Aleksander’s eyes burst open with the loud eruption. He immediately sat up and swept the heavy layers of the bed’s canopies. This was bound to be a mistake, as instantly, the rays of sunlight invaded his eyes and Aleksander was forced to shriek with pain.
"AH! FUCKING HELL IT BURNS!" he yowled.
"Husband!" Elys rushed over to Aleksander, "Are you alright? What do you need?"
The vampire huffed, his eyes teary and burning. The insides of his eyelids had residual light spots from the experience, and a few seconds later he felt as if he wanted to throw up.
But the carpets in their chambers were profoundly expensive, and Aleksander didn’t want to ruin such items that he tried his best not to puke.
Elys’ hand tapped him gently on his back, and Aleksander heaved as he breathed in and out of the burning sensation in his eyes.
"Aleksander?" Elys called out to him, "Do you need anything? Water? Wait, do you even drink water? Blood, then?"
He waved his hand meaning to decline Elys’ offer.
"Don’t mind me, what the hell is happening outside?" Aleksander said in between wheezes of pain.
The young queen’s eyes turned to their balcony, and she saw smoke rising from the capital. There was something amiss there, as the smoke seemed to be rapidly increasing and darkening by the second.
"The capital... it seems like there is something going on there," she said, "I don’t think this is good, Aleksander. It’s morning already and most of the capital residents are your kind."
Tears have started to flow from Aleksander’s eyes. A drop glided on the side of his left cheek, while another dripped from his right’s inner eye. Aleksander rubbed his eyes gently, drying the tears away as he slowly opened his eyes once more.
He made sure that he was well shielded this time around, as he reached out for Elys’ support. He scooted behind her and observed the capital through their balcony at an angle that didn’t compromise his eyesight.
"Do you hear anything there?" Elys asked him.
Aleksander shook his head and said, "I can only listen in within the whole palace, my queen. I can’t reach people’s minds that far out."
Elys’ hand turned into fists, clenching and unclenching as she started to recognize fire erupting from one building to another.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Your majesties! The capital is burning!" someone called out from outside.
The voice seemed to belong to Marquis Lanz. Elys walked towards the door and promptly opened them herself.
The Marquis’ face was pallid. He was covered in sweat, his eyes frenzied and worried. His voice even sounded cracked and hoarse when he called out to them.
"Marquis Lanz, help his majesty get dressed," she ordered the Marquis.
She stepped outside and despite his eyes still stinging with the burn, Aleksander opened them to watch Elys walk out of the chambers.
"Where are you going, my queen?" he called out to her.
"To my chambers, husband," she replied, "I will get dressed myself. We shall convene at your office in five minutes. Be ready, we will go take a look at the capital first hand."
Henry was just running towards Elys and Aleksander’s shared bedchamber and he almost bumped into Elys.
"Ah, forgive me your majesty," he said. "The capital is burning!"
"I know, Henry," came Elys’ short reply. "Go get Aleksander dressed."
Without taking too much time, Elys hastened towards her side of the chambers. The rooms outside hers were that of her ladies in waiting, and they too came out one by one.
"Come, I will need to be dressed. The capital is burning as of the moment and we need to take a look at it," she told the ladies as she pushed her doors open.
"You yourself, Queen Elysianne?" Lady Azalea asked, her brow rising with incredulity. "You don’t need to do that - a queen should just sit at the palace and await the rest of her subjects report on the matter."
Elys turned around and glared at the vampire, "Don’t tell me how to do my job, Lady Azalea. I might not be one of you vampires, but I know how that a queen must not sit idly by while a part of her kingdom burns right before her eyes!"
Lady Azalea bit her tongue with Elys’ words and bowed down her head.
This was the first time she had heard of a queen that would go to such lengths for the kingdom. She didn’t want to admit it, but the noble vampire was somehow being swayed by Elys’ charms.
’Gizem would be livid to know this,’ she thought at the back of her mind, ’No... I can’t feel any admiration for this human queen!’
"What are you standing there for? Help me dress!" Elys called out to the ladies.
Her ladies in waiting scurried in Elys’ chambers and picked her a set of apparel that would give Elys mobility in the case that she would need to fight. She still wasn’t aware of what awaits them in the capital. The situation may be just an accidental fire, but there was something in her heart that told her she must look into it herself no matter what.
Plus, there were humans that served vampires within the capital. She couldn’t just sit idly while one of her people might get caught up in the fire. She didn’t trust the vampires that employed the humans would even think of saving their servants before themselves at all.
Elys needed to be there – that was for sure.
By the time that she was done, Elys rushed out of her chambers and practically took the flight of stairs in lightning speed she was almost free falling. When she arrived at Aleksander’s office, her husband was already there, his eyes still watery but somehow, he looked better.
"Are you alright now?" she asked him.
"Yes, I just needed a few moments to recover that is all," he said as he put on a shield for his eyes. Aleksander held out his hands to Elys and asked, "Shall we go, my queen?"
Elys reached out to him and nodded, "Let’s go, husband."