A scarlet carriage embellished with gold jewels rolled over the cobbled driveway. It was a spherical machine with big wheels and intricate flower detailing of gold around its surface. It was being powered by a white elongated pentagonal stone levitating over its top.
The carriage halted to a smooth stop in front of the open castle doors. Through the lacy curtains over the round windows, Elowen caught sight of multiple pale skinned, ruby eyed, folks curiously eyeing her ride.
She rested a hand over her chest to calm her raging heart. For, being sent all alone as a sacrifice, all the more, to the vampire kingdom, no less, did come with a main course of nerves and a bitter aftertaste of abandonment.
To think there was no one to recieve her, a human princess, at the castle doors held another dash of dampness to her already sullen state of mind. Even if she intended to run away — how could one escape a place with eyes and ears in every nook and cranny?
Surely, no less than ten people might be relishing her fear hastened heartbeat in proximity.
Where is the Crown Prince who was supposed to meet her? Should she get out all by herself? Is it disrespectful to stay inside for too long? If she were to dash the carriage back home — how much international tension would it cause? The last question was easily answerable. She would be murdered unceremoniously and the vampire kingdom, Valoria, would declare war on the mortal empire of Imania.
The inside of her carriage was dark and musky. Her gloved hands sweated against the door handle as she gently twisted it. The door sprung open and Elowen almost yelped, lunging into the back of the carriage, at the sight of the person before her.
"I was beginning to think you'd never open the door," the person said. She was a woman with the most perfect rosy complexion accentuated by her curly chestnut hair and emerald eyes gazing into Elowen's soul.
"Ah, no, I was just making sure I look presentable," enough to die, Elowen didn't add; she ran a hand over her hair and outfit to convey her point.
The woman's sharp features softened into a smile and she held out her gloved hand for Elowen to take. Her fitted suit jacket and dress pants made Elowen wonder if she was a knight. Nonetheless, the human princess gently held the girl's hand and let herself be escorted out of the carriage.
"I am Astrid Atlier, the highest ranking Lady of Valoria and your aide for the stay. Welcome to the land of the cursed, Princess Calyx," she curved in the most elegant bow and pressed a kiss on Elowen's lacy knuckles. A chill of awe ran down her spine.
The princess sucked in a shy breath, for Astrid Atlier was the most charming woman she had ever laid her eyes upon. "It's an honour to have you by my side," for as long as I live, Elowen did not add. She smiled with a tilt of her head which ever so slightly bared her neck.
Instantly, Astrid's hands were around Elowen's neck — choking a cough out of the princess. Though, instead of wrangling her neck or stabbing her artery, Astrid tied a small shell shaped necklace around the smooth curve of her throat.
"It has been scented by the maids. It shall dampen your scent until the ceremony begins," Astrid informed as she stepped back and eyed the necklace with a satisfied nod.
"What about my heartbeat?" Elowen asked, her hand instinctively crept over the necklace and brought it to her nose. She sniffed the miniscule shell only to whiff nothing out of the ordinary.
"I'm surprised," there was a twinkle in Astrid's eye, "It is a smart question. The castle has plenty human maids and servants. You don't have to worry about it." Astrid turned to lead the way into the hauntingly bejewelled castle. Elowen followed behind, closely inspecting the aged precious stones embedded into the tiled walls colouring up her way.
"The Valorians don't believe in subtlety, I see," Elowen whispered as they crossed the crystalline foyer. She felt a sudden drop in temprature as goosebumps rose over her exposed skin. Vampires littered the hallways, loitering around with hushed whispers or dull laughter. Everybody could hear everyone, everyone could see everything, as long as one was in sight — their flaws were out for scrutiny amongst the cruelest of all races on Eidryn.
With eternal time on their hands, as Elowen expected, everything inside the Valoria castle was slow. The deep vibrato of a cello, the slow clinking of wine glasses and Astrid's patient steps which threatened Elowen to accidentally step on her heels on more than one ocassion.
They rounded a corner and Elowen gasped at the sight of a glass staircase. The wall alongside was covered with intricate beaded tapestries. The first one showcased, in warm colours, a silhouette of a man kneeling in front of a deity. The second depicted the man staring through the tapestry, the warm background a stark contrast to his cold blue gaze. The third continued as the man had his arms spread and the land in front of him was covered in dark beads. Behind him was another deity, blended in with the dark greens and blacks, controlling the man.
Elowen turned to the fourth tapestry but it was covered by itself; one of its corners had come loose and rolled outwards. Elowen wanted to ask Astrid what it was about but was swiftly reminded of her surroundings by two chuckling vampires, staring at her from the landing.
"Want a game?"
"What do you bet?"
"I'm bored. My lifetime? What do you put on line?"
"Eh, my lifetime?"
They chuckled, sipped from their scarlet wine glasses and sang, "Fang~ Blood~ Cloak~" while waving their hands. As the chant ended, their hands stilled. One of them had two fingers out and curved to represent fangs. The other had his palm swaying left and right.
"Aha," the winner scoffed monotonously, "My fang tears through your cloak," he stated after a look at their hands.
"It is what it is," the other shrugged.
Elowen witnessed with cold fascination as the winner's face darkened. His fangs enlarged and his body lunged onto the other, attacking his neck so violently that his head fell and rolled off.
Elowen whimpered.
His calm scarlet eyes caught her bewildered auburn gaze. A devious smirk eased up his bloodied face.
"Don't litter, Evander," Astrid chided as if the man hadn't straight up murdered another at hand.
