The Vampire Lord

Chapter 8. The Stableboy

It was now exactly a week until the night of The Midwinter Ball. The Lord's cousin would be attending, and this worried him tremendously.

His cousin was a strange and indifferent man, this wasn't however always the case. The Lord sighed in his bedchamber as he remembered how they would play when they were children. They would chase each other around the castle gardens and banter with the servants. That was however a very long time ago, and their friendship was now nothing but a thing of the past.

Lord Nathaniel heard a knock on his door, he put the pile of papers he held in his hands back on his desk as he stood up.

"Enter." He spoke clearly.

The door opened and Lady Sophia walked into the room. He smiled fraudulently as he greeted her.

"Lady Sophia, anything I can help you with?" He spoke. "Don't tell me you wish to change rooms again."

She gave a coy smile before she spoke.

"Actually, I wanted to thank you for letting me stay here while my father was away."

He nodded, allowing her to continue.

"I have just received the news that my father has returned to Vampyria, So I'm afraid I must leave now."

Her news brought him great joy, of course, he couldn't let her know that. The woman was a pain to live under the same roof. He curled his lips downwards, imitating a humanly frown.

"What a shame, I'll see you at The Midwinter Ball then."

"I'll look forward to it."

She strolled up to The Lord, her eyes staring at his mouth as she grew nearer. Her eyes began to close, standing on the tip of her toes as she reached up to kiss him. To her surprise, he stepped back from her.

She opened her eyes to see what was wrong, seeing that his eyes were furrowed.

"Goodbye Sophia." He spoke nonchalantly, looking away and returning to his paperwork.

She lowered her eyebrows, her lips forming into a scowl as she looked at the floor. Her attempts of seduction didn't work today, perhaps he wasn't in the mood. Seeing that he now payed no attention to her, she left the room taking one last glance before clearing out.

Once she had closed the door, Lord Nathaniel groaned as he rubbed his temples. He and Lady Sophia had known each other for quite some time, rumours circulated that they would eventually wed soon. Although he never felt any affection towards her, or any woman for that matter, he kept her for his advantage.

Her father was a duke, a powerful one for that matter, and he wanted desperatley for his daughter to marry a Lord. Sophia was a pureblood and a wealthy aristocrat, not that Lord Nathaniel needed any of it.

It made sense for him to marry her, even if he didn't love her, his powerful lineage combined with hers would result in powerful offspring that would eventually become his heirs. Having offspring was the least of his concerns as of now, especially after the human girl came into the picture the idea of marrying Sophia was no longer; He wanted nothing to do with her anymore.

In fact he wasn't sure about any of his plans for the future, he would simply just have to wait and see. For now, he had to focus on the upcoming ball and the dreaded guest that would be his cousin.

***

Olivia stopped in front of the kitchen doorway as she eavesdropped.

"You look upset Anthony, something wrong?" An unfamiliar voice asked