His hand snaked around Elys’ waist and he pulled her closer to him as he said, "Let’s walk to the exit. Do you want to bring any other books with you? We’ll take this then."
Elys raised a brow at the sudden shift of topic. She didn’t understand what he wanted to relay to her.
Aleksander took the book in her hand and tucked it under his arm. His expression was that of someone who was trying to hide something.
Or was he trying to get away from someone? Perhaps from something?
The young king then proceeded to move to the opposite direction. The exit was several meters away from them. A helmet could be seen from the distance, probably a lone sentry standing guard.
"What...?" Elys asked as she turned her head to look behind them.
There was nothing back there but rows and rows of bookshelves. The entrance was the same door they would take as an exit.
She couldn’t actually feel anything except perhaps the freezing air inside the Royal Archives. It was actually a wonder how the books inside stayed dry, as such temperatures usually brought with them moisture that could destroy old documents.
"Don’t look back, my queen," Aleksander warned her, "I don’t think what currently lurks behind us is perceptible to most vampires, not even to humans with magical affinities."
His voice was barely a whisper, and his footsteps striding faster. Elys kept up with him as the young king pretended to grab other books from shelves. He reached out for a tiny cart stationed to the side, and he filled them on the way to the exit.
Elys didn’t heed Aleksander’s warning, curiosity overcoming her as she peeked a bit to the back.
She concentrated her mind to look for anything irregular to the mana around them. There wasn’t anything entirely suspicious, but surprisingly, there was indeed something moving inside the Royal Archives.
"An energy is disrupting the flow of mana inside the room," she whispered. "Curious little thing."
"Come on now, wife," Aleksander swung his hand around Elys’ arm. "Let’s get out of here and discuss things further in the Hallowed Chambers."
Elys was uncomfortable with the ambiguity of his words. But she let him lead her anyway.
The ’thing’ moving around wasn’t exactly malicious in nature – or at least at the moment – but if Aleksander was trying to get away from it, then perhaps he has his own reasons.
"You better explain this to me, King Aleksander," Elys said as they reached the exit.
"I will, Queen Elysianne, I will," he said in a rushed tone. He sounded even a bit breathy, like he was running for his life at that.
The sentry saluted at them, and Aleksander took the books as well as the cart.
The vampire in full uniform was about to say something – perhaps the cart wasn’t meant to be brought out - but he decided against his better judgment. He kept his mouth shut, and let the King and Queen go without a word uttered.
Elys turned her head one last time and saw the small concentration of energy she noticed was now beside the sentry. It somewhat attached itself to the vampire, the man’s face turning slightly paler.
’Is that entity sucking at the sentry’s mana or something?’ she asked herself.
The couple walked out of the Royal Archives, and Elys looked out into the wide window. The capital was the same as it had been last night. There wasn’t much activity, to which was making her worry there must be something wrong.
Aleksander kept on walking, his hand somehow finding Elys’ own.
"Tell me, Aleksander," Elys finally asked as they made a considerable distance away from the Royal Archives. "What was that thing?"
The young king’s eyes glanced at her and then spoke, "Actually, I don’t really know what it is too. But it is dangerous."
"I don’t really think so," she countered, "it didn’t evoke an evil energy. Perhaps you mistook it for something else entirely?"
Aleksander shook his head, "No, that thing will latch on you and suck your mana until it finds another who is stronger. The stronger the mana, the better."
She raised a brow at him, "How do you know?"
Her husband’s lips pressed together in a tight line, "Because it fed on me when I was down at the dungeons back then."
Their conversation died right after then, since Aleksander stopped speaking to her.
Elys thought it was a bit weird. However, she quickly recalled how battered and broken Aleksander had been when he showed her his past, and decided to let it go for now.
Maybe it was partly the reason he had been easily broken back then.
Aleksander led her to the Hallowed Chambers hand in hand. The silence between them seemingly getting heavier with each step they took.
As they reached the Hallowed Chambers, two sentries crossed their spears and one said, "I am sorry, King Aleksander, but the Hallowed Chambers is only accessible to the High Priestess Naya."
Aleksander scowled at the sentry, "Move or I will have you dead within a second."
The young king’s hand immediately clutched the handle of his sword hung to his side. The sentries started to sweat, but they didn’t move and only stared blankly at them.
"F-Forgive us, your majesty," the other sentry spoke, a bit of a stutter coming up with his words, "we are only doing our job."
"Please... the High Priestess Naya would probably give you access should you ask her," the first sentry added his suggestion. "The late Queen Zephyrine herself could only come in when the High Priestess Naya is with her. It has always been this way to preserve the precious artifacts in the chamber."
"I said, step aside," Aleksander hissed at the sentries. "Do you not understand your king’s orders? The High Priestess Naya isn’t higher than me!"
Elys stepped forward and pushed Aleksander back, "Don’t be like that husband. I am sure they would let us pass without it ending with bloodshed."
"Yes, don’t turn to violence immediately, your majesty," a voice suddenly said behind them. "You won’t need it anyway, because I am here."
The couple turned around, and Aleksander scoffed as he greeted, "What a coincidence, High Priestess Naya."