The following night, Nicholas asked the butler to set dinner at his patio in his room.
Heidi who arrived at the lord"s room, stepped inside to see Nicholas waiting for her outside at his patio with his back facing her. When Nicholas had asked her to dress for the night, the first thought that came into her head was that they were visiting or attending a party but surprisingly it was a dinner night with the lord in a more private setting. Like her, he was dressed too. She could feel her heartbeat with every step she took towards him and it stopped beating when he returned her smile with his own. There was no one else in the room but them and the beautiful night accompanying them right now.
Nicholas pulled the chair for her and she took a seat, murmuring a thank you in the process. He took a seat on the other side of the small table. Candles were lit at the centre of the table. Stanley arrived at the room with a bottle of wine in his hand, he looked like he seen a ghost as he served them the wine.
"Shall I bring the first course of the meal, master?" he asked his lord.
"Yes, please," Nicholas answered. Once the butler dismissed himself from the room, the lord spoke, "How is your body doing? Does it hurt?" he asked her.
Heidi shook her head, "It doesn"t anymore. I think the warm bath helped my muscles. What about you?" Nicholas chuckled at her innocent question.
"I am not the one who got bitten, darling. I feel wonderful actually, never been this better," he commented. They both gazed at each other until a crow cawed suddenly at the nearest tree to which Nicholas turned in its direction.
"Did something happen?" she asked, seeing the bird fly away.
"Nothing much," he smiled brightly, "I am having a guest tomorrow. Toby was only informing about it."
"It must be really helpful to have a bird whom you can talk to and get information from," she noted.
"Indeed it is. Toby is a very intelligent bird who understands and doesn"t make any mistakes. Not everyone are aware of it which makes its interesting," he grinned, "Would you like a bird as a pet?"
"No no. I don"t think I am a bird person," she laughed taking a sip of wine from the gla.s.s.
"Would you like an animal then?" He c.o.c.ked his head.
"Animal?" she repeated the word.
"Yes, an animal as a pet. You can take care of it here in the mansion," he suggested, "It isn"t a compulsion, if you don"t want it."
"I will think about it," she replied softly.
"Okay."
The rest of the meal, Heidi and Nicholas spoke about matters that were trivial and light. None of them touching their past and keeping their books closed. While Heidi had her past which she had tried to lock away, Nicholas had dealt the demons to turn into demon himself.
"Lady Heidi, would you like to have some more wine," Stanley asked being the only server for the night.
"No, I am fine. Thank you," she smiled at him but the butler held a stoic face. Seeing him disappear out of the door, she decided to ask Nicholas, "What happened to Stanley? Is he alright?"
Nicholas who was cutting the meat on his plate, "He is just a little shocked right now."
"Shocked?" Heidi asked curious.
"He found out about the soul bond I left on you," So that was the reason, thought Heidi to herself. It was good to know she wasn"t the only one shocked with Nicholas" sudden decision of marking her.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"Why did you decide to mark?" she asked him, holding her heart still and waiting for his reply. Nicholas chewed and swallowed the food in his mouth, before speaking,
"I have always believed if you want something it is better to take it than wait like a fool until someone else takes it. What is the point to wait when the fruit has already been ripped to its full potential."
Heidi didn"t know how to interpret his words. She had never thought much about the soul bond because she had never guessed she would be bound to a pure blooded vampire with a soul bond. But now that she was, she wanted to know about it, and the only reference she had was Lettice.
"To makes things clearer," Nicholas helped her in understanding his thoughts, "I don"t want to-worry that you will be s.n.a.t.c.hed away by someone. Be it Warren or anyone else."
Hearing those words, Heidi bit her lip from keeping herself from smiling. The man in front of her had confessed his fear of losing her to someone else and it was no less than a confession to her.
At midnight, Nicholas sat on the railings of his patio, his back against the wall and his legs outstretched on the railing with a cigar in his hand. He took a large puff before releasing the smoke through his mouth. Something in his mind made him smile and he chuckled, taking another puff from the cigar.
He felt like a fool now. To be a fool walking in the path which he used to mock his friend Rhys. It wasn"t that he hadn"t antic.i.p.ated it coming but he had expected it to be this soon. For a vampire, especially a pure blooded vampire, the meanings went deeper than the usual decorms. He had been nothing but sweet to Heidi since she had woken up which was unlike him. He wasn"t sweet and kind to people with a motive but this one, instead of teasing her like every time he did, he had taken a different approach. He wondered when things had put into motion. Was it the first time they had met? No, it couldn"t be, he thought to himself. Taking another puff he let the smoke mingle in the clear air of the night.
It must be the night he saw her crying in the forest when Venetia and her friend had insulted her. Her hazel eyes had shone with the angry tears that spilled out of her eyes. He was aware with the fact that Heidi held some type of resistance when it came to the truce and all the while she kept a strong will to not deter. For her to show the emotions to him-broken, sad and lonely had done it for him.
He wanted to drink her blood again. To sink his teeth into her delectable skin and feel the warm and delicious blood on his lips. He had tasted her blood before but it had been nothing compared to what he had tasted yesterday and it made him think if it was because of the soul bond that her blooded tasted sweet.
But he wouldn"t want to drink her blood. Not for a while at least. The more he would drink her blood, only that more he would want to take her to bed.