“Sewing magic into the dress was a beautiful idea.” He said after several minutes of silence between us.
“It wasn’t mine …” I admitted calmly.
“Still … Lucy, I … I was kind of forced into this.” The king explained.
“And so was I.” I admitted. The situation drove me to do it, nothing less, nothing more.
“I know the age difference is kind of …” Large? Yeah, 169 years of a difference certainly wouldn’t look that good to an outsider. “and so I will not force the customs of the first night upon you, at least not completely. We will just share a bed for a single night, and that´s it.”
“Thank you.” I said, even though I never had any intention to follow these customs in the first place. For the rest of the journey, I stared out of the window while we travelled towards the royal palace. Once we came to a halt, a butler opened the door and bowed deeply. The king stepped out of the carriage first and reached under my thighs as I stepped out of it. He supported my back with his other hand and carried me towards the palace.
“So much for ignoring customs.” I muttered quietly as he carried me up the stairs under the gaze of hundreds of servants and two women who could only gnash their teeth.
“I do hope you can bear with it.” He said quietly.
“Barely.” I answered and laughed a bit. As soon as we were over the doorstep, he let me down again and took my hand instead. He lead me through the large entrance hall up a grandiose stair until we arrived in front of a dressing room.
“I will wait for you outside.” He said while I looked around for any maids.
“I need someone to help me out of the wedding dress.” I said and knew that he was supposed to do exactly that.
“I will look for someone.” He said, already letting go of my hand, but I refused to let go.
“Just come with me. My corset will suffocate me if I wear this any more than this.” I said and pulled him with me in the room.
“This is going to be complicated.” He said, barely capable of undoing the veil in my hair. At least I had a little bit of carpet away from me. After a little while of fumbling with my dress, I lifted up my arms and stared at him.
“Please, pull this overcomplicated dress over my head.” I said and watched how he rolled up the carpet and proceeded to lift the dress up slowly. After a few seconds, I couldn’t see anything anymore and felt a lot freer around my legs. It only took him a few minutes to get this monstrosity off me, and after that, I immediately turned around and tried to reach for the strings of the corset. As usual, it didn´t work, but the king helped me out nonetheless.
“And now?” I looked around the room and spotted a rather plain white dress going to my knees on the other side of the room. “I´ll guess that is for me.” I said and strolled towards it. Once again, the king helped me wear it, this time, without the corset. I naturally switched shoes as well as my high heels wouldn’t be hidden this way.
Dressed in a white, fluffy dress, the king led me towards the ballroom where the second prince´s party was once held. Once again, utter silence greeted me as I stepped into the room full of people, some beaming like Mary, others … well, I could see the red in the eyes of the third queen from all across the room.
“His and her majesty, King and Queen Worchester.” The master of ceremony announced shortly afterwards, and the conversations resumed somewhat. Letting go of my hand, he guided me towards the table right in the middle and pulled my chair back.
“Thank you.” I said as I sat down on it while he pushed it forwards again. Smiling gently, I turned towards Mary to my right, and noticed how the king sat down to my right.
“I hope you are not dissatisfied with the seating arrangements.” No, I was certainly not. There was no whore on our table, his other wives were somewhere else and only the second prince who sat beside the prime minister could be an issue. The other four sons and daughters he had on the table all looked at me with little more than disinterest. For them, I was just another wife their father had.
“Certainly not.” It was still a frosty atmosphere as he introduced his children to me, from the crown prince to the second princess. I greeted all of them nicely, even though I wasn’t that interested in them. I would only stay for a night after all. Especially my greeting to the second prince was kind of awkward now that he had to address me formally.
Thus, the chatting went on a bit roughly, but we were saved somewhat by the food. But even the food couldn’t stop disaster from happening as the crown prince drank a bit too much wine and started to compliment me for my beauty … yeah that didn´t go well with his father. After that, it was even more awkward, although I somehow managed to rope the second princess in my conversation with Mary about the food. And truth to be told, I was glad that I finally found someone who liked to nag about the food as much as I did! Even though she wasn’t a glutton like I was, she was certainly a really picky eater.
