Conquering His Cold Heart

He pushed the door to Anastasia’s chamber open. And before his wife could protest, he was standing in front of the window and facing her.

Anastasia was lying down on the sofa. She was holding the book above her face as if she was deliberately hiding it from Caspian.

“I said I don’t have anything to talk to you,” Anastasia mumbled without taking her eyes off the book that she was holding.

Caspian took the book from Anastasia’s hand so that he could see her face.

“Give it back!” Anastasia tried to reach for the book.

However, Caspian slid it under the sofa. He then sat down on the sofa, trapping Anastasia in between him and the sofa’s backrest so that she wouldn’t be able to run away from him.

Anastasia lay back down and faced the backrest of the sofa to hide her face again. She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

Caspian held her arm and gently shook her. And he asked in a sad whisper, “How long are you going to punish me, Anna?”

.....

“Until I’m dead,” Anastasia mumbled without missing a beat.

“How can you say such cruel words?” Caspian tried to make Anastasia face him.

But she was adamant about not seeing his face.

Caspian heaved a sigh and rested his back on the backrest while making sure that he wouldn’t squeeze his wife.

There was a silence between them for a while.

After a while, Caspian started to speak in a low voice, “Anna, we vampires aren’t the only freaks of nature. There are other creatures out there who possess supernatural abilities like us.”

Caspian badly wanted to share that her friend was a werewolf. However, she was but a human. And he didn’t want to risk waging another inter-racial war just because he revealed the secret he was supposed to keep.

So instead, he tried to clear the misunderstanding between them without revealing the secret. “And please, believe me when I say this, I specifically asked you if your friend had ever bitten you because I suspected him to be one of those creatures.”

Anastasia was listening to him, but she didn’t show that she was curious to know more.

Caspian leaned down and rested his chin on Anastasia’s arm. “Anna, I did not doubt your chastity. I was simply worried about you.”

He gazed at his wife’s face. She was still pretending to be asleep.

So he gently caressed her lips and asked, desperate to hear his wife’s voice, “Wife, say something, will you?”

Anastasia finally opened her eyes and looked at her husband’s face which was very close to her. She was planning to avoid Caspian for the rest of her life, but with the way he was looking at her right now, she was unable to resist talking to him.

“Those creatures’ bites are fatal to humans?” she asked, though that wasn’t the first thing she wanted to know.

“Yes, that’s why I was worried,” Caspian whispered. And he asked her in an apologetic voice, “Will you forgive me now?”

Anastasia disregarded his question and asked her own, “Why did you suspect that Eve was one of those creatures? And what kind of creatures are you talking about?”

Caspian straightened his back and looked out of the window. He thought for a while and answered, “You remember how I smelled the letter, right?”

“You said it stunk,” Anastasia replied while gazing at his face.

Caspian lightly nodded his head and said, “It reminded me of the smell of those creatures. That’s why I suspected that your friend was one of them. Those creatures slaughtered us, vampires, in the past, so we don’t speak of them anymore.”

Caspian cleverly made sure that Anastasia wouldn’t probe further and pushed that topic aside.

And he instantly expressed how he had felt for the past four days, “Anna, do you even know how much I missed you? I couldn’t even focus on any of my work or any of the meetings. All I kept on thinking about was you and how to apologize to you.”

He gazed at his wife’s beautiful face and pleaded, “Please don’t push me any further. I don’t think I can endure the indifference from you anymore.”

Anastasia’s felt a pinch in her heart when she saw her husband’s face. The expression on his face told her that he was being honest.

She tugged her husband’s shirt and pulled him close. She then put her arms around his waist and pressed him against her body.

Caspian was more than happy to be resting his head on his wife’s chest. He slid his arms under his wife’s back and hugged her tightly.

“Does this mean you forgave me?” Caspian asked in a whisper.

Anastasia ran her fingers through Caspian’s blond hair and whispered back, “How could I not forgive you when you were looking at me like a puppy?”

Caspian burst into uncontrollable laughter. He raised his head to look at his wife’s face. And he asked her while chuckling, “Did you just call the most dangerous man on this land a puppy? Are you sure that’s how you see me?”

Anastasia frowned and mumbled in her defense, “You did look like a puppy a while ago.” And then she agreed to him as well, “But yes, sometimes you look like you want to eat me. You’re a very complex man.”

Caspian stopped laughing and thought to himself, ‘I did want to taste your blood that day... badly. I felt something... something bad awaking inside of me. Which is why I can’t afford to meet you with an empty stomach.’

“I’m sorry that I scared you,” Caspian apologized, and pushed himself up with the help of his arms.

He towered above his wife’s face and whispered to her, “I’m not that hard to understand if you spend some more time with me.”

He then asked her, “Why don’t you come back to our chamber? It feels so empty without you around.”

Anastasia, however, pursed her lips and shook her head.

Caspian furrowed his brows and asked, “Why? Are you still angry with me? Tell me, what can I do to make it up to you?”

“No, it’s not that,” Anastasia raised her hand and played with the lace that was dangling down from Caspian’s shirt.

And she stated her reason, “My maids aren’t that used to being around you yet. And when I am there, our bathing routine and dressing routine also clash. We confuse our maids and servants. So I think it will be better if I stay here.”

Caspian unintentionally gave that puppy-eyed look to Anastasia and asked, “Then, can’t we take our baths together? Our helpers will get used to our routine with time. Besides, that’s not a valid reason for a husband and wife to stay in separate chambers.”

Anastasia smiled after seeing his puppy gaze. But she was firm on what she said, “Give my maids and me some time. We are humans in the world of vampires. We will need some time to get used to this place... and also you.”

It hurt Caspian when his wife said that she needed some time to get used to him.

However, he didn’t want to push his wife and make her feel uncomfortable.

So he agreed, but with one condition, “Then you’re not allowed to completely avoid me as you did for the past four days. I can come here anytime I want, and you can come to my chambers whenever you please.”

Anastasia gave a nod and said, “Agreed.”

Caspian rested his head back on his wife’s chest and wrapped her in a hug. And he whispered with a sly smirk on his face, “Then I am sleeping here tonight.”