The Crown's Obsession

When Calhoun said it was a minute, Madeline had stepped out of the room and within a minute he was out. A man of the time.

As they walked back into the room that they had passed through before to talk to Raphael, the eyes around the room discreetly looked at them without being too obvious. It wasn't the first time for Madeline to be in a room which had more vampires than humans, but the atmosphere in here was much darker, that made her feel that she wasn't in the same world.

It wasn't just the people or their behaviour but even the ambience. There were no windows. It was strange. She was sure she had seen the windows on the walls from outside, but there were no windows in here.

Unable to resist herself not looking at the people, her eyes came to meet a man who was drinking blood from a woman whilst he looked at her. Before they stepped out of the building, Calhoun pulled out a coin and threw it towards the man who was standing behind the desk for the man to catch it,

"Thank you for your visit, milord."

Stepping out of the building, Madeline felt the air was lighter compared to the density inside. Greeted by the sunlight, Madeline's eyes momentarily flinched.

The coachman on seeing the King and the lady step outside the building brought the carriage to the front where they were. Once they were in the carriage, Madeline pondered over the words of the card reader.

"How do you know, Mr. Sparrow?" she asked Calhoun.

"Coincidently we bumped into each other in the past. He was in one of the Duke's houses, giving a reading," he replied to her question. Calhoun's eyes were back on Madeline, weighing what Raphael had told him before he left the room.

He wondered if that was the reason why he strongly felt attracted towards Madeline, a subtle smile came on his lips but he knew that wasn't the whole reason. Madeline was not aware. Some readings were misinterpreted, which was why he would have to find out if the readings were indeed true.

The truth was, Madeline had not expected Calhoun to believe her when she had told him about the disappearing glass. She remembered how she had fallen. She had looked at the space with no glass, and there was no one.

"Thank you," she said, looking him.

"And what are we thankful about?" he asked, tilting his head.

Madeline was sure if she would have told the same to someone else, they would label her crazy. A mad girl who was blabbering nonsense. But she was grateful that Calhoun had not questioned her after he had rescued her not once but twice in a day. She had not stepped anywhere close to the tower since then.

"For trying to help me to get answers," and not thinking I am crazy, she added the words in her mind without telling it through her lips.

"Who would I help, if not you?" asked Calhoun like it was the obvious thing to do. For the amount of embarrassment that had occurred today because of him, Madeline could look over it for the help he had provided her. Madeline watched Calhoun smile at her, his eyes looking at her in fascination. The intensity in his eyes didn't reduce when it came to looking at her, which she was still getting used to.

"Why did you refuse to have your reading?" she asked him, her eyes darting away from his gaze. To keep herself busy, she smoothened the front of her skirt on her lap.

"I took my reading years ago, by mistake," he said, noticing her dainty hands, "Still nervous around me," he smiled and she turned to look at him.

"Mistake?"

Calhoun said, "Raphael dropped his cards at the table when he was going to leave. One card fell at my feet and out of politeness I picked it up to hand it over to him."

"Are those kinds of readings counted?" the card reader had shuffled the cards before placing all the cards on the table for her to pick without looking at what was behind it.

"It does. At least to Raphael who looked at the card and went wide-eyed. It was very satisfying seeing the shocked expression, on his face" said Calhoun. Madeline who was curious continued to ask,

"What did you get?"

Her brown eyes looked at him, anxious for an answer. If he had a similar vague reading as she did and if he had done something about it, "How about we trade something? A kiss on the lips for an answer of what card I picked?"

"No," her reply came to be breezy.

"It is a very good card. I was told not many get a card like that, and here it picked me," Calhoun coaxed her, "It is worth it."

Madeline was definitely curious because he had not picked the card at the intention of wanting to know what it would mean to him. But that didn't mean she would trade her lips shamelessly with him.

"A shame," commented Calhoun, running his tongue over the top of his lips. The carriage rode back to the village of East Carswell, and Calhoun kept his word of having Madeline meet her family in his presence.

Last time Madeline's mother had sneaked in a note to Madeline. Having been caught red-handed, Calhoun could only hope that the older woman wouldn't pull a stunt like that again. He was merciful only because it was Madeline's mother, but if someone dared to come in between him and her, he wouldn't mind pushing them away from Madeline.

He had gone as far as to change the letter Madeline had written, just to put his point across that Madeline was trying to get used to the mansion which was not a lie, considering how she was finally easing.

When the door of the Harris' family was knocked on, Mrs. Harris was the one who had opened the door, and she saw her daughter who stood at the door.

"Mama," Madeline greeted her mother and Mrs. Harris, seeing no one around her quickly moved forward to hug her daughter.

"Madeline!" exclaimed the older woman, squeezing her younger daughter as she was happy to see her here. The evil King was nowhere to be seen, and there was no sight of the carriage. She asked, "Did he finally let you go? Did y-"

"Mother-in-law, you have grown some good potatoes," came a voice from the side as Calhoun finally stepped into Mrs. Harris' view.