But sadly, my conversation died down as soon as the king ordered to clean up the tables. Once again, everything was carried over to the sides of the large room and I was forced to dance with the king. Luckily though, he learned from his mistakes and chose a different style of dancing this time where my height didn´t matter too much. He only had to bow down as I leaned over his arm a few times and otherwise, it was perfectly fine. Even though my dress was a lot plainer than last time, I would certainly land on the no. one spot in the dress competition that day … otherwise I would ask Alphonso to hang every single one of them. That was the beauty of my new position.
As the song ended, we kissed once more, which felt as boring as the first time we did so. But finally, I couldn’t feel all the gazes directed at me anymore as all the other participants walked onto the stage as the next song began. Shortly afterwards, I let go of Alphonso´s hands and strolled towards Mary who stood there a bit awkwardly.
“Mum, would you give me the honour of this dance?” It was a bit uncommon for the bride to dance with her maid of honour, but I already broke these kinds of restrictions by dancing with an elf.
“It is a pleasure, my queen.” She said and curtsied down a little. Smiling brightly, I took her hand and pulled her onto the dancefloor. We both laughed as we danced in the rhythm of the music, switching alternatively between the male and female roles. One time, she led me around, another time I did so.
And honestly? This was the most fun I ever had while dancing. Leaving all my worries behind, just enjoying my possibly last minutes with her. But I also knew I couldn’t let the king wait for too long, and so, I curtsied towards her after our third song ended and headed back to the king who waited with one of his queens for the next song to start. As soon as he noticed me though, he excused himself and guided me towards another door. Silently, we strolled through brightly lit hallways until we arrived in front a larger door.
He opened it with a key he got from somewhere and let me step inside first. It was definitely the largest bedroom I could imagine with a luxurious bed in the middle on a large podium.
“Let´s make this an unforgettable experience, shall we?” I asked jokingly. “… thank you for not forcing me into anything.” I said and sat down on the edge of the bed while he closed the door shut.
“You were already forced to marry me. I have no intentions to push you further.” He said, while I slowly pulled my dress over my head. Shortly afterwards, I noticed the bucket of water a bit away from me and used a nearby cloth to get all this makeup off. Afterwards, I walked back to the bed, only in my undergarments. The king was already under the duvet at this point and his exposed chest probably meant he was in underwear. Shrugging, I got rid of my undergarments as well and slipped under the comfortable duvet as well.
For a few minutes, we both stared at the ceiling, lying side by side while my body slowly took on the room temperature which was by no means low.
“So … once again, why did you marry me?” Oh, so he didn´t believe me that lie? Or was my acceptance of the proposal too good to be true.
“My dear husband, there are so many reasons.” I said and snugged up to him until my shoulder touched his while staring at the beautiful magical ring on my finger.
“So stopping the bloodshed was only one of them. You want to use the influence you posses to enact more policies that benefit the poor, don’t you?” He asked, which would fit perfectly to being the saint.
“And if that were the case?” I asked, only a little bit interested in his answer.
“Women have nothing to do with politics in this country and you will not be able to change that.” Well, that was the reason he had no fear of marrying me. Truly, in this chauvinistic society, I would have a hard time in his court.
“Hmm, I never betted on that possibility.” I said drily.
“… you want to make your heir ascend the throne?” I laughed loudly, even though this was probably the best explanation. Truly, if I could give birth to a capable heir, he was almost assured to take the throne for himself with the support of the saint. But no, I naturally wasn’t aiming for that either. I robbed a bit downwards and turned my head towards him. For a little while, I wondered if I wanted to play with him a little longer but then decided that it was time for the house of cards to come crumbling down.
“Give me your hand.” I said and after a little while, I could see the duvet stirring as he searched for my hand. With my right hand, I grabbed his left one and interlocked my fingers with his from the top. Slowly, I pulled it towards me until I could feel his hand on my belly. As he didn´t seem to be bothered by my touches, I placed the palm of his hand down on my skin and slid it downwards slowly until it was somewhat under my belly button.
“Where is your hand right now?” I asked as I felt his hand directly above my womb.
“So you truly want to place your successor on the throne.” He said.
