45 He's Watching Us
Sabina’s eyes glinted with a look of disbelief as she scoffed and asked, “You cannot be serious,” She seemed more surprised by the fact that Asher was planning to dance with the queen than rejecting a dance with her.
Asher emptied his cup of wine as he asked, “What makes you think I am not?”
Sabina’s eyes narrowed as she playfully smiled, “Really? You willing to bet on that?”
“You like to place bets? Fine. What are the stakes going to be?” Asher asked with crossed arms.
Sabina blinked as she realized he was really serious. But this only made her feel even more excited as she let out a short, charming giggle and said, “I will take you up on your word then. If you fail, then you should let me drink your blood whenever I feel like it without any prescribed limit. Of course, I will make sure to not let you die from the lack of blood nor make you feel like you are dying. I wouldn’t want the queen to get angry, would I?”
‘So she is after my blood? What is she planning…’ Asher knew a vampire loved to drink blood, but why was she fixated on his when she could drink anybody else’s blood?
Asher saw her eyes glowing with bloodlust for a brief second the moment she put forward her condition.
His gut was also telling him that letting her drink his blood seemed like a dangerous affair, though not surprising considering she was a 500 year old demon in the end.
Still, he said, “Sure. But only if you agree to my condition that if you lose…you owe me a gift of my choosing,” In his mind, he already knew what to ask, though he was taking a gamble here.
“Fair enough, as long as it’s something I already have,” Sabina said with a nonchalant look. What could a crippled royal consort possibly need anyway? She couldn’t wait to have some fun seeing him try to win such an impossible bet.
Asher emptied another cup of wine within just a few seconds, making Sabina let out an amused giggle, “Oh my…You are really motivated,” Sabina felt like she must have provoked whatever pride he had. However, it was refreshing to see somebody so weak being so determined to try something they knew they were going to lose. Not everyone would have the guts to do so.
But she had no idea that Asher was eagerly looking forward to getting something he desperately needed from her.
He walked towards the platform with a firm gaze. Rowena’s gaze was blank as if she was thinking about something else when suddenly her gaze shifted upon noticing Asher walking towards her. There was a hint of confusion in her eyes, wondering why he was coming back so soon and staring at her like that.
“Ugh, look at him. Crawling back towards the queen after wandering around. I bet he got scared talking to Sabina,” Rebecca snorted with a look of contempt.
Ceti was still slow dancing, but she constantly devoted a part of her attention to the queen just to make sure everything was alright. And that was when her eyes narrowed upon seeing Asher walking towards the queen, “Why is he walking towards her?” She mumbled as her forehead creased, not expecting him to come back so soon.
“What is it, Ceti?” Silvan asked upon seeing her getting distracted and raised his gaze to see Asher walking toward the queen.
Everybody else saw him and was about to continue with their business when their gazes froze upon seeing Asher raising a hand toward the queen.
“Would you like to have a dance with me, Rowena?” Asher asked with a charming smile, his voice loud enough for everybody to hear.
Rowena’s eyes shone with a hint of surprise and confusion as if she wasn’t expecting him to suddenly come up and ask.
Everyone else had the same thought as well, and those dancing on the dance floor stopped as their attention was on their queen and the crippled consort. They couldn’t believe he had the guts to ask the queen to dance with him. If he was a worthy consort instead of a cripple, he would at least have some qualification to ask. But this was just insulting to see.
If someone as impressive and capable as Prince Oberon Drake was asking, it would at least seem acceptable. Once again, everybody sighed at how their beautiful and extraordinary queen had to have her marriage life ruined by getting married to such a powerless idiot.
Sabina blinked her eyes as she mumbled to herself with a smile, “Quite gutsy for a cripple…How interesting…”
“The royal consort continues to surprise,” Lord Vernon Valentine commented with a refined smile before taking a sip from his chalice.
“I am afraid he would have to get his head checked again by the royal physician. His behavior would surely land him in trouble, or maybe he already is in trouble,” Lady Naida Valentine remarked with a sympathetic smile.
“But he is so mean and refused to play with me,” Silvia Valentine mumbled with an aggrieved yet cute pout, though her eyes dangerously focused on Asher’s back.
“Is that boy serious?” Lady Esther Thorne asked in a stony voice.
“Did he go mad again?” Edmund Thorne scoffed with a jeering gaze.
“He should have never left his bed,” Oberon Drake said with a dark smile.
“Once a retard, always a retard,” Rebecca said as she placed her hands on her pretty lips as if to prevent herself from laughing.
Rowena closed her eyes for a moment before saying, “I don’t feel like it.”
Asher expected such an answer from her as he maintained his hand in the air and said, “But I insist.”
“Don’t bother asking. I don’t want to,” Rowena said with a subtle shake of her head. She couldn’t understand why he seemed so determined to dance with her and wanted him to just go away.
Everybody could see that their queen was clearly refusing the royal consort even though they couldn’t hear what they were saying. How could he still disrespect her and stand in front of her like a fool?
Ceti slowly shook her head, wondering what was going through his head to have such guts to ask the queen for a dance. Does he really believe that just because he was married to her, he could ask such things from her? She knew he was going to cause some trouble, but she never thought it would be in public like this.
“The royal consort doesn’t seem to respect our queen or care about her face. Does he not know because of not having a soul for all these years? He is making things difficult for the queen. Is this the reason you seemed to get frustrated when I mentioned him?” Silvan asked with a concerned look.
“I apologize. I will talk to you later. I have to go now and make sure he doesn’t make things more difficult for the queen,” Ceti said in a hurried tone as she suddenly removed her hands from Silvan’s grip and walked away.
“Ceti…” Silvan was about to raise his hand to call her back but sighed as he saw her hurrying towards the platform. He couldn’t help but look at Asher’s back as his gaze hardened, but then he shook his head and stepped to the side.
“How shameless he must be to still keep pestering after getting refused. He should be disciplined and let him realize where he truly belongs,” Rebecca couldn’t help but pass more comments in annoyance.
Rowena’s tone became firm as she said, “Why are you insisting like this? You could dance with anybody else you want, but I don’t want to. I can assign a partner for you,” She thought he was asking because nobody wanted to dance with him.
ƥαṇdαηθνε|
Rowena’s expression became rigid and hard to read. But after a moment or two of silence, she said with a strong nod, “You don’t have to be concerned about me. I am fine sitting here.”
Asher softly chuckled and said, “Are you? This is a day of celebration in my name. So why not at least indulge me and let these people know that you are celebrating as well. If my late father-in-law had been here, he would have also wanted to see you dance and enjoy just like everybody else. Come on…at least do it as if he is watching us right now.”
Rowena’s lips pressed together with a hint of hesitation filling her eyes. But seeing Asher nod at her, she let out a low sigh and said, “Only a short dance.”
Asher smiled subtly as he saw Rowena extending her dainty cold hand with black evening gloves. He gently held it as he began to lead her down the platform, much to everyone else’s shock.