Music Recommendation: Next time (gold digger)- Stuart Earl
Noah couldn't take his eyes off Eve. As beautiful as she looked in the wedding gown, he felt his chest sting. But he put on a smile and he greeted her with a bow, "Good afternoon, Genevieve. My apologies for interrupting."
"That's fine," Eve shook her head, and she said, "I was just trying on the gown so that Anaya could check if everything is okay."
Anaya realised that Noah had drawn a line between him and the human by calling the woman Genevieve, and not Eve. She said, "Mr. Moriarty sent out a formal invitation yesterday for his and Eve's wedding. Isn't that great?"
Noah's calm expression didn't change, but something in his chest hardened, while he smiled and, "It is." He stared at Eve, who smiled at him and said, "I think it's great news. Congratulations."
"Thank you, Noah," Eve thanked him.
Noah then turned to Anaya and said, "Mother is asking for you and I said I would let you know." He then turned back to look at Eve and said with a polite bow, "Pardon me, I have something to attend to and will talk to you later," and he excused himself from the room.
Noah, who had stepped out of Anaya's room, continued to walk away with his heart beating, and when he reached the end of the corridor, he stopped. He pressed the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed as he tried calming his emotions.
The day was near. He came to realise that knowing and being in the moment of it happening were two different things. It was time for him to let go of his feelings for Eve. She was Vincent Moriarty's woman and not his. The Duke was sensible and mature enough to know how far one could stay in love with a person and he knew Eve would always be special to him. His first love.
Noah had sworn to protect Eve long ago, and he would fulfil the promise he had made to himself.
Dropping his hand to his side, he opened his eyes and walked away from the corridor. Walking past many corridors, he came to stand in front of a carved double door and pushed it open without knocking it.
"Welcome back home, Noah. How was your trip?" Uncle James asked him, who was sitting comfortably on the couch and reading a parchment.
"We need to talk." Noah stood with a serious expression on his face.
"Sit," James instructed Noah, stretching his hand towards one of the empty couches. "Whatever you want to discuss, we can discuss it with ease. Is it about Sylvester? Or did Ramsey refuse to agree to the deal that was offered to him?"
Noah stared at his uncle. He walked near the empty couch and took a seat. He then asked, "Why are you collecting sirens and mermaids in the East land?"
The older werewolf chuckled at Noah's question, "That was all? And here I thought it was something so grave that had upset you."
"Why?" Noah repeated the question calmly. "Are you planning to sell them in bulk to the lords or is it the King?"
James's lips twisted and he linked the fingers of both his hands to each other, "Mm, you are like my son, where I sometimes forget that I am the one who watered and grew you up. I am looking for a specific kind, though I am not sure if the kind comes from a mermaid or a siren." He took a pause and then said, "I am looking for that particular girl, whose mother blinded one of my eyes."
As the older man said this, one of his eyes turned yellow, while the other eye continued to stay black.
So he was right, Noah confirmed it. His uncle was searching for Eve, and he asked, "Are you still holding a grudge against that woman? Maybe the small girl was murdered or eaten."
James shook his head and got up from where he had been sitting. He walked to where the trolley of liquor bottles were placed. He picked up one of the bottles and said, "She is alive. Or, more rightly to be said, she can't be dead."
"How can you be so sure? You told me that no one was able to find her even though she couldn't have gone too far," Noah stated and heard his uncle click his teeth.
"I couldn't find her that day and the next few weeks," James murmured in annoyance.
James poured the liquor into two glasses, and he turned around. He said, "Noah, our family, the blood that runs in my veins, in your veins, it isn't something simple." He walked to where Noah sat and offered him the glass, "Our bloodline originally comes from one of the sons of King Gauntlet. Our ancestors have always tried to keep it pure without mixing it with another kind."
"I am already aware about our bloodline, but what does that have to do with that outcast of the woman who died?" Noah asked, taking the glass in his hand.
"It has so much to do, Noah," his uncle answered with a low voice as if it was a secret not many were aware of. "Our family has the ability to reach a greatness that not many cannot even imagine. Our present is tied with the past that many have forgotten, but we Sullivans have continued to wait for the right time and opportunity to come. We don't know about the other families that exist from the other King Gauntlet's son, probably dead, but we haven't forgotten our roots."
James took his previous seat and said, "You know the story about the sea goddess, who promised her daughter to be married to one of the sons? That creature was meant for one of the sons of King Gauntlet. To our ancestor, but she was stolen away and killed. That creature has been reborn again with the eyes of the siren, and body of a mermaid. And I saw that girl that night."
James Sullivan remembered the night he had been stabbed in one of his eyes. It was a night he couldn't forget. With one of his eyes bleeding, he had followed the woman and her little daughter out of the mansion. But he had caught the woman before she could escape.
"Run!" The woman screamed before he believed he had killed her.
Dropping the woman on the ground, his eyes fell on the little girl, who had turned to look at her mother with tearful eyes. But the colour of her eyes had changed to gold, with slits in them.
Coming back to the present, James said to Noah, "Before I knew it, that girl had escaped. But it isn't too late, as she will fall into the trap that I have laid for her," a cunning smile appeared on his lips.
The more Noah heard about the story that people considered to be a myth and forgotten, the more worried he became for Eve's safety. He said, "I would like to be useful to you in this matter. Tell me how I can help you."
"Of course, I will let you know. But don't tell your parents anything about it, I don't want them worrying as they don't believe in such things," the older werewolf said, and Noah agreed with a nod. James then said, "I hear from a servant, that the Moriartys governess is back in our mansion. Tell Anaya not to mingle with people like that."
"I think it would be best to let Anaya decide on such matters, Uncle James. She's not a Sullivan, but a Chambers," Noah said, finishing the drink. He placed the empty glass on the side and he stood up. "I need to go to the Council to submit the reports I received. Excuse me."
Noah stepped out of the room and walked through the corridors with a heaviness in his mind that only increased with every passing day. The weight had grown heavy such that neither could he drop it nor could he carry it any longer.
When he reached the mansion's hallways, he heard Anaya and Eve talking to each other. But what he noticed was his family butler, standing at a distance, muttering something under his breath.
"What are you talking to yourself?" Noah asked in a nonchalant voice.
The butler turned, not noticing the Duke come behind him. He offered a bow before answering, "The lady and the little girl who came to visit Lady Anaya. They reminded me of the time when someone similar had visited Mr. James in the mansion. Mother and daughter."
Noah turned to look in the direction of the two women and the little vampiress in front of the carriage. He ordered, "Fetch the blue coat from my room. I will be heading out."
"Yes, Sire," the butler bowed and walked past him to head in the direction of his room.
Noah stared at Eve, who smiled at something Anaya said. He turned around, and his footsteps moved fast yet firm. He unbuttoned his right hand's cuff and rolled the sleeve to the elbow.
When he reached his room, the butler had already picked up his coat and was about to leave the room. The butler asked, "Did you forget something, Master Noah?"
"Yes," Noah replied, and he ran his fingers through the butler's chest.
"M--master Noa--ah?" The butler struggled, but Noah quickly pulled the man's heart out and watched the person drop dead on the floor with blood starting to pool.