“Not at all my dear. I will tell you a little secret of mine now. Every bit of life I take up in me is ultimately fated to die.” I admitted.
“You are infertile? Is it because you are the daughter of a god? Then … I still don’t understand your reasoning for marrying me. You won´t be able to change anything as my wife.”
“Oh, my dear. You still don’t get it? Well then, let us travel further upwards again, shall we?” His hand wandered over my belly again and only stopped as I pushed down on it again.
“What do you feel?” I asked gently.
“Your young body.” I nearly hissed at him for uttering such things. First the whore, and now he as well? Why did everyone have to call me out on my chest? A bit angry, I pressed down a bit more on his hand.
“What do you miss?” I asked slowly, hoping he wouldn’t say something in the same direction a second time.
“Your … you are undead.” He muttered finally realizing that my heart wasn’t beating at all.
“Precisely, my dear husband. You just married a vampire.” His first reaction was obviously to pull his hand back, which I allowed him to do. As he tried to roll away from me though, I grabbed his shoulder and pinned him down. Slowly, I turned around and rested my head on his fast-beating chest. “You aren’t going anywhere right now.”
“What do you want? Money? What is it?” Money? Again?
“You always tend to ask the same boring questions when you are under pressure, do you know that?” I said and giggled crazily.
“You … you were there. You were with that man!” And the house of cards came crumbling down.
“At least you aren’t dumb. Come on, tell me what else I did to get here.” I asked, rubbing my cheek at his slightly hairy chest and still feeling the ring on my finger in fascination.
“… you stirred up the citizens with various means … was that murderer you?” Murderer? Oh, that one!
“Yes. Go on.” I said and let my index finger circle around on his chest.
“You stole the Crown of Thorns and …” Traded it for the Staff of Destruction.
“Yes, I gave the Staff of Destruction to myself.” I said and laughed happily as one of the offers we made to him to marry me vanished into thin air.
“What are you planning?” He asked. Why were they always so predictable?
“Oh, not so fast. First, we have to discuss what your options are.” I said and scraped his skin with my sharp incisor. I must admit, that reaction was worth gold.
“My options?” He asked after some time, still tense from my playful scratch.
“Yeah, options to get rid of me. Let´s do it like this: You tell me what you can do, and I explain why it won´t work.” I explained and swung my leg over him. Straddling him, I robbed a bit further up until my teeth were exactly at his exposed neck.
“… I could kill you.” He said, shivering as I nibbed on his skin.
“Meh, the worst pick of all. A horde of ungrateful elves will swamp your … our kingdom afterwards.” I whispered into his ear and bit into it lightly.
“… I-I will nullify our engagement.” He threatened while trying to push his head away from me.
“Not a bad one, but I sadly have to inform you this isn´t possible either. The pope knows about my real race and he will never annul the wedding of his saint. Additionally, this ring you put on my finger can refuse me if the gods wouldn’t judge me worthy. It happened a few times in the past, remember?” Not to him, but several of his father's wives were left standing in that cathedral as the ring, or another one of the ten rings, refused to accept the wearer, apparently because the gods didn´t want that person as queen.
“… this is…” He muttered, understanding exactly what it mean. The gods wanted this.
“Please, do go on and entertain me a little bit more.” I said and brought my teeth back towards his neck.
“You cannot murder me either! You need me.” He exclaimed while trying to push me off him and failed spectacularly as I pushed my legs into his side.
“Ehh … remember that marriage contract you signed? I will be the first queen as long as I live. You are forced to change the constitution to fit me in it.” I explained and started nibbling on his skin again.
“I will not do that.” He said and slowly, I could smell the sweat coming out of his every pore.
“Can you hear that? The elves in the distance?” I asked and licked up the bit of blood that left his neck after I bit into his skin lightly.
“You … even then, nobody will listen to you. You cannot have an heir so you are entirely alienated right from the start.” Right, right. No heir, no chance about any influence over the future king who will follow after Alphonso.
“Precisely, but I really don’t need that, do I? I have the Staff of Destruction, capable of destroying the whole world. I wonder how fast I could flatten a palace with it? And as the only surviving member of the royal family … well, I guess I would need to pick up the shards then.” I whispered into his ear threateningly. I wouldn’t even need him. I was the eternal queen, I could threaten the following king as well.
