The Monocle's Eye

Chapter 5

 I awoke to a jab to my neck and started awake to the twins laughing at me. I looked to my left to discern what it was when I saw the Princess latched onto my neck by her teeth. When she saw me she detached and stared at me like I was a phantom, before turning dazed to the twins. Their laughter was silenced instantly as they scrambled to the cupboard and handed her a wine glass of blood. She drank voraciously and in the daze of sleep I was still rather unsure what was happening. When the glass was empty she turned to me. "Sorry, I woke up and was hungry, so I latched onto the closest neck I could find. Don't worry, I didn't drink anything." I looked down and saw two small beads of blood form on the surface of my skin. I wiped then off on a napkin and turned back to the twins, still in the slightly dazed calmness of sleep.

"Is everyone awake?" asked Diamond, appearing in the door. "Shall I start into Caedis, your majesty?" He asked, seeing us awake.

"Yes," The Princess said, finally drawing the curtains completely back. Diamond took his seat and we started off again, and I could not help but notice the enormous difference. The new light blinded me for a while, but when I was adjusted I could see that we were traversing a winding mountain road, that curved around the edge of the enormous mountain, dropping off on the side to a steep cliff. The valleys and mountain sides were coated with thick green foliage and small waterfalls carved their ways down to exposed gray rock in streams. The carriage grew in speed and we seemed to shoot down the road with a little too much confidence for my comfort.

I was so focused on the mountains I didn't notice the bustling behind me until a large dress was thrown onto me. I turned to find quite a different world to that I saw last. The twins were still in their soldier-like uniforms but the Princess had changed into a large deep red dress of ribbon. It crisscrossed in x's around her neck and arms, and then flowed out from the neck into a large flowing red skirt that turned to lace at the base. When she turned to adjust something I saw the back was tied up in crisscrossed ribbon as well, and showed the depths of her sculpted and pale back. Ilustra was surely a well fitting name for her.

I turned back to the dress that had been thrown upon me. It was a blue short one that fell in a flared skirt to my knees and at the top was cut off straight below my shoulders, with sleeves that went just past my elbows. The sleeves and top were of lace while the dress faded into smooth satin, and paired with black flats and high white socks. I thought it pretty on me, although there was no mirror to see. My chain hung down the front and now didn't seem heavy as long as I didn't try to lift it. "Gold, get her a chain necklace with no pendant and a host of sapphire rings,"commanded the Princess when she saw me, she seemed to focus her gaze on the ring upon my pinky.

The twins quickly delivered the items asked for and went to work arranging the rings upon my fingers. "Take off her pinky ring and put it on that chain so it falls under the dress." Master said calmly, "And then pull up my hair." All was taken care of with utmost efficiency, and as the twins were focused upon braiding the Princess's hair into a loose bun, I realized that the two bite marks from this morning were entirely visible because of the shoulder-less dress.

"Is it alright that people can see the bite marks?" I asked, craning my head to see the two small red puncture wounds.

"It's great," The Princess replied, plopping down on her seat and turning to the window. The road seemed to be leveling out a little. "It's the mark of a slave, be worrying if you didn't have one," she replied, "every slave of a vampire has one." She pointed to the twins who displaced their suits to display two gray pairs of dots on the base of their necks.

"It's a mark of loyalty," They replied in unison, and I wondered when I might be able to hear them speak separately again.

"When we arrive, there will be a procession leading us to the Queen, and you must bow on your knees when we get there, as you'll do to me on all occasions." She said, "and you must also reply only to me, and no one else is able to command you unless I tell you so." she continued, and I felt the carriage slow to a halt. We were at a turn in the road where the ground was level, and in front of us was a steep cliff wall of gray rock. I watched as Diamond climbed down from his spot on the driver's seat and approached the wall of the cliff. He seemed to insert some sort of key into the stone, because the stone suddenly shifted back into an arched indent and drew back in a whole piece, before splitting down the middle and disappearing into the walls of a long and smooth arched stone tunnel.