Call Of The Dark

"What the hell!" Maeve shouted at him. "Have you gone mad? How could you go to meet Emma in the midst of something so important? What will others think about us? Did you not hear the oracle?"

Lazarus clenched his teeth and ignored her.

"Why did you go to meet her?" she asked, growing frustrated.

He gave her a cold look. "She was in the kissing tent at Samhain! I had to stop her from kissing anyone else other than me."

Maeve's mouth dropped to the floor. She gaped at him. "So you kissed her and that too in front of so many onlookers?"

"Yes," he replied dryly. He didn't know why he said that. He had kissed her when everyone else was blindfolded. But he didn't want to reveal it to Maeve. In fact, he didn't know why he liked the idea of kissing her in public. Wouldn't that be like she belonged to him?

"Lazarus!" Maeve shouted. "This is getting out of hand now. I am not liking it at all!" Maeve was feeling threatened. If he had kissed her in public, then chances were that he was really thinking in favor of her. If that happened, she could kiss goodbye to ruling Wilyra along with Ailill. Her heart thundered at the thought that she was so close to getting it all and that she would lose it in a heartbeat.

The vampire needed a tight leash or better—she had to threaten him with serious repercussions if he continued to do so. At first, she wanted him to be near Emma, but now she wanted just the opposite. As for him marking her, she already had an idea. But first she had to sow the seeds of discord by threatening him. She narrowed her eyes on him and with a tone laced with a threat, she said, "This is your last chance Lazarus. I am extremely peeved!

Lazarus's fangs grew. "No one threatens me," he growled, his muscles bulging. "Not even you!"

But Maeve kept her demeanor just as threatening. "If I see you spending your time with Emma again, I will leave you. You and your kingdom can go to hell. I don't care whether you want to rule or not. But I will not have a mortal trampling all over me. Do you get that?"

Lazarus frowned. "What did you just say?"

"I said, I will leave you the next time I see you with Emma in public."

Lazarus paled. He never thought that Maeve would threaten him to leave him when they were so close to having it all. His mind snapped. He had worked so hard to get his kingdom, to get his revenge and it would all go in a minute? What was he doing? Emma had really influenced him to the extent that his main focus was wavering. He clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw hurt. His heart started to race wildly. Flashes of his kingdom, his crown, his mother and everything else associated with them, bounced in his head at a maddening rate. And all of it left him… panicky. How could he get so affected?

They returned to Upper North Jupan in an hour. None of them spoke a word about it. Lazarus got out of the carriage and before stepping out, he said, "Things will be better now." He strode away from her and Maeve's lips curved up in a smile. Her threat worked. As if she was going to leave.

He walked to the tent where Lord Cain and Naomi were along with Gladys and Magnus. As he entered, he saw that Olya, Emma and Yul had also entered together. The girls were giggling about something while Yul appeared to be annoyed. When his gaze locked up with hers, she bit her lip and blushed. Lazarus ignored Emma and sat on the cushion next to Cain.

"Brother!" Cain said and offered him wine and blue cheese. "I have a proposition for you. I have to say it out now because I don't know when you will trace away. You are available very less these days."

Lazarus was in a bad mood. Emma's blush had made her scent mixed with honey and rose and he was reminded of the drop of her blood that he tasted on his lips. "What is it?" he asked with a scowl. Also he didn't like that Yul was sitting next to her.

"This was about my wife's sister, Olya," Cain continued as he looked at him intensely.

Olya was slouching earlier as she had attacked food along with Emma. The grape that was between her teeth popped and her gaze flitted to Magnus and back to Cain. Her heart thundered in her chest and she was sure that they could hear it.

Naomi smiled at her sister affectionately.

Lazarus looked at Magnus who too was looking like he was about to explode with excitement which he was trying best to contain.

"Go on," Lazarus replied, sipping his wine. He really needed distraction.

"I would like to offer Olya's hand to Lord…" he looked at Olya who had stopped breathing.

"To?" Lazarus's lips went up as he sensed Magnus's eagerness. He knew that Magnus had a huge crush over Olya and he even dressed some concubines like her.

"To Lord Lazarus," Cain completed his sentence.

A stunned silence followed. Lazarus gaped at Cain as if he had grown two horns. He already had Maeve and Emma in his hands who were proving to be the most difficult women of his life and Cain was proposing his sister's hand? His eyes slid to Magnus whose face had morphed into anger. Hell no. He didn't want to make Magnus his enemy. And suddenly the idea of marrying anyone other than Emma seemed… abhorrent.

"But Cain—"

Cain lifted his hand. "Let me complete," he said, cutting him off. "You are the prince of Wilyra and a prince can have as many wives as he wants. It's not uncommon. Why are you so surprised?"