“The people will not follow you if it becomes known that you are a vampire.” Well, even though I played with him, he still found my weak spot. All this influence would be useless if the general population knew about my real race, but he did have to fear a counterstrike from my side then.
“Oh, my mutual destruction, I like that. You have the capabilities of ruining my life, while I could end yours whenever I want to. So I cannot go overboard with my demands, is that what you want to tell me?” I asked carefully.
“Exactly.” He stated and made me laugh. This situation was all too familiar.
“I like it. But I also really don’t need to go overboard. You have broken down the wall separating faith and the state by marrying me. I am the saint, and I am the queen. You were always catering to the nobles, hoping they would get the citizens behind you indirectly, while I battled for the hearts of the citizens directly. I think it is obvious who won in the end.” And I would win in the future as well. I already had won the hearts of many, and it could only increase with time. He had to remain passive, otherwise, he would have to fear his death, giving me a comfortable lead in whatever I wanted to do.
“What do you want?” He asked once more, realizing that I would win out in the end.
“Well, now that we have concluded that I can ruin everything you worked for and vice versa, I think it is truly the right time to talk about that. You will lower the taxes for the poor at once.” I stated and chuckled as he frowned slightly.
“Still on that trip?” Well, wasn’t a vampire allowed to do some good for this world?
“Do you want another rebellion?” I asked and smiled brightly, my head hovering just a few centimetres above his.
“I cannot do that. The state budget will be unbalanced.” He said, which was one of the most boring things I ever heard.
“That’s why you will defund the army.” I said calmly.
“Then the elves will attack us.” He stated, which was right if I hadn’t worked out that issue way before him.
“Have you forgotten what Mary and I stood for the whole time? Around spring, you will sign a peace treaty with the elves, reducing the demand for a standing army to near zero. They will not attack us, otherwise, the Staff of Creation will be used against them.” While the threat of the elves was gone this way, it didn´t change that he had to deal with the Staff of Creation used against him. Once again, I was using that nobody really knew what these things actually could do.
“… fine.” He muttered.
“You will also never try to go against ‘The Crown’. You will never hurt, or order anyone to hurt Mary in any way whatsoever. You will not damage my reputation, and you will not reveal to anyone what race I belong to.” I stated carefully so that there weren’t any loopholes in it.
“And what do I get out of that?” He asked, even though he could be considered lucky that he survived.
“Tomorrow, it will be announced that I fell into a deep coma and the churches will reveal their scriptures about this to the world. Our marriage will not be nullified, you can live on however you like, you won’t see me again.” I explained and chuckled at the confused expression he made.
“What?” He asked in disbelief.
“You will see for yourself, but don’t even think about crossing these red lines I just gave you. The Staff of Creation is not in my hands after all. I will not benefit from our marriage in any way in the near future, so can be rest assured.” I explained and patted his shoulder.
“What about the far future? When you wake up again?” He asked slowly.
“Why are you so interested in that? You won´t be there to see it anyway.” I asked, and this time, I was really interested in his answer. Why did he care what would happen after he died?
“I just need to know.” He said, which certainly didn´t answer any of my questions.
“Hmm … I don’t know myself yet, but what I learned so far on this country is that running an organisation is a horrible task, so I have no plans to overthrow the future king right now. Are you satisfied? Can I let you go now?” I asked and rolled off him after he nodded. For a few seconds, I kept looking at him, but as he neither made any indication to scream or to run away, I soon resumed staring at the ceiling.
“How can I trust you on that?” He asked after some time.
“You can´t.” I said and rolled over to my side, away from him.
“You have to give me something.” Did I need to? Before the wedding, he still had so many options, but now that I was his wife, he had none. Everything he could do against me would be met with an equal backlash, if not more. I didn´t have to give him anything, and that also didn´t change after he asked the same question three times. Nothing he said that night changed my opinion about just shutting up. And eventually, he did so as well. Eventually, he even tried to leave, but as I grabbed his arm and pulled him back on the bed. Finally, he understood that I intended to follow through with the custom of sharing the bed on the night of the wedding.
