Chapter 16 (Edited)

Chapter 16

It's been two weeks since Casper had asked me to marry him. The wedding is in two weeks' time, just before Casper is crowned as King. The wedding arrangements are going great, I think that's because I have so much help. Now that I'm engaged to Casper, Vampires know that I'm off limits and if they touch me they will die.

So I was free to explore the palace on my own, as Casper was busy trying to figure out who murdered his father. Sapphire has been helping him, so I haven't seen much of her either in the last few days. Although Casper does come to bed every night to cuddle up to me and I love it.

The maids, Sapphire, and her cousin Peyton are all helping with the arrangements for the wedding. Sapphire hasn't helped as much as the other girls, but she is busy helping Casper most of the time.

The color scheme is already picked out, it's going to be black, maroon, and white as it's the royal color. The flowers are finalized, invitations sent out, and my dress was being made. So hopefully I would be having a dress fitting to finalize the dress within the next few days. We still need to pick the music for the reception and write our vows, plus we still haven't picked the flavor for the cake yet.

So today we were going to be finishing the last few details except my vows, as I still had sometime to work on them. I was meeting the girls in the formal lounge room, that had been transferred in to a room full of bridal magazines and different types of materials and colors.

“About time.”, said Peyton.

“Sorry.”, I replied.

Gosh I was only ten minutes late I mean I know the wedding is soon, but I shouldn't have to apologize for being a little late. These Vampires can be pretty pushy and demanding when they want to be.

“Okay, first up is the music.”, said Peyton.

“Are we having a DJ, sound system, or a band?”, asked the maid. I think her name is Haylee.

“I think we should have a DJ.”, I said.

“That sounds great! So then we don't need to worry about the music, as it will all be up to him.”, said Sapphire as she walked into the room.

Great that's another thing sorted and I was really looking forward to the cake tasting. I want to try as many different flavors as possible, that way I know what all my options are.

“Okay now for the cake. A maid will bring in some samples of different flavors for you to try, that they've come up with. So until then we can go over everything else, and make sure we have every little detail planned out.”, Sapphire said.

“Can I ask about the honeymoon? When will we discuss that?”, I asked.

“The honeymoon is taken care of already.”, Sapphire and Peyton said at the same time.

“Well...what are the plans?”, I asked really curious.

“It's a secret. Even we don't know about it, Casper organized it all on his own.”, Sapphire said.

Just then the maid walked in with a trolley full of different cakes, and all I could do was drool. How am I mean to pick a favorite, there are just so many. I'll want them all!

“Okay now grab a piece of paper and write down your three favorites in order.”, Sapphire instructed.

“Okay.”, we all said.

I went through them one by one, and every single one of them melted in my mouth. At the top of my list I had the caramel and dark chocolate, followed by the banana and mango, then the last was raspberry and white chocolate.

“Can I have three different types on each tier of the cake, because I have my three favorites and I can't decide between them.”, I asked.

“The cooks can make whatever kind of cake you want.”, said Casper from the door. I hadn't even realized he was standing there.

“Of course they can.”, the maid Haylee replied.

“May I steal you for a minute?”, he asked me.

“Of course you can.”, I replied.

I handed my list of favorites to Sapphire and walked to my future husband. He held his arms open and I walked into them and put my arms around his neck.

“I love you.”, he whispered as he kissed my neck.

“I love you too.”, I replied giggling. He was tickling my neck by licking right below my ear.

He picked me up and carried me to the office that was now his. His father had a ton of unfinished business and Casper was trying to catch it up He was trying to take care of quickly, while still trying to find his fathers murderer. He walked into the office still carrying me, and closed the door behind us with his foot.

“I've missed you.”, I said. Casper sat on the lounge with me on his lap and hugged me tightly.

“I know, I've missed you too.”, he replied.

“I found some information on who killed father.”, he said out of nowhere.

“Who was it?”, I asked.

When Sapphire was here a few weeks ago, she had a few visitors. One of them went by the name of Christopher. At the moment it's just a hunch, but I think she was meeting up with Jasper.”, he said sadly.

“Why would she do that?”, I asked.

“I don't know, that's what I need to find out. I think she and Jasper have slowly been poisoning father to death over the last few weeks.”

“How could this have happened? Casper told me that his father disowned Jasper years ago. Why would Sapphire work with him?

“How did he get into the palace without your father knowing?”

“I'm not sure, that's why I assume Jasper is Christopher. It was a name he used many years ago.”, he said.

I grabbed Casper's face to make him look at me, and I kissed him passionately. Then laid my head down onto his shoulder.

“I could stay like this forever.”, I whispered.

“I could too, but right now I have a lot of work to do.”

“You're going to be King, you'll always have a lot of work to do.”, I replied with a sad look on my face.