"That is no way to talk to your Prince," the blonde retorted and flung the blood-oozing-body off the stairs. Elowen shimmed to the right as the vampire's colder corpse rolled off the staircase with much haste owing to gravity.
"I'll be formal when you'll be princely," Astrid rolled her eyes and extended a hand in Evander's direction, "Unfortunately, he is our crown prince's younger brother by blood and ill fate, Evander something Sythar, pay him no heed." Her words did not sound like a suggestion and Elowen wasn't there to take chances on warnings.
She bobbed her head in acknowledgment and proceeded to climb up the stairs without Astrid's lead. If the younger brother was a cold, heartless, murderer — what did it say about the Crown Prince? Was he equally vicious or even worse?
"See, you scared the poor child!" Elowen heard Astrid's harsh whisper.
Evander probably replied in a hushed tone because Elowen couldn't hear it out of earshot. She chose to wait at the end of the staircase, tapping her gloved fingers on the banister. One second she had her eyes on Astrid's back and the other Astrid was on her left, urging her to continue following.
Everything around Elowen was a horror movie made out of candid shots and jumpscares while she was its sole audience. It's fine, this is what she was made for. The end was within grasp.
"You seem on good terms with the royal family?" Elowen questioned as they headed through a hallway of consecutive gothic chandeliers and slow piano music echoing off the marbled walls.
"I was raised with Evander and your fiancé, oh talking of your fiancé, he apologises for missing your arrival. He'll be there when the ceremony begins," Astrid informed. Elowen stared at her back, the squared shoulders and swaying brown ponytail, almost hypnotically in awe with her slow gait.
"How long have you lived?" Elowen blurted out, quite rudely if one considered Lady Manners.
Astrid chuckled at the question, "Long enough to have witnessed your grandfather's fascination with centaur milk. That was quite a time," She drawled much to Elowen's disgust.
They stopped in front of a door, wide and characteristically bejewelled.
"Do you want to make sure you look presentable?" Astrid mused.
Elowen ran a hand through her silver curls and looked down to check for wrinkles in her flowy pastel shirt and wide legged pants, "I think I'm good," she concluded her observation.
"Cute," Astrid coughed and opened the gigantic door with a flick of her fingers. "I will leave you here, until then," she curved into a bow as Elowen stepped inside.
The hall was marvellously covered in mirrors and peacock jewels. Grand windows swept in moonlight reflecting all through the hall in illumination. Shrouded partially in darkness and partially in the silver of the moon, two figures awaited her welcome.
"If it isn't the blood bride," the woman drawled.
"And before time, for once," the man deadpanned.
"Did you schedule your mourning hours before arriving?" The woman snickered.
"Pity, I was looking forward to some drama around," the man tsked.
They were the Sythars, King Draven and Queen Lilith Sythar, her in-laws to be. They were a tall and pale pair, gracious looking with elegant stances and bejewelled corsets. It was all Elowen could gather without staring like a dumb fool.
"Are you mute?" Queen Lilith asked, sounding mildly concerned.
"Ah, good evening, Your Royal Highnesses," Elowen curtsied with grace, "I am Elowen Elyra Calyx of the Mortal Empire, Imania, introducing myself as the centennial blood bride."
"Why isn't she cowering like all those before her? You know that you're a bride in name but a sacrifice in deed, right?" King Draven scoffed.
"I happen to be comfortable with my mortality. My parents did not raise me with worldly expectations," Elowen explained eloquently, maintaining her curtsey. The crystalline floor was sparkling enough to reflect a grey image of herself.
"Be at ease," Queen Lilith said as she sped out of the shadows to stand in Elowen's face and pushed a finger under her chin. "The ceremony starts at eight," she whispered as her fingers flicked the shell necklace to the ground.
Elowen stood perfectly still as Lilith inhaled the scent of her nape and sped back to her husband's side. "She is Arcturus' daughter alright," the woman confirmed.
The King exhaled a throaty chuckle, "Would've made an excellent ambassador, wouldn't she?" He mused.
"Excellent indeed," Queen Lilith agreed.
Elowen should have felt proud of the praise she was receiving from the most dangerous couple in the world. But her heart stayed calmer the longer she stayed in their presence. Elowen had been raised with the concept of death at the tip of everyone's tongue. Her mere existence was doomed the day she had her first cry in the arms of her frowning mother. Elowen had had twenty-one-years at her behest to dream, give up and mourn all that she could have or never had.
To be a human princess in Eidryn was an inconvenience at best but if one were unfortunate enough to be born at the end of a century, they were destined to be dressed up in pretty clothes and sent off as a peace offering to the Kingdom of Valoria.
Following her fate would be the Blood Ritual. Then, death.
As Elowen stood on the tallest tower of the castle, looking up at the red eating up the silver of the moon, she sighed in relief at the predictability of her fate. All of her life had surmounted to this moment, she turned to the glistening pond in front, reflecting the changing hues of the moon.
The ripples in the water were concentric and eternal, a fate Elowen could only wish to possess.
"Apologies for my late arrival, beloved."
The sudden comment, shot out of silence, startled the wits out of Elowen. Her torso twisted to have a look behind, her feet jumped back out of instinct. Her eyes widened as they laid on a man stripping off his silk shirt. A gasp escaped her lips as her body arched a full ninety against the ground. Her heartbeat hastened as cold arms wrapped around her waist and caught her, mid-fall.
"Hasty to die, aren't we?"
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