“Sewing magic into the dress was a beautiful idea.” He said after several minutes of silence between us.
“It wasn’t mine …” I admitted calmly.
“Still … Lucy, I … I was kind of forced into this.” The king explained.
“And so was I.” I admitted. The situation drove me to do it, nothing less, nothing more.
“I know the age difference is kind of …” Large? Yeah, 169 years of a difference certainly wouldn’t look that good to an outsider. “and so I will not force the customs of the first night upon you, at least not completely. We will just share a bed for a single night, and that´s it.”
“Thank you.” I said, even though I never had any intention to follow these customs in the first place. For the rest of the journey, I stared out of the window while we travelled towards the royal palace. Once we came to a halt, a butler opened the door and bowed deeply. The king stepped out of the carriage first and reached under my thighs as I stepped out of it. He supported my back with his other hand and carried me towards the palace.
“So much for ignoring customs.” I muttered quietly as he carried me up the stairs under the gaze of hundreds of servants and two women who could only gnash their teeth.
“I do hope you can bear with it.” He said quietly.
“Barely.” I answered and laughed a bit. As soon as we were over the doorstep, he let me down again and took my hand instead. He lead me through the large entrance hall up a grandiose stair until we arrived in front of a dressing room.
“I will wait for you outside.” He said while I looked around for any maids.
“I need someone to help me out of the wedding dress.” I said and knew that he was supposed to do exactly that.
“I will look for someone.” He said, already letting go of my hand, but I refused to let go.
“Just come with me. My corset will suffocate me if I wear this any more than this.” I said and pulled him with me in the room.
“This is going to be complicated.” He said, barely capable of undoing the veil in my hair. At least I had a little bit of carpet away from me. After a little while of fumbling with my dress, I lifted up my arms and stared at him.
“Please, pull this overcomplicated dress over my head.” I said and watched how he rolled up the carpet and proceeded to lift the dress up slowly. After a few seconds, I couldn’t see anything anymore and felt a lot freer around my legs. It only took him a few minutes to get this monstrosity off me, and after that, I immediately turned around and tried to reach for the strings of the corset. As usual, it didn´t work, but the king helped me out nonetheless.
“And now?” I looked around the room and spotted a rather plain white dress going to my knees on the other side of the room. “I´ll guess that is for me.” I said and strolled towards it. Once again, the king helped me wear it, this time, without the corset. I naturally switched shoes as well as my high heels wouldn’t be hidden this way.
Dressed in a white, fluffy dress, the king led me towards the ballroom where the second prince´s party was once held. Once again, utter silence greeted me as I stepped into the room full of people, some beaming like Mary, others … well, I could see the red in the eyes of the third queen from all across the room.
“His and her majesty, King and Queen Worchester.” The master of ceremony announced shortly afterwards, and the conversations resumed somewhat. Letting go of my hand, he guided me towards the table right in the middle and pulled my chair back.
“Thank you.” I said as I sat down on it while he pushed it forwards again. Smiling gently, I turned towards Mary to my right, and noticed how the king sat down to my right.
“I hope you are not dissatisfied with the seating arrangements.” No, I was certainly not. There was no whore on our table, his other wives were somewhere else and only the second prince who sat beside the prime minister could be an issue. The other four sons and daughters he had on the table all looked at me with little more than disinterest. For them, I was just another wife their father had.
“Certainly not.” It was still a frosty atmosphere as he introduced his children to me, from the crown prince to the second princess. I greeted all of them nicely, even though I wasn’t that interested in them. I would only stay for a night after all. Especially my greeting to the second prince was kind of awkward now that he had to address me formally.
Thus, the chatting went on a bit roughly, but we were saved somewhat by the food. But even the food couldn’t stop disaster from happening as the crown prince drank a bit too much wine and started to compliment me for my beauty … yeah that didn´t go well with his father. After that, it was even more awkward, although I somehow managed to rope the second princess in my conversation with Mary about the food. And truth to be told, I was glad that I finally found someone who liked to nag about the food as much as I did! Even though she wasn’t a glutton like I was, she was certainly a really picky eater.