I was right and I knew it. He would soon be King and I'd never get to spend any time with him. I wasn't sure if we'd go back home or if we would stay here in London.

“Will we go back home? Or will we stay here?”, I asked.

“Depends on whether or not you want to go home or stay here, it doesn't really matter I can do my work from anywhere.”

“I'll miss April if we stay here, she was really nice to me.”, I replied.

“We could bring her over here if you want.”

“I can ask her.” I don't want her to move all the way over here and leave her family. Maybe she could bring them with her.

We sat in silence for a little while, until Casper said he had a little more digging to do. I sat on the lounge and watched as he made a few phone calls and dug through stacks of papers. He finally lifted his head with a paper in his hand.

“This is it!”, he exclaimed.

“What is it?”, I asked.

“Just what I needed. One of the guards on duty during one of the times Sapphire was here, thought he saw someone who looked just like me. Only the man he claims to have seen, had black hair.”, he said.

“So it was Jasper then.”

“Yes it was Jasper. I know it, I just know it, Jasper and Sapphire killed our father.”, he said in a deathly tone.

“What will happen now?”, I asked.

“I'll send the guards to get Sapphire and have her taken to the dungeons,she shall be sentenced to death after questioning. Then I shall send guards out to hunt for Jasper.”

Casper called in the guards and ordered them to take Sapphire as a prisoner, and ordered another group to hunt down his monstrous brother. I sat there in silence watching Casper order people around, and it brought back so many memories from when I first met him.

“Why was I marrying him, he never explained why he abused me. I should be scared of him right? For some unknown reason I wasn't scared of him, but I did need answers though.”, I thought to myself.

“Casper, can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can”, he replied.

“Before I marry you, I need to know why you were so mean and abusive to me.”

I saw him tense up so I knew that I caught him off guard with the question.

“I knew you would ask me this sooner or later.”, he replied.

He continued to sit at his desk, so I walked over and sat in the chair on the opposite side of the desk.

“Please tell me, I have to know.”, I whispered.

“It all started with this girl named Marry, whom I thought I loved. I came to learn, however, that she was nothing but a traitorous bitch.”, he said. With that he went on to tell me the story of how she had betrayed him and played a hand in his mother's death.

“So you see when I first met you, you reminded me so much of that girl that murdered my mother, but I had killed her. I though maybe you were a descendant, and I planned on getting revenge. If you were in fact a descendant of that girl, then that would have made you a Vampire. I couldn't smell it on you but I thought you were some how hiding it, since you were with a group of humans. So I kidnapped you and brought you to my home, all the while degrading and beating you. I waited for you to try to attack me back, and that would prove whether or not you were a Vampire. I kept thinking that you might be able to read my mind and know that I killed that woman, hoping to trigger your want for revenge. I discovered much too late that you were in fact human, and could in no way be of her bloodline. Once I had figured that out, I realized I was being drawn to you out of love, not revenge. I knew then that I loved you, and you were my soul mate.”

I didn't know what to say. He said at first it was a test to see if I was a Vampire, and therefore a descendant of the girl who murdered his mother. Does he know how stupid that sounds?

“You thought I was a descendant of the girl who killed your mother, and would realize that you had in turn killed her? Then upon realizing this, would come after you for revenge of my own?”

“Yes. Vampires are very vengeful creatures. They will kill an entire bloodline of someone who has wronged them, especially if they've killed a loved one. It's in our nature, it's who we are and I was willing to wipe out that girls whole family. That's why it's also hard for me not to kill Sapphire and Jasper myself, I loved my father and they took him from me. That is not the way it's done here though, there is a procedure that I have to follow.”

I moved around the desk to stand face to face with him. I placed both hands on either said of his face.

“How could you possibly think that I was that kind of a person? Even if I had been a Vampire and a descendant of hers, how could you think that me of all people could try to kill someone?” I whispered.

“I know and I'm so sorry. I never should have assumed, you just looked so much like her. I can't ever take back what I did but if you give me the chance, I will spend forever trying to make it up to you.” he said sincerely.

“Its okay I can forgive you for making a mistake, and I will let you prove to me how sorry you really are. I'm sorry that I had to bring this up. as I can see it causes you great pain for many different reasons. I would now like to put this behind us and move on from it, I don't want to dwell on this anymore.” I stated.

“Okay we shall put this behind us. I love you so much Crystal, I want you to know that.”, he said looking straight into my eyes.

“I know you do, and I love you too Casper.”

The rest of the evening flew by, and Casper finally made his way up to bed to cuddle me. I can't wait to become his wife. I know people think I might be crazy for loving Casper after everything he put me thorough, but honestly it's all in the past just like we said earlier. As long as it never happens again and I have no doubt that it ever will, I'll be happy.