Chapter 59
Before I knew it, the day to present our treaty to the court of vampires had arrived. Seraphine, Lilith and Medea had all arrived and Viktor had joined us too. We had several copies of the Treaty, one of which we would hand to the king today.
Viktor would be expected to do most the talking since he was the only vampire amongst us. We were all dressed up in our formal attire, with me wearing all white. I opted for a long simple dress and accessorised with silver items. I also wore my silver crown. Kieran wore an all black tailored suit, to show his status as my mate, with the crest of our pack pinned to his tie to show he was the alpha of our pack.
Seraphine was also dressed in her formal attire and had purple and green gems in her hair and head band. Medea wore all red, the colours of war and Lilith wore all green, the colours of healing.
Regardless, we were all prim and proper and hopped into the awaiting black limousine. The car was lavish but I was much too distracted to appreciate it. The car ride was relatively silent, everyone else seemingly as distracted as I was.
All too soon, a large castle came into view and the car drove through the thick green forest on a winding road up the mountain. The scenery was stunning and I was glad Kieran and I had gone exploring the last few days. I had even snagged some cute memorabilia to take back home.
Passing through a large stone wall brought me out of my thoughts. The car pulled into an impressive driveway, with a marble fountain right in the center. The statue seemed to depict a couple, with a man bent over and dipping the woman low, a rose in one hand. The woman had her neck bared and the man had his fangs out, ready to bite her.
It was a beautiful piece albeit a little odd.
"That's strange," Kieran muttered. I had to agree. I guess vampires had a neck fetish. Though to be fair, so did werewolves considering we bit each other's necks during mating.
Several guards greeted us at the doors and so did a guide. We were all escorted into the palace and I couldn't help admire the decorations.
It appeared that vampires preferred a dark and grand theme with touches of Victorian and gothic styles. All the art pieces in the halls either depicted a tragic moment in history, or were stoic portraits of people.
"They could use some colour in here," I heard Medea murmur. Viktor snorted in response. After walking down some more halls, we finally made it to a set of large golden double doors. The two guards stepped out to the front and each pushed open one heavy door. Viktor stepped into the room first and bowed.
"The guests, Your Highness," With one hand, he gestured for us to enter and we did.
The room was large and sparse, with only two large thrones towards the back, on a raised platform. A man and a woman sat at the throne, the king and queen while the members of court stood around the space, lining up the sides of the room. There were more faces than expected.
Nevertheless, I shrugged it off and held my head high.
"Your Highness, the witches of the Crescent Sisters. Head witch Seraphine, War Strategist Medea and Head Healer, Lilith," they each curtsied lightly and bowed their head as their names were said.
"Your Highness, Spirit Wolf Artemis and Alpha Kieran of the Phantom Pack," I curtsied too and Kieran bowed.
It was silent for a while as we had to wait for the king of queen to speak first. Both royals seemed to be assessing us. They each had glowing red eyes, an eye colour held only amongst royals. The queen had red hair that matched her eyes and fair skin. She looked absolutely regal on her throne, wearing a magnificent crown.
She was quite intimidating to look at.
I caught her eye and I held it. After a second I gave her a small respectful nod and moved my gaze away from her and onto the king.
The king was quite intimidating to look at too. Much like his wife, he too had an air of regality and dominance about him. He had fair hair and skin which only made the bright red of his eyes and cloak stand out even more.
He stood up abruptly and clasped his hands before him, suddenly smiling. The sudden change in disposition was almost startling.
"I am honoured to stand here and witness a unique moment in all of our histories: all three of our species joining forces," He held out his hand to which Viktor stepped up to give him the treaty.
He took it and opened the scroll to read it, his smile widening even further.
"This is revolutionary. Simply marvellous!" He exclaimed. His jovial attitude was a stark contrast to his hard features. I had assumed the king would be an old miserable broody man, but he was much younger and more upbeat than I had originally thought. "This calls for a celebration. As you know, I am holding a feast tomorrow in honour of this treaty. I do hope you join us," he looked around the group, his eyes landing on me.
"Of course your Highness. We will all be in attendance," I smiled.
"Excellent! In the meantime, would you like to explore the castle? My home is your home," I hadn't been expecting such an offer and I was very eager to explore the castle grounds. The stone building was positively ancient and had millions of stories to tell. I glanced at everyone else and Kieran's soft touch at my waist was all the confirmation I needed.
"We would be delighted,"Content provided by NôvelDrama.Org.
"Wonderful. Alex, please show our wonderful guests here around the castle."
And with that, we were lead around the castle and the gardens. It was much more grand and lavish than the Elder's place and I quickly learned that vampires often liked to indulge themselves.
Time seemed to pass by, and we left later that night to head back home and relax. The car ride was a different kind of quiet, this time a more serene and calm quiet that no one felt the need to fill. Tomorrow held the promise of more dresses and formalities so we all headed to our rooms to wind down and prepare for the feast.
For the first time in a while, I finally felt like everything was falling into place.