But sadly, my conversation died down as soon as the king ordered to clean up the tables. Once again, everything was carried over to the sides of the large room and I was forced to dance with the king. Luckily though, he learned from his mistakes and chose a different style of dancing this time where my height didn´t matter too much. He only had to bow down as I leaned over his arm a few times and otherwise, it was perfectly fine. Even though my dress was a lot plainer than last time, I would certainly land on the no. one spot in the dress competition that day … otherwise I would ask Alphonso to hang every single one of them. That was the beauty of my new position.
As the song ended, we kissed once more, which felt as boring as the first time we did so. But finally, I couldn’t feel all the gazes directed at me anymore as all the other participants walked onto the stage as the next song began. Shortly afterwards, I let go of Alphonso´s hands and strolled towards Mary who stood there a bit awkwardly.
“Mum, would you give me the honour of this dance?” It was a bit uncommon for the bride to dance with her maid of honour, but I already broke these kinds of restrictions by dancing with an elf.
“It is a pleasure, my queen.” She said and curtsied down a little. Smiling brightly, I took her hand and pulled her onto the dancefloor. We both laughed as we danced in the rhythm of the music, switching alternatively between the male and female roles. One time, she led me around, another time I did so.
And honestly? This was the most fun I ever had while dancing. Leaving all my worries behind, just enjoying my possibly last minutes with her. But I also knew I couldn’t let the king wait for too long, and so, I curtsied towards her after our third song ended and headed back to the king who waited with one of his queens for the next song to start. As soon as he noticed me though, he excused himself and guided me towards another door. Silently, we strolled through brightly lit hallways until we arrived in front a larger door.
He opened it with a key he got from somewhere and let me step inside first. It was definitely the largest bedroom I could imagine with a luxurious bed in the middle on a large podium.
“Let´s make this an unforgettable experience, shall we?” I asked jokingly. “… thank you for not forcing me into anything.” I said and sat down on the edge of the bed while he closed the door shut.
“You were already forced to marry me. I have no intentions to push you further.” He said, while I slowly pulled my dress over my head. Shortly afterwards, I noticed the bucket of water a bit away from me and used a nearby cloth to get all this makeup off. Afterwards, I walked back to the bed, only in my undergarments. The king was already under the duvet at this point and his exposed chest probably meant he was in underwear. Shrugging, I got rid of my undergarments as well and slipped under the comfortable duvet as well.
For a few minutes, we both stared at the ceiling, lying side by side while my body slowly took on the room temperature which was by no means low.
“So … once again, why did you marry me?” Oh, so he didn´t believe me that lie? Or was my acceptance of the proposal too good to be true.
“My dear husband, there are so many reasons.” I said and snugged up to him until my shoulder touched his while staring at the beautiful magical ring on my finger.
“So stopping the bloodshed was only one of them. You want to use the influence you posses to enact more policies that benefit the poor, don’t you?” He asked, which would fit perfectly to being the saint.
“And if that were the case?” I asked, only a little bit interested in his answer.
“Women have nothing to do with politics in this country and you will not be able to change that.” Well, that was the reason he had no fear of marrying me. Truly, in this chauvinistic society, I would have a hard time in his court.
“Hmm, I never betted on that possibility.” I said drily.
“… you want to make your heir ascend the throne?” I laughed loudly, even though this was probably the best explanation. Truly, if I could give birth to a capable heir, he was almost assured to take the throne for himself with the support of the saint. But no, I naturally wasn’t aiming for that either. I robbed a bit downwards and turned my head towards him. For a little while, I wondered if I wanted to play with him a little longer but then decided that it was time for the house of cards to come crumbling down.
“Give me your hand.” I said and after a little while, I could see the duvet stirring as he searched for my hand. With my right hand, I grabbed his left one and interlocked my fingers with his from the top. Slowly, I pulled it towards me until I could feel his hand on my belly. As he didn´t seem to be bothered by my touches, I placed the palm of his hand down on my skin and slid it downwards slowly until it was somewhat under my belly button.
“Where is your hand right now?” I asked as I felt his hand directly above my womb.
“So you truly want to place your successor on the throne.” He said.
