There Is No Me Beyond You

~34~

It was now Radu and I who represented the castle at the weddings during the following weeks, when Vlad was busy preparing Junior for the coronation and his future responsibilities as a ruler.

Several things changed, just as I expected, after what Katerina had told us. More Knights appeared in the corridors, more of my wolves were allowed within the walls of the castle and inside our chambers, and I was never allowed to go out only with Lucas-- a handful of Guards was at my heels constantly.

When I complained about it Vlad only said that he did not trust Rareş, who kept sending his vampires under one excuse or another to check on us frequently, and he trusted Andrei to leave us in peace even less. But I knew that he simply chose to ignore my being a vampire completely, and considered me as fragile and in need of protection as I had been before the transition.

I wasn't exceedingly happy about it but it wasn't all bad-- having realised that I would never be as strong and resilient as he and the others, Vlad really started to look forward to the moment when the portal reopened, and he would come with me to the place he considered safer for me than his world.

"And how do you know it's safer?" I teased him one night, when he joined me in bed after another long and tiring day.

Fire was burning on the hearth, despite it being only the beginning of September. The nights became chilly and damp, and the constant wind heralding the approaching autumn by stripping the trees growing in the forest of their dry, colourful leaves, was unpleasantly cool, and strong enough to find its way inside through the crevices in the walls of the castle.

"Lucas told me everything," Vlad said.

I had to smile when I saw his smiling face gilded by the warm glow of the dancing flames as I inquired, "Everything?"

"Maybe not everything, but more than enough to make me feel curious... There are so many things I want to know about your other world. He promised that he will teach me how to drive a car." Vlad announced, his voice laced with excitement making my smile freeze.

"Cars are dangerous..." I said, thinking that I needed to have a word with Lucas first thing in the morning.

"He told me about electricity too, I've been puzzled by those lights they use in the castle, on the other side, for a while. But I still don't quite understand how it works... " he trailed off, finally removing his shirt which I had unbuttoned while he spoke, and reached for the laces still holding mine in place.

"You... you just have to touch a switch, that's how it works... " I whispered, shrugging the unlaced shirt off my shoulders and pressing my lips to his to avoid further questions which I could not answer adequately.

The coronation was planned for the last week of September. It was Clara's birthday then, and that gave us a good excuse to hold a banquet and a dance for a few close friends and acquaintances, should any of Rareş' men notice the preparations. No more than twenty guests were invited, and we would simply hand our crowns to the young couple at the end of the dinner. It would definitely not be a pompous, traditional ceremony, but as the plan was approved by all those who mattered to Vlad-- the highest representatives of his loyal human subjects as well as his vampire friends and some family members-- it would suffice to confirm Junior as their new prince.

When the day finally dawned I felt more nervous than Clara, now nearly six months pregnant. I couldn't shake off the feeling that something unpleasant would happen, that this day would not go as smoothly as Vlad, Radu and Junior thought. We sighed in unison as I accompanied her into the kitchen and she left little Ioan there, in care of two maids supervised by her grandmother and Katerina.

I relaxed a little only when I was seated next to Vlad at one of the two long tables in the Great Hall, his hand holding mine as I smiled at each of the present-- Lucas, Radu, Father Boian, the young priest from Bran who became my friend, Clara's father and several more men from the village...