An Invitation To Love

Chapter 11

Ministers meeting in Sanctus

"Your majesty, it's actually not appropriate to have the enemy's daughter in your castle. It will give off a bad impression" one of the ministers started.

"Do I look like I care?" Davian's face was expressionless.

"Forgive me your majesty, but as you already know the nobles are talking and soon the folk will also be talking about you having the enemy in our country and that you should not be a king and as you know your uncle's family especially your cousin is waiting for an opportunity to take you down" Davian was just nodding.

"Taking the enemy in, means ignoring them killing our people, our soldiers, our children and the folk doesn't like that. The war between our countries lasted over ten years now" for the first time one of the clergymen talked. The hall became silent.
Suddenly a voice from afar rang through "take away her title."
"What do you mean" Davian asked playing along.

"Your majesty, if you take away her title and present her as your slave, nobody will interfere or talk."

How could Davian ever do such a thing to Allora? Taking away her title means taking away her position. That will definitely make her more vulnerable to danger.

"You're telling me to take away her title and let the monsters in the castle end her" he hummed.

"Your majesty, there is no other choice. The nobles and the church don't like his majesty."

"Don't you dare talk to his majesty like that, I shut my mouth once, but I am not going to do it twice" Ezar, Davian's right hand drew his sword.
"Ezar, stop."
"Your majesty, they are here to find solutions and not to speak to you in this disrespectful manner."
"Nobody had ever spoken to me disrespectfully and had the privilege to open their eyes the next day" his sharp eyes wondered on the frightened faced of his ministers and he continued "my ministers know this best."

"I'm sorry for interfering, your majesty" he bowed, and Davian nodded.
"don't you want to apologize either" he gazed at the minister and then glanced at the others.
"I'm sorry, your majesty" the color in the ministers' face faded away and he bowed trembling. Davian smiled and stood up.
"It's alright, you said nobody likes me from the nobles and the church. Excuse me I didn't know emotions were part of our political relationship" he started walking, folding his hands behind his back.
"How do you think this problem could be solved? No wait I have an idea" Davian's evil smirk was on display "it's general knowledge that to solve a problem you have to recognize the roots and start from there. The nobility and the church are my problem. Should I just pull out their roots or do you have other solutions?"

"Your majesty, give us time to think" another minister said whispering since his voice wouldn't come out.

"As you wish but don't take too long. My patience is running thin" he walked back to his seat. "You are dismissed" they stormed out of the hall as if it was on fire.
Messing with Davian was like a free ticket to hell. It was an unspoken rule to not make him suspect anything or get him angry in any way.


"Did she come out of the room?" Davian turned to Ezar.
"No, she didn't" he responded in a respectful manner and continued "The physician said it will be better for her health if she came out more."
"I am going to visit her."
"Don't forget the ceremony for honoring the dead soldiers of the war tomorrow."
"Alright!"
_______________


Today was a warm sunny day since spring was finally starting. In the balcony there was Allora having a pile of paper around her and the son of her prisoner was in front of her drawing her.
He just came to her all of a sudden and wanted to hide from his teachers. This Child stayed here for hours; it was afternoon when he came, now it was sunset.
"I don't want to attend the classes, they are extremely boring" the little blond boy said throwing his hands in the air showing his frustration.
At first, she tried to ignore him, but the child was a ball of energy.
From the minute he came into the room she knew it was Davian's son. They just looked too similar.

"Don't move" he said while scratching on the paper.
"You really have to go now, I don't think your mother or father will appreciate you staying with me."
"Father is always busy, and mother doesn't care about me" he was trying to sound uninterested, but Allora knew he was sad, and she understood why he was acting rebellious.
"Why do you think that?"
"My father is the king, which means he has to put the kingdom first. That's what my teacher said. And mother..." he stopped for a second before continuing "she's just never here, they say she is sick, but she also makes tee parties with other royals."
"I understand you."
"Does your mother also hate you?"
"I don't know if she did, I wish I could say she was a little selfish, but she was in love" the child looked confused.
"I am sorry, I didn't talk to people for ages" the crown prince didn't know what to do, which was understandable since he was a five-year-old child. Allora regretted what she said after the words came out of her mouth.
"Do you want me to hug you?" Nikolai offered.
This kid was just like his father, Allora smiled and extended her arms.
"I really need one" she responded, and he threw himself at her yawning.
"What is your name?" he was now sitting on her lap.
"Allora, what is yours?"
"Nikolai"

