CAPTIVE by the Prince

Chapter Twenty Five

Ana’s continuous weeping made her tired, causing her to fall asleep an hour after Ivan left. Her room was completely dark due to the thick curtains drawn down, and she had no idea if it was still night or dawn had already passed.

She snuggled closer to her pillow, willing herself to go back to sleep, when she sensed someone was behind her. Her instinct told her that danger was imminent and she rolled to the other side of the bed just in time to avoid a dagger from slicing her neck. The sharp knife had instead landed on her arm, giving her a shallow gapping wound. Before she could even get out of bed to get a better look at her attacker, the shadowy figure already sprinted towards the door and fled. She ran after the killer, but her attacker was nowhere in sight when she reached the sitting room.

She ran towards Ivan’s room that was right across from hers and pushed the door opened, only to be surprised that she found her husband standing inside instead of the killer.

“Ivan! W-what are you doing here? Why are you here?” she managed to ask while gasping for air.

“This is my room. Why shouldn’t I be here?”

“I thought you will go back to your father’s castle.”

“I changed my mind,” he answered in a clipped tone. “What are you doing there, standing by the door and letting in the draft?”

“I was attacked! I was trying to follow the killer but–” Ana suddenly flinched at the excruciating pain she felt on her arm where the knife had penetrated. The wound grew bigger and searing with intense pain. She clutched her arm as her knees weakened, causing her to fall like a heap on the floor.

Ivan was instantly beside her, kneeling down. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I don’t know!” She felt a scorching heat was travelling from her opened wound towards her hand and fingers until her arm became numb.

Ivan carried her and placed her on his bed. “I’ll summon for Alea.” He hurriedly went out and Ana heard him shouting orders to whoever it was that was at the door to call Alea. He came back after a few seconds later and sat on the bed beside her.

Ana groaned in pain due to the knifelike sensation she began to feel on her heart. What was happening to her? It was impossible for a shallow wound to cause her to feel this way.

A few minutes later, the door swung open and Alea came rushing inside the room. Ivan stood and made room for the female elf on the bed. Alea gently held Ana’s affected arm and carefully examined her wound while Ivan relayed to her what happened.

“She’s been poisoned,” Alea confirmed. “The dagger must have been dipped or rubbed with poisonous substance to ensure Her Highness’ death.”

Ana flinched at the renewed pain she felt on her chest. “Am I going to die?” she said followed by a grunt.

She caught Alea and Ivan exchanged a worried glance before the healer faced her and said truthfully, “The poison is a strong one and it can cause death. But I can prevent it from spreading completely in your body. I will just go to my room and prepare the antidote.”

After Alea hastily left, only then it suddenly registered into Ana the danger she was now in. Someone had tried to kill her. And the killer almost succeeded. But who would do such thing? She couldn’t think of anyone who would do such thing.

She noticed Ivan was glowering at her arm where the wound was gapping. A flicker of fear sparked within her and her heart crushed upon realizing who might her assailant was.

***

Lucya attended to her wound later that evening. Alea had reapplied a salve before Lucya rolled a clean bandage on her arm. She was sitting on one of her comfortable chair in her small sitting room, waiting for her brother and mother to arrive. Kristoff had promised the other night that he would be teaching her how to teleport this evening, and she was excited for her lessons. Lady Isobel wasn’t visiting her anymore for her lessons. She asked Kristoff the other night why she hadn’t seen Lady Isobel for quite some time now. He had given her a grim look and told her that Lady Isobel suddenly disappeared without a trace. According to Lady Isobel’s servant, they had seen her agitated several nights ago, pacing back and forth in her room, before she had gone for a walk at her garden then disappeared. She was never seen again after that night.

Ana decided to brush off the thoughts about Lady Isobel’s mysterious disappearance. She needed to focus on forming a barrier in her mind so Kristoff and her mother wouldn’t be able to read her mind. She hadn’t informed them yet of the attack for fear that it might cause her mother to worry, not to mention Kristoff turning into an overly protective older brother again. She had also asked Lucya to keep the attack a secret. Lucya solemnly swore she would never reveal a soul.

She got bored waiting for her family and decided to give Ivan a visit. He had told her earlier that he would be in the hall to discuss with the captain of the guards about creating new plans on making her safety the guard’s top priority.

She made her way along the corridors, and her thoughts drifted to Ivan’s earlier display of outrage to his guards for neglecting the safety of the vampire princess.

“How the hell did anyone get into my home, into her room?” she remembered him bellowed to the captain of the guards.

Yes, that remained to be a question. How did the assailant get past the several guards stationed at every doorway, at every hall, corridor, and corner? Unless… Was he a member of this household, who knew every nook and corner to have escaped and disappeared immediately when she ran after him? Or was he the master of the house who nobody would ever suspect…

Ivan had showed earlier how he took her safety a serious matter. Even if he was still a bit cold and aloof towards her, he had still shown kindness towards her during the entire time Alea was nursing her wounds. A part of her was making her feel guilty for considering Ivan as her attacker.

It was impossible. Ivan had admitted he was starting to fall for her. She even saw it in his eyes. And he was just indifferent towards her now because of the changes she had undergone. Surely, after sometime, Ivan would accept her changes and her nature as a vampire. Nothing was impossible. She fell in love with that darn elf even though he was the most arrogant guy she had ever met, so therefore anything was possible.

“…I wanted to extract my vengeance on her…”

Ana stopped at the side of the doorway and took a deep breath. She was about to enter when snippets of a conversation inside the hall caught her attention, causing her to halt on her tracks.

“…I do admit I wanted to get rid of her…”

She let out a loud gasp and instinctively took a step back, her hand clutched at her heart. Her movement might have caught the attention of Ivan and the captain of the guards, Alston, for they both snapped their heads at her direction.

Ana took another step back, her face a picture of horrified dismay. “Y-you wanted to get rid of me?”

Ivan stood with an alarmed look on his face. “Ana…”

“Don’t come near me!” she exclaimed. “You wanted to kill me! You wanted me dead… It was you!”

“Ana, I –wait!”

She didn’t allow for Ivan to finish what he was saying for she sprinted away from the hall and ran towards her chambers with an incredible vampire speed she never knew she possessed.

Her heart was aching with pain, dismay and fear that swirled with each other, creating intense mixed emotions that wanted to burst inside of her. She had tried to deny her instinct, the painful possibility that Ivan might be the one who wanted her dead. It was agonizing… It was gnawing on her heart… The one she had fallen in love with wanted her dead.

She suddenly slammed into a hard wall only to realize that she ran into Kristoff’s body standing at middle of the sitting room. She staggered backwards and Kristoff’s hands shot forward, gently grasping her shoulders to keep her from falling backwards.

“What’s the hurry, sis?” he said in an amused tone. “You missed me that much that you dashed right into my arms?”

The frightened look in her face might have caused her brother to frown on her with concern. It was several seconds later when Ana realized that Kristoff was reading her mind. And before she was able to block her mind, the growl Kristoff made was proof that he was already aware of everything.

“I will tear that elf apart!” he roared before he disappeared right in front her eyes.

Ana did not notice her mother was standing at her side. The queen wrapped her arms around her and they both teleported to a place Ana knew not where.

She felt the queen assisting her to sit down. She did not mind her surroundings, did not give any regards to the people who was surrounding her. She was still in shock about what had happened, about what she had learned. She closed her eyes and began to cry.