“Not at all my dear. I will tell you a little secret of mine now. Every bit of life I take up in me is ultimately fated to die.” I admitted.
“You are infertile? Is it because you are the daughter of a god? Then … I still don’t understand your reasoning for marrying me. You won´t be able to change anything as my wife.”
“Oh, my dear. You still don’t get it? Well then, let us travel further upwards again, shall we?” His hand wandered over my belly again and only stopped as I pushed down on it again.
“What do you feel?” I asked gently.
“Your young body.” I nearly hissed at him for uttering such things. First the whore, and now he as well? Why did everyone have to call me out on my chest? A bit angry, I pressed down a bit more on his hand.
“What do you miss?” I asked slowly, hoping he wouldn’t say something in the same direction a second time.
“Your … you are undead.” He muttered finally realizing that my heart wasn’t beating at all.
“Precisely, my dear husband. You just married a vampire.” His first reaction was obviously to pull his hand back, which I allowed him to do. As he tried to roll away from me though, I grabbed his shoulder and pinned him down. Slowly, I turned around and rested my head on his fast-beating chest. “You aren’t going anywhere right now.”
“What do you want? Money? What is it?” Money? Again?
“You always tend to ask the same boring questions when you are under pressure, do you know that?” I said and giggled crazily.
“You … you were there. You were with that man!” And the house of cards came crumbling down.
“At least you aren’t dumb. Come on, tell me what else I did to get here.” I asked, rubbing my cheek at his slightly hairy chest and still feeling the ring on my finger in fascination.
“… you stirred up the citizens with various means … was that murderer you?” Murderer? Oh, that one!
“Yes. Go on.” I said and let my index finger circle around on his chest.
“You stole the Crown of Thorns and …” Traded it for the Staff of Destruction.
“Yes, I gave the Staff of Destruction to myself.” I said and laughed happily as one of the offers we made to him to marry me vanished into thin air.
“What are you planning?” He asked. Why were they always so predictable?
“Oh, not so fast. First, we have to discuss what your options are.” I said and scraped his skin with my sharp incisor. I must admit, that reaction was worth gold.
“My options?” He asked after some time, still tense from my playful scratch.
“Yeah, options to get rid of me. Let´s do it like this: You tell me what you can do, and I explain why it won´t work.” I explained and swung my leg over him. Straddling him, I robbed a bit further up until my teeth were exactly at his exposed neck.
“… I could kill you.” He said, shivering as I nibbed on his skin.
“Meh, the worst pick of all. A horde of ungrateful elves will swamp your … our kingdom afterwards.” I whispered into his ear and bit into it lightly.
“… I-I will nullify our engagement.” He threatened while trying to push his head away from me.
“Not a bad one, but I sadly have to inform you this isn´t possible either. The pope knows about my real race and he will never annul the wedding of his saint. Additionally, this ring you put on my finger can refuse me if the gods wouldn’t judge me worthy. It happened a few times in the past, remember?” Not to him, but several of his father's wives were left standing in that cathedral as the ring, or another one of the ten rings, refused to accept the wearer, apparently because the gods didn´t want that person as queen.
“… this is…” He muttered, understanding exactly what it mean. The gods wanted this.
“Please, do go on and entertain me a little bit more.” I said and brought my teeth back towards his neck.
“You cannot murder me either! You need me.” He exclaimed while trying to push me off him and failed spectacularly as I pushed my legs into his side.
“Ehh … remember that marriage contract you signed? I will be the first queen as long as I live. You are forced to change the constitution to fit me in it.” I explained and started nibbling on his skin again.
“I will not do that.” He said and slowly, I could smell the sweat coming out of his every pore.
“Can you hear that? The elves in the distance?” I asked and licked up the bit of blood that left his neck after I bit into his skin lightly.
“You … even then, nobody will listen to you. You cannot have an heir so you are entirely alienated right from the start.” Right, right. No heir, no chance about any influence over the future king who will follow after Alphonso.
“Precisely, but I really don’t need that, do I? I have the Staff of Destruction, capable of destroying the whole world. I wonder how fast I could flatten a palace with it? And as the only surviving member of the royal family … well, I guess I would need to pick up the shards then.” I whispered into his ear threateningly. I wouldn’t even need him. I was the eternal queen, I could threaten the following king as well.
