Chapter 114: Truce (2)
"Would you ever consider having the witches place a spell on your door as they did with mine? You wouldn’t want anyone to enter your bedroom without your permission," Aurora said as she entered his bedroom for the first time. It carried the same dark theme as the rest of the house besides her bedroom.
"You can stay all day and admire my bedroom if you want and I’m never going to hire those three witches for anything after the first incident. Allow me," he took the tray from her so that she could stop struggling. Vincent thought she would’ve regained her strength by now but he was wrong.
"Thank you. Is black your favorite color? Your entire house is decorated in black not that I mind. I quite like the black and I think the beautiful roses you have in the garden would pair nicely with it. What?" She asked after he just kept smiling at her with the tray in his hand. She didn’t think she did anything spectacular for him to be smiling this much.
"For someone interested in leaving last night you are having a lot of fun trying to decorate my home. Maybe I misunderstood you last night. My mistake," Vincent sarcastically apologized as he took the tray to his desk. It was placed here when he didn’t feel like going to his office.
"Throw that right in my face first chance you got and yes, if needed I would leave but for now I’m going to stay and help those little girls win the trial. The food is a peace offering because you didn’t come out to eat this morning. I hope you weren’t trying to avoid me?"
"Of course not. I don’t often eat at the table. It only started to be a regular occurrence since you’ve arrived. I’ve been doing work since last night and lost track of time. Who knew it would’ve made you care this much to bring me food. I’ll do it more often," he took a bite of his food while going back to look at a map of where he planned to expand the gates to. The community will need more land in the long run.
"I have always cared and one disagreement won’t change that. I’m not that type of person. Should I go now to give you some privacy? I don’t want to stay longer than you want me to." She couldn’t help but notice he had a large map of the surrounding area. It must’ve taken someone a long time to create.
"You most likely came here to talk about last night and make sure I eat this morning so you are free to stay. Just so you know, I still stand by what I said last night. You can hate me for it forever but I have to be cautious to protect my people just like that human king does everything in his power to protect his people. I hope after some time to yourself you know that you are not my prisoner," Vincent reminded her once more so she wouldn’t think of him like that old woman.
"You have to admit to me saying I want to leave and you telling me no seems like I am a captive and I don’t ever want to be that for anyone ever again. I’m sorry I tried putting you in a tough spot-"
"You did," he interjected because he allowed the little girls to remain guarded until they would go to trial.
"Couldn’t you just let me get my apology out? As I was saying, I’m sorry for putting you in a tough spot when you have to be careful as the person in charge of everyone’s lives here. It was wrong of me for me to push you to do more than you can," she apologized wholeheartedly then waited for him to either accept or deny it.
Vincent only continued to smile at first as he ate the breakfast she brought for him. He was expecting her to charge in his room and demand the young girls be set free right away. Was she planning on buttering him up first because he would enjoy it a lot. "I feel like there’s a but itching to make its way out of your mouth along with this apology."
"It wouldn’t be an apology if I included a but," Aurora tilted her head slightly confused on if there was more he wanted her to say.
"I see. Then I will also apologize for being too blunt around the children. Even though they are human children they are still children and I should not have spoken of death right in front of them. Apology accepted?" He asked and once she nodded yes it was time to move on to the more important topic. "The girls still need to go to trial. Nothing will change."
"I understand that and I’m going to look for a solution to them succeed in this trial and being able to live here. I won’t ask you to be biased anymore so I will do it myself. Along with Derek since he is the one who brought them here. Do you think I have a chance at helping them?" She asked to see if there was any hope for her efforts at all.
Vincent shrugged because the future is unwritten. She can do something surprising and help the girls or almost get herself killed. There was no in-between. "I suggest you start brainstorming if you want to be successful. Derek has been placed with the girls so he won’t be of much help to you like you thought. Jane will be here today like always to guard you and she is one of my best workers."
"I’m not going to fail," she said to Vincent but it was more of a promise to herself. There were two little girls’ lives depending on her. There was no room for error and she had to start coming up with a bright idea now.
"I’m sure you won’t but if there’s a possibility you aren’t-"
"Why are you so negative Vincent? I understand that it will be dangerous but can’t you just keep on being optimistic for my sake?" He was like a handsome ball of negativity.
Vincent placed the tray on one side while he started to get back to his work. "So you want me to lie? I thought you hated liars but I am wrong again. My mistake. Thanks for the breakfast. It seems you and Abel are now getting along much better than you did the first time."
"Whatever threat you told him worked really well. Death, threats, are those two things the only thing on your mind?"
"No. You and food. I can’t tell if those two things are the same yet," he grinned after successfully getting on her nerves again because she was making it too easy. He enjoyed her huffing and rolling her eyes at his words. "What? Weren’t you told the beast would come to take you away? It would most likely end with you being eaten. Thankfully, I don’t eat people anymore."
"Vincent!" She gasped believing it for a moment.
"I’m kidding. We’re not the ones particularly fond of eating human meat or the meat of any other creature. Wendigos are the ones who partake in that kind of stuff but you won’t find them in this kingdom. The only good thing the king ever did was whip them out from this land. There are a lot of nightmare things in this world," Vincent said as he cleaned his claws. "Things that crawled their way up from the underworld and don’t plan on leaving."
Aurora found it unsettling how just for a slight moment his eyes seemed to get darker. "And you promise me you are not the devil?"
Vincent chuckled as she kept thinking he was the devil. Frankly, he didn’t get along with the man on too many occasions but who could say they did when it concerned the devil. "If you keep talking about the devil he will show up before you one of these days and he’s not a man you’ll want to see. If he does remember to never take one of his deals."
"I don’t think I would even want to talk to him in the first place. I think I’ve overstayed my welcome for too long as you have work to do. I can carry it back down the tray. No," she shook her head as Vincent did the same.
"Let’s not lie to ourselves that you can carry that and it wasn’t Mari who helped you. I will take it back down to the kitchen myself or have someone else collect it. If you don’t see me later on when Jane arrives I have business outside the gates to tend to. Try not to cause any trouble while I am away," he went back to drawing the areas he wanted to be knocked down.
"I am not a child," Aurora muttered under her breath as she started to leave the room.
"Oh, I know," he made the sly comment just as she touched his door handle.
