Chapter 190 Sabrinaâs POV:
The rest of the dinner went by without much hitches. After dinner, the king and I took a walk through the grounds, The moon, a lovely sickle in the night sky gave its pale light. the cool evening breeze carried with it the scent of flowers. We walked side by side, a peaceful air between us.
But there was a question nagging my mind.
I turned to the king. He has his gaze focused far ahead, his head held high and proud. For a moment I admired the angles of his face then he noticed me staring and looked at me.
âIs there something on my face?â He asked and touched his face.
âNo, your face is perfect.â
âYou think Iâm perfect?â He asked with a teasing smirk.
âI said your face is perfect, not you. Hold on...that doesnât...â
âItâs alright,â He purred. âYou have to admit it.â
I sighed heavily. âI have a question for you,â I said and quickly changed the topic.
âWhat is your question?â
âTell me about your childhood. Were you always this tall, intimidating king?â
âYes. I spawned out of nothing, and I never had to go through childhood.â
I paused in my tracks and turned to face him. He stopped a few paces ahead and looked at me. âYouâre being serious?â
To be honest, itâs highly likely that he just spawned out of nothing. I stated at him, and I couldnât imagine him as a child. Or a baby, even. Did he have parents? Siblings? Did he cry as a child when he scraped his knee?
I canât come up with any images of that.
âItâs actually very possible.â I said, tapping my chin.
âOf course not.â He said. âI was once a child. Like any other person.â
âSomehow I find it hard to believe that.â
He sighed and shook his head. Then he continued walking and I followed him. âI had parents too. And I was once a boy. I had a pretty normal childhood. I was born and raised as a prince, the next in line for the throne.â
Oh.
I see we had completely different childhoods.
âThen what happened? The curse?â
âYes.â
âHow did that happen? Were you born with it?â I asked. I couldnât imagine a life where he couldnât see the sun, even as a kid.
Mar âI wasnât born cursed.â He said. âI once felt the sun. I once didnât have poison in my bite!
âDo you want to tell me what happened?â
âOf course. It happened when I was a young man, a few months after my coming of age ceremony. Acheron and 1, troublemakers we were at the time, we left off to explore a temple. It wasnât supposed to exist, and we thought it was a rumor,â
I could imagine him as a twenty something year old version of himself. With youthful eyes and a charming smile.
I listened with rapt attention as he went on.
âI broke a sacred item. It was a vase. Something dark came out of it and passed through me. At first I thought it was nothing, till I tried to step out on the sun and it burned. After much consultation with mages, we discovered that the temple belonged to an ancient vampire deity. And I had disturbed itâs eternal sleep. In anger, it cursed me to be...this creature. The curse blended with my wolf nature and created an anomalyâ
My heart ached. I could imagine how it must have felt, knowing that he would never step in the sun again.
âIâm so sorry, your majesty.â
âAh donât be. Itâs been so long I barely think about it anymore.â
I quickly thought of something to change the atmosphere.
âWhat about your parents? Did you have a good collection of memories with them?â
He smiled fondly. âYes. My mother was a beautiful soul. She was kind, and she was loved by all. She met her untimely death at my fatherâs hands.â
The smile that had started to form on my face died as I heard those words.
âI tried to kill my father, but he managed to escape. Lucky him. Since then, I have barely seen him.â
I gasped in shock. âIâm sorry about your mother.â
We walked up to a tree that had a bench under it and sat.
âSheâs in a better place. Or at least I hope so.â He said.
He took my hand and pulled me closer. His eyes held my gaze, deep and intense.
âSabrina, I want you to answer this question truthfully.â
I nodded.
âDo you want to stay here with me, or do you want to leave?â
I blinked twice. That wasnât the question j was expecting at all.
âWill you let me leave if I want to?â I asked softly.
A few seconds of tense silence stretched between us. His grip on my hand tightened, and he rubbed smooth circles into the back of my hand.
âI wonât lie, if you leave, it will hurt. But yes, I will let you go. If you say the word right now, I will instruct the servants to pack everything youâll need. And Iâll give you the best carriage. Yes, I would Those words struck a deep cord in my heart. I can tell how painful it is for him to say it.
You have him wrapped around your finger, Lady Nifra had said.
I didnât think itâd be like this.
âWhy would you do that?â
âBecause I donât want you to ever feel forced to do anything ever again. If you do not wish it, it will not happen.â
âYour majesty....youâre so full of surprises. I...I never imagined youâd be this emotional. This kind to me.â
He cleared his throat and avoided my eyes. âBest to keep this between us.â
I laughed softly. âAre you shy, your majesty?â
âShy?â He turned to me. He pulled me into his lap and held me steadily. âWho said Iâm shy?â
I grabbed onto his bicep to steady myself. âYou are?â
âMaybe.â He said. âBut one thing is for sure. My world has been plunged into darkness for many long years before I met you. You brought back my light. You are the sun of my life. And your warmth is all consuming, Sabrina.â
My cheeks turned red. âYouâre joking. You had Blair the entire time.â
âBlair? She canât be compared to you. Most times, I donât even remember her name. Aside the duties she provided me at the time, I never had conversations with her.â
âDuties.â
âIt was stress relief, and nothing more. Iâm not the kind of man to sleep around and have multiple partners.â
I raised a brow. âThatâs new. And itâs not something you hear most men say.â
âIâm not most men.â
âYou arenât. And thatâs really hot.â
âYou think Iâm hot?â He asked and smirked.
I rolled my eyes. âOf course you are.â
His hands ran down the sides of my thighs and slowly back up. âI know youâre curious about my past mate.â
I nodded.
âI will tell you everything about her. But not today.â
âWhen will it be?â
Heâ