“The people will not follow you if it becomes known that you are a vampire.” Well, even though I played with him, he still found my weak spot. All this influence would be useless if the general population knew about my real race, but he did have to fear a counterstrike from my side then.
“Oh, my mutual destruction, I like that. You have the capabilities of ruining my life, while I could end yours whenever I want to. So I cannot go overboard with my demands, is that what you want to tell me?” I asked carefully.
“Exactly.” He stated and made me laugh. This situation was all too familiar.
“I like it. But I also really don’t need to go overboard. You have broken down the wall separating faith and the state by marrying me. I am the saint, and I am the queen. You were always catering to the nobles, hoping they would get the citizens behind you indirectly, while I battled for the hearts of the citizens directly. I think it is obvious who won in the end.” And I would win in the future as well. I already had won the hearts of many, and it could only increase with time. He had to remain passive, otherwise, he would have to fear his death, giving me a comfortable lead in whatever I wanted to do.
“What do you want?” He asked once more, realizing that I would win out in the end.
“Well, now that we have concluded that I can ruin everything you worked for and vice versa, I think it is truly the right time to talk about that. You will lower the taxes for the poor at once.” I stated and chuckled as he frowned slightly.
“Still on that trip?” Well, wasn’t a vampire allowed to do some good for this world?
“Do you want another rebellion?” I asked and smiled brightly, my head hovering just a few centimetres above his.
“I cannot do that. The state budget will be unbalanced.” He said, which was one of the most boring things I ever heard.
“That’s why you will defund the army.” I said calmly.
“Then the elves will attack us.” He stated, which was right if I hadn’t worked out that issue way before him.
“Have you forgotten what Mary and I stood for the whole time? Around spring, you will sign a peace treaty with the elves, reducing the demand for a standing army to near zero. They will not attack us, otherwise, the Staff of Creation will be used against them.” While the threat of the elves was gone this way, it didn´t change that he had to deal with the Staff of Creation used against him. Once again, I was using that nobody really knew what these things actually could do.
“… fine.” He muttered.
“You will also never try to go against ‘The Crown’. You will never hurt, or order anyone to hurt Mary in any way whatsoever. You will not damage my reputation, and you will not reveal to anyone what race I belong to.” I stated carefully so that there weren’t any loopholes in it.
“And what do I get out of that?” He asked, even though he could be considered lucky that he survived.
“Tomorrow, it will be announced that I fell into a deep coma and the churches will reveal their scriptures about this to the world. Our marriage will not be nullified, you can live on however you like, you won’t see me again.” I explained and chuckled at the confused expression he made.
“What?” He asked in disbelief.
“You will see for yourself, but don’t even think about crossing these red lines I just gave you. The Staff of Creation is not in my hands after all. I will not benefit from our marriage in any way in the near future, so can be rest assured.” I explained and patted his shoulder.
“What about the far future? When you wake up again?” He asked slowly.
“Why are you so interested in that? You won´t be there to see it anyway.” I asked, and this time, I was really interested in his answer. Why did he care what would happen after he died?
“I just need to know.” He said, which certainly didn´t answer any of my questions.
“Hmm … I don’t know myself yet, but what I learned so far on this country is that running an organisation is a horrible task, so I have no plans to overthrow the future king right now. Are you satisfied? Can I let you go now?” I asked and rolled off him after he nodded. For a few seconds, I kept looking at him, but as he neither made any indication to scream or to run away, I soon resumed staring at the ceiling.
“How can I trust you on that?” He asked after some time.
“You can´t.” I said and rolled over to my side, away from him.
“You have to give me something.” Did I need to? Before the wedding, he still had so many options, but now that I was his wife, he had none. Everything he could do against me would be met with an equal backlash, if not more. I didn´t have to give him anything, and that also didn´t change after he asked the same question three times. Nothing he said that night changed my opinion about just shutting up. And eventually, he did so as well. Eventually, he even tried to leave, but as I grabbed his arm and pulled him back on the bed. Finally, he understood that I intended to follow through with the custom of sharing the bed on the night of the wedding.
