Elys smiled at the thought that Aleksander was asking her for her opinion about the situation at hand. He never listened to her during the earlier days of their marriage. Well it was to be expected, but still, it was an improvement she was happy to see in him.
"We should hide him," she said as she looked at Aleksander. Her ruby eyes were dead serious, with a tiny hint of a cunning smile in them.
Aleksander was confused, and Elys quickly added, "We can’t deny the fact it could be a sabotage from our enemies within the Western Kingdom itself, Aleksander."
He paused for a brief moment of pondering, "You are right. We can never be too careful. If this man should ever be an Eastern spy, then maybe we could bring him out for everyone to interrogate once we confirm it ourselves."
"At the very least, we should get a good head start from the rest," Elys smiled at him and added, "I am glad that you see me eye to eye with this, husband."
Aleksander returned her smile and reached out to her hand, "As much as you are my wife, Elysianne, you are my queen and my partner. I respect your opinions and regard them highly."
He then kissed her knuckles lightly, but then his forehead scrunched as he noticed that her knuckles had been actually bleeding from the earlier punch.
"Your hand," he said with a frown.
"That’s nothing," Elys dismissed his concern.
But Aleksander was not having it. He didn’t let go of her hand, and instead, blew off some dust away.
Afterwards, he carefully picked at a few rubbles stuck in between the skin, and then brought her scraped knuckled to his lips once more.
The vampire opened his mouth, and instead of the kiss he gave her moments ago, Aleksander brought out his tongue and licked Elys’ wound. The warm and wet sensation made Elys queasy, but she hid her feelings by putting on her most stoic face.
She then raised a brow at him, but ultimately let Aleksander do as he wanted. It was also fine for her since his saliva was extremely potent for a quick healing.
After a few seconds, Elys noticed Aleksander had bent over for too long. His dark hair covered most of his face. Elys couldn’t see them with her angle, but she could feel he still held her hand to his lips.
"Aleksander?" she called out to him.
He inhaled a huge amount of air, and then raised his head as he gazed at Elys’ face. She noticed that there was a sort of pining in his eyes, like he wanted something so bad but was hindered.
He licked his lips and then said in a wheeze, "Wife... I think I am hungry..."
Elys remembered Aleksander was supposedly resting and recharging at this time of the day. This was the first time in a while that she had seen Aleksander up so early despite his usual sleep schedule during the day.
Recognition dawned on Elys like the sun rising higher in the skies, turning the heavens brighter with its warm rays of sunshine.
It made sense that he was hungry – he was putting so much energy into being awake and alert during a time that he was supposed to be resting.
Elys could say that it was perhaps equivalent to the humans pulling an all-nighter.
The young queen tilted her head and rubbed her temple as she sighed, "What should I even do with you? You worried me there for a bit."
Aleksander raised his head and a pleading look met Elys. Her eyes stared at him for a second before she let out a short laugh.
He looked like a child asking for candy, withholding himself from a sugar rush unless his mother gave him a nod of approval to put a lollipop in his mouth.
Elys raised her sleeve slightly, exposing her smooth porcelain forearm. A few veins were slightly visible, and Aleksander’s eyes were immediately fixed the moment he laid eyes on them.
"Go on, dig in," she told him. "Have a little snack. Which reminds me we should get this thing over as soon as possible. I don’t want you cranking up with lack of rest."
Aleksander let out a nervous laugh and said, "If needed be, I can pull on several days of no sleep, wife. But for that, fresh blood is a must."
After his last words, Aleksander immediately went in for what he needed. But unlike the first time in which she had been taken off guard, Elys had now grown accustomed to his ways on feeding, even the pain that it inflicted on her.
On a side note, the vampire king didn’t feed on her rashly like he used to. This time around, Aleksander was more aware of the implications of his sharp fangs on a human’s flesh, and he quickly learned how to control himself to minimize the pain.
Soon enough, the pheromones that a vampire’s bite entailed flowed into Elys’ system, eventually turning her mellow. In this situation, she began to completely forget the pain, and was only focused on the sensations that followed thereafter.
Aleksander’s lips seemed to have become softer to her. His tongue was pushing over her skin as he sucked her blood for sustenance.
She knew the dangers that entailed it, but Elys was gradually becoming intoxicated with the high feeling Aleksander’s bite gave her.
Was this what people who deal with those infamous shrooms she heard of that was illegal all throughout the continent? If so, those people gained Elys’ sympathy.
It truly was addicting, and precariously so.
It was exhilarating, like adrenaline rushing through her veins and making her sweat, yet at the same time it felt like time itself was moving sluggishly. She was on the verge of letting her emotions out, but she held herself back as she didn’t want to let Aleksander think she was weak.
Out of the blue, Aleksander moaned in pleasure.