The Vampire King’s Captive

MARIA

There were over a thousand words that Maria knew of, but she wasn’t sure that they would ever be enough to convey to Iris how deeply sorry she was for wronging her so terribly.

“I’m so sorry, Iris,” Maria began, her voice soft. “If I could take everything back… if I could reverse the hands of time, I would. But I want you to know that I never did those things intentionally. I never did them out of my own will-”

“You don’t have to explain.”

Maria shook her head vehemently. “No, I do. You don’t know how terrible-”

“My brother told me everything.”

Silence.

In the past few days, Maria had done everything she could to keep thoughts of Bran out of her mind. It was hard and often impossible, but when she busied herself with things such as hiring house helps and doing small chores, she managed to succeed a bit. But for the most part, she failed.

Iris’ eyes had been a shock and a reminder of the man that she’d lost, like salt on the ever fresh wounds she bore. Her presence in itself was almost unbearable for Maria too, but hearing his name…

The pain was too much for her to bear.

Call her a glutton for punishment, but Maria couldn’t fight the urge to ask about the man that she had parted with.

“He did?”

Iris nodded soberly. “The day you left. When he found me down in the dungeons, I knew that something was wrong.” At first, Maria thought that something had happened to him until she went on. “He was… off. His eyes were panicked and filled with pain. You’d think that our reunion would be a happy one, but Bran wasn’t happy. He was sad and in pain.”

Maria’s heart clenched.

A sharp pain lanced through her middle and she fought the urge to double over with it. It was so acute, it terrified her. The hole in her heart ached, begging to be filled.

To be made whole.

Except that the only person who had the missing piece, was Bran. The only person who could make her whole was the same person who had turned her into this hollow shell in the first place.

“He told me what he did to you, Maria,” Iris went on. “And I am not telling you this just because he’s my brother but because it’s the truth. His explanations for everything he did were perfectly reasonable.”

Maria was already shaking her head, not wanting Iris to continue. Not wanting to relive the torment she’d gone through that day and even the days after, but Iris didn’t listen to her.

“He was only going to give you back to your father because his advisers had told him to. Along with the fact that he couldn’t refuse his advisers without giving them a valid reason, Ariti launched attacks on the villagers and when they were being killed repeatedly, they started rioting. Those things pushed him to make the decision, but he was going to come back for you.”

Maria gasped through her pain. “How are you so sure?”

Iris’ mouth twisted wryly. “You’re his mate. There was no way he can let you go and remain sane.”

He only planned on going after her because of what she meant to him. Not because of what he felt for her.

“He didn’t tell me I was his mate, Iris. If he really cares about me the way you say he does, then why didn’t he tell me? Why would he keep it away from me?”

Iris sighed again. “I honestly do not know the logic behind his reason, but he said that he wanted to tell you when everything was over.”

Right. How convenient.

Maria wanted to keep arguing but she honestly didn’t have the strength for it anymore. She had tried to make sense of everything he’d done and why he’d done it but at the end, it all boiled down to the fact that he’d hurt her and she couldn’t move on from that.

She was still so hurt.

“Can we just stop talking about Bran?” Maria all but begged Iris, her voice cracking on the words. “Please?”

Iris’ face fell. It was very obvious that she was disappointed, but she hid it quickly with a small smile. “Alright. I’ll stop ”

“Do you forgive me?” Maria asked softly after a while, wanting Iris to forgive her. Needing her to forgive her.

She honestly liked her a lot and would not be able to be at peace with herself if Iris didn’t forgive her. Her forgiveness was just that important to Maria.

“I already did a long time ago,” Iris told Maria and got up from her couch, crossed the small space and dropped next to Maria, slinging an arm across her shoulder. “Honestly, I can’t say for certain that I wouldn’t do what you did if I was in your shoes.”

She was so glad that Iris understood.

So fucking glad.

“Thank you,” Maria breathed, exhaling a pent-up breath that she hadn’t known she’d been holding. “Thank you so much.”

“Thank me by coming to my welcome party.”

Maria sighed and her body slumped forward. She’d seen something like this coming, hadn’t she?

“Iris…”

The teenager turned to her and gave her the full force of her pretty green eyes. “Please don’t say no. There’s going to be a lot of strange people there and I’m going to feel so alone.”

Going to Iris’ welcome party would mean coming face to face with Bran and she wasn’t ready for that yet. She might just crumble into an emotional mess if she saw his face, especially now that he wasn’t hers anymore.

She couldn’t go through that kind of pain.

“I honestly don’t think I can face your brother so soon.”

For the second time, Iris’ face fell and her eyes lowered. “It’s okay. I understand.”

Maria sighed from the depths of her soul. She couldn’t believe that she was about to say these words but…

“I could try. For you.”

Gods, what kind of torture was she about to put herself through?

Iris perked up. “Really?”

She forced a smile. “Yeah.”

“Are you sure?” Iris asked, skeptic.

“Yes, Iris.”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Her body smacked into Maria’s unexpectedly and they would have toppled to the ground had it not been for the arm of the chair that kept them in.

“Thank you so much.” Iris murmured into Maria’s neck.

Facing Bran in such a short time might just be the worst kind of hell Maria could go through right now, but it was worth it to see the look on Iris’ face.