Conquering His Cold Heart

Tilla had just finished changing Anastasia from that party wear to a more comfortable gown. But she was yet to make Anastasia wear the hood and the shoes.

“A-Are we being attacked? W-Who?” Anastasia mumbled. “B-Bandits?” she asked, even when deep down in her heart she had a different guess as to who those attackers were.

“There’s no time to-” Caspian suddenly heard the swooshing sounds coming from behind him. He instantly turned around to find all five of his royal guards standing by the door.

“Your Majesty.” They all said in unison and waited for their orders.

Caspian could already hear the battle cries and the screams of the injured ones. He could tell that they only had half a minute before some loose werewolves would start to make their way inside the inn. And Caspian couldn’t afford to let anyone get in the vicinity of his sick wife.

He grabbed the blanket from the bed and wrapped it around Anastasia in such a way that only her nose and mouth were visible.

“Bear with me. We are going to fly,” Caspian whispered near his wife’s ear and immediately carried her as if she was an infant, pressing her head on his shoulder with one hand and holding her up by her thighs with the other.

He then turned to look at his guards and ordered, “Let’s head in the direction of our border. We will make a stop at the first village that we come across in an hour. Until then, keep on following me closely.”

.....

“Yes, Your Majesty,” all of the soldiers shouted and got ready to run after their King and their Queen.

“I’ll take off now,” Caspian informed his wife, and after making sure that he was holding her properly, he ran along the corridor of the inn at a rather slow speed.

Upon reaching the back door of the inn, he kicked the door with his foot with all his might. The door flew away in the air without any trace. And in the very next moment, he and his wife were in the air while all the royal guards followed them from the ground.

There was barely any moonlight brightening up the night. If it wasn’t for their sharp night vision, the guards wouldn’t have spotted their King who was wearing attire that was the color of the night.

If any humans were to look at the sky, they wouldn’t even see the shadow passing by, which was good for them because they didn’t want any of the villagers giving directions to the werewolves if some were able to escape from the inn unscathed.

—

Back in the inn, in the room, Tilla was still standing there like a statue, unable to think what to do or where to go.

She was still in a confused state after seeing everyone fleeing from there in the blink of an eye.

By now, even she could hear the roars and screams of the ongoing battle. And every time she blinked, the noises seemed to be getting closer and closer.

‘Was I just... Was I just abandoned here?’ Suddenly, the thought haunted her mind. Cold sweats ran down from her neck and down to her spine.

Her throat and her lips parched badly. She felt as though her tongue had turned into the coarsest sands from the desert. ‘Was I just left here to die?’ Dark clouds of fear hovered on her face.

Her heartbeat was already drumming after hearing the sounds from the pistols earlier. And now, she felt as if someone was grabbing her lungs tightly and stopping her from breathing. She felt aching in her chest and started to feel lightheaded thinking that it was her last day on Earth.

Without even realizing it, streams of tears were already gushing down her cheeks.

Smash!

Tilla suddenly jumped when she heard something getting smashed against the wall, and side by side felt a tremor under her feet. The tremor suddenly started to get stronger and stronger. And now, she could also hear the footsteps getting closer and closer.

She was sure that the enemies had already entered the inn. She was aware that the number of vampire soldiers wasn’t even half the number of the enemies. She recalled someone shouting the number earlier while she was in her room. And considering how the King, the most powerful vampire, was so worried that he had to run away, Tilla was sure that the enemies were also vampires.

Thus, she believed that all the vampire soldiers who were on their side had already met their ends. And she assumed that those enemy vampires were on their way to kill all those who were still in the inn.

Smash! Thud!

She heard some glasses getting smashed, and something heavy thudding on the floor.

‘No, no, no...’ Tilla began panicking thinking that her death was about to knock on her door soon.

She looked in front of her to see the door ajar. She still had a small ray of hope in her heart that somehow, she could save herself from the fangs of those enemies.

‘I’m not ready to die yet!’ she screamed in her head. ‘I haven’t even said my goodbye to Anna. I cannot leave her like this! No!’

She gulped and mustered up some courage to move her feet. She rushed to close the door. She locked it and then immediately pressed her back against the closed door. She tightly closed her eyes in fear; she was already trembling like a leaf.

Suddenly, she heard the footsteps stopping right outside the door. Her heartbeat stopped when she heard someone trying to unlock the door.

‘This is it,’ she thought with a stunned look on her face.

She lifted her trembling hands and clasped them together to pray. She quietly prayed in her head when she felt the door handle rattling against her back. ‘Oh dear lord! Thank you for a wonderful life. I am really grateful for this life. Thank you!’

Tilla held her breath when the enemy outside the door was successful in unlocking the door.

She suddenly got pushed down to the floor when the door flung open. “Aah!” a squeak involuntarily left her mouth, making her presence known.

She heard the footsteps getting inside the room. She kept on lying there on the floor with her forehead touching the floor. She knew she was going to die.

And she thought to herself as her tears dropped on the rug and got soaked by it in an instant, ‘I guess this fate was sealed the day I stepped my feet in Sorvando... In the end, I was bound to die at the hands of a vampire...’