did the horses do their business out here? Surely not.
"Nice to speak with you again, Prince Nicholas. I forgot to mention a few things to you the last time we spoke," she said through fits of laughter.
Nick could barely concentrate, he wandered past tree after tree trying to figure out what was causing that terrible smell.
"Yeah yeah yeah, well, on with it," he snarled, noticing the smell getting closer. He stomped over small twigs, the cracks of each of them echoing throughout the forest. Where was that smell coming from?
Yes, it was definitely getting stronger. God, what was that? It smelled like something dying. He hoped not Silver at least.
"Hang on, I literally just had that paper in front of me. Where did I-," he heard the shuffling of papers through the phone and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, 1. Because she couldn't see him and 2. Because the smell was literally burning his eyes too much for him to do much movement with them.
"In the meantime, while I look for this form..." she carried on, still rummaging through papers, "Aren't you worrying where that smell is coming from? Oh, there's that form!"
Nick stopped dead in his tracks.
"Wait," he spoke clearly into the phone, "What did you just say? Just now?"
"I said I found the form, what I was supposed to relay to you is-"
"No no no," the prince shouted over her, "I meant about the smell, what did you say about the smell?"
"The form told me to remind you that you must not, should not, and will not tell your father about this mess. You know, with the whole 'trying to assassinate Silver Chase' and everything?"
Nick smirked, despite himself and despite the smell, "You're scared of my dad?"
"Oh not at all. I was informed that if you were to tell your father about this whole mishap, then we would not hesitate to make a move against your mother."
His mind went to his mother; his sick, frail mother.
"You won't touch her," he growled lowly.
"Then we're in agreement. Oh- there! You're very close to the smell now, Prince Nicholas,"
Nick stopped for a moment again, "Are you watching me right no- dear god." Nick stopped right in front of a tree. But it wasn't just any tree. This tree had fur or something on it.
And it was bleeding.
Looking closer, Nick realized, no, there wasn't fur on the tree. They were rats, at least fifty of them, nailed to it, dried blood staining the ground around it. Flies had gathered and Nick had to hold his shirt to his nose.
"What in Merlin's Beard..."
"My boss just wanted to remind you not to rat out our plan to your father," Stella Rose replied, "Because no one likes a rat."
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