Davian entered the room and Allora looked towards the door. Her eyes widened. Was he going to get mad?
Davian glanced at his son on Allora's lap and smiled softly, his son was really a social butterfly.
"Are you bonding?" he stepped into the balcony and kneeled on one knee in front of them his hand caressing his son's cheek.
"You didn't attend your classes."
Nikolai buried his face in Allora's chest.
"I didn't want to."
Davian ruffled his hair and looked at the drawings on the floor.
"My son is a great painter."
Nikolai's head popped out and he looked at Davian, to which he continued "do you want to teach Allora how to draw?"
Nikolai held Allora's face and made her look at him "do you want to learn?"
Allora's eyes glowed with tears "yes" and Nikolai kissed the tip of her nose. "It's alright, don't cry I will teach you" he was behaving just like Davian.
Nikolai yawned again. Davian lifted Nikolai on one arm and slung the other around Allora's waist trying to direct her to the bad.
"Let's sleep" Davian kissed her neck and Allora closed her eyes at the sensation, which made him plant more kisses and suck on her sweet spot.


In the same castle miles away, there was Vivian. The queen was furious. Ezar told her that Davian went straight to the princess' room after the minister's meeting. Normally after a long day he allegedly preferred to be alone.

"Your highness, she is just a slave, don't get bothered by her" her servant said.

Vivian was sitting in her room wearing her white nightdress and having her hair brushed by her servant.

"Yes, she is just a slave, Davian would never stay with her. The moment he gets bored he will throw her away like the dirt she is."
"Yes, that's right and you my queen will always stay."

Vivian wasn't a bad person, she just loved Davian too much. The man, that never thought of her romantically, the man who couldn't sleep with her without getting extremely drunk.
He was nice to her...only because she allegedly was sick. She got 'sick' after giving birth to Nikolai, the crown prince. Davian felt guilty and thought he owns Vivian something, the least he could do was to take care of her the best he could.
It was not Vivian, who came up with the idea of pretending that she was chronically sick, it was his mother, the former queen.
Vivian didn't care if she was lying, she needed Davian to live.
______________

After the night they spent with each other Lily got attached to Ciel more. He was always there for her, he made her feel safe, loved, and accepted.
That night after loving each other Lily was lying on Ciel's shoulders, while he played with her hair.
Ciel told her about the death of her father, but she didn't cry, she couldn't. After what he did to them, to her and Allora, she couldn't even feel sorry. He deserved that and more.
He noticed her behavior and asked what exactly was going on. It's not every day that you see people rejoicing over the death of their parents.
"He wasn't a good father in any way" Lily started and Ciel hummed not wanting to disturb her. "He did a lot to me and Allora, he didn't like me in particular because I have the same eyes as my mother" she stopped trying not to cry.
"Lily, my queen, let it out" he hugged her and kissed her temple.
"He never talked to me, which was absolutely fine, but he would always torture Allora in front of me and tell her the sickest things you could think of...once he invited us to his room ..." she wanted to continue but Ciel interrupted "Invited you to his room?"
"Yes, he did that very often, until we turned fifteen but later, he would just invite Allora alone. At some point he stopped inviting her too. It was hurtful to see her every night coming back to her room crying herself to sleep" Lily sobbed "that if she did, Allora always stayed up late observing the door and telling me to sleep. She guarded us" Lily was trembling. "Don't force yourself" Ciel said gently not wanting her to push herself.
"This man killed my mother, my brother and ruined me and Allora, I hate him."
"Shh... he will never come back."
"I feel bad for letting Allora in this hell alone."
"Lily, that was not your fault."
Lily had every reason to hate him.
_______________