Married to the Vampire Prince [BL]

Alessio lay decadently against round jewel cushions, his black hair fanned out behind him. He sighed blissfully, his pale gray eyes slipping close. "I wonder what Eleanor is like."

The Vampire he addressed was seated on an opposing sofa, startling red eyes narrowed in disapproval. "Sheltered, naive, and afraid of you."

Alessio's eyes flicked open, "Don't you have better things to do?" He accused the lounging Vampire who had long fingers in his gold bowl of grapes.

"I do," Luka admitted, making no move to rise. "Fixing whatever delusion you have of the human Princess is more important."

Alessio sat up at that, his silk dress shirt partially unbuttoned. "Isn't it better to be deluded?" He tilted his head to the side, "It's not like I have a choice."

Luka gritted his sharp teeth, crushing the fruit between his fangs more than eating them. "The King didn't have to accept the proposal. The alliance would have flourished regardless."

The second Vampire Prince just waved a hand, laying back down with a yawn. This was an old discussion with his friend. Alessio didn't understand why the Vampire was so agitated about his impending marriage.

It had been decided for years now and Alessio had long made his peace with it, after all, they lived for centuries, what were a few decades of his life for the benefit of his country?

He even made more than his peace with his betrothal, he had begun to look forward to it. He was still young for a Vampire, barely three decades old but he was already greedy for love. And perhaps he was looking at his arranged marriage through rose-colored glasses, he would still argue that it was far better than being jaded.

"If you're going to insist on staying here, at least talk about something more uplifting." Alessio scolded. "My bride is coming in less than a fortnight, can we not talk about politics?"

Luka looked at the Royal Vampire with an exasperated expression, his long red hair was in a neat knot behind his neck, his dress shirt and cravat neatly pinned in place. "So you intend for it to be a proper wedding?" He asked quietly, crushing tender grapes in a fist.

Alessio groaned audibly, "That's it. Out of my room, out with you." He shooed the other out.

Like Alessio's words had been heard, a servant dressed in livery knocked politely before marching in. "I was sent to summon Sir Luka," He bowed deeply."

"I'm having an audience with His Highness," Luka lied blatantly.

"No, he's not." Alessio sharply cut in, "Cart him away."

Luka's red eyes held betrayal and it almost made Alessio give in but he knew that if he did, the noble Vampire would spend the rest of the afternoon talking his ear off about how much of a bad match the human Princess was for him.

Eleanor.

Alessio had never seen her in person but King Rolfe was generous enough to send paintings of her. He rose from the couch he had been lying on with a hidden agility that belied his lazy demeanor, going to the chest where he had Eleanor's paintings meticulously kept.

He stopped hanging them because Luka always had a visceral reaction to the paintings and he feared that his friend would let his emotions get the better of him and rip into the paintings. He only had three after all, he didn't want to lose them, they were precious.

He picked up the most recent painting, it had been sent nearly a year ago and it depicted Eleanor in a flower garden. Her flaxen hair rivaled the sun and her smile was more eye-catching than the flowers in bloom.

Alessio caught himself smiling. He didn't have the words to explain it to Luka but even from her paintings, he could tell that Eleanor wouldn't be afraid of him. As for being naive and sheltered, that came with being royalty, he was no better.

He returned the painting gently and went back to his cushions, basking underneath the warm sunlight with the taste of ripe grapes on his tongue. As the second Prince of a flourishing country, his duties were few. Besides marrying Princess Eleanor, he hadn't been tasked with any official duty, so his days were often spent like this. - lazy and slow.

That might have to change after his wedding but for now, there was nothing demanded of him, so he closed his pale gray eyes to the world and dozed off.

-+-

Silvan woke up abruptly, his expression was pained. There were dark circles beneath his empty blue-green eyes despite the fact that he had just been asleep, gold-blond hair sleep-tousled.

Although he had barely gotten a complete hour's sleep for two days now, Silvan didn't go back to bed, instead, he rose to his feet, splashed icy water on his face, and resumed his penance at the marble slab.

Silvan had been unable to get more than a few hours of sleep ever since Eleanor died and it worsened with every passing day. His quarters at the Temple of Kalla which once soothed him were now his own prison, his dead sister staring down at him from his walls.

In this dim room, it was easy to lose the passing of time, and if it weren't for his meals which were returned mostly uneaten, Silvan wouldn't know what day it was. He swayed slightly at the altar, feeling the room spin although his eyes were tightly shut.

He couldn't continue in this manner, Silvan knew this. Even if Eleanor remained alive, he couldn't be a High Priest for the rest of his life. He would soon have to take up his duties as a Prince.

So he knelt with bated breath, waiting for the inevitable summon from his father because they still had to decide what was to be done about the failed engagement.

Silvan opened his eyes and stared at the mosaic painting on the wall but this time, he didn't look at the Patron Saint, instead, he focused on the cowering Vampire before her. Its wretched black hair, sinister red eyes, pale skin, and sharp claws. A fiend from hell.