Married to the Vampire Prince

Chapter Five

Grace

In the evening, after my wedding ceremony, I sat in the living room of my apartment, opposite my parents. A white porcelain tea set, hand painted with red roses, sat on the coffee table between us. The light beige couch was so soft to the touch that I felt like I was sitting on a cloud.

We all wore comfortable but undoubtedly expensive clothes. I had on a white blouse with embroidery on the neckline and straight, smart gray pants. My mom wore an elegant but simple bottle green dress, and my dad had on a white shirt and black pants.

Mom sipped her tea. Dad tapped his hand against his knee. Neither of them said anything.

My thoughts went back to the moment when I had first walked into my wardrobe earlier today. The clothes I had brought with me from home were nowhere to be found. Everything available for me to choose from was new and opulent, like something a model would wear on a runway… or a vampire noble to a ball.

I didn’t feel comfortable moving around in a ball gown or an elegant suit, so I opted for the most casual clothes I could find. My parents seemed to have done the same, as I had no doubt they too had been provided with the ‘best selection’ of clothes. They were the parents of a princess now, after all.

We all had to play our new roles, and to do so we had to look the part… right?

Even with the relatively simple designs of our current clothes, the materials weren’t anything like I was used to from my days of living as an ordinary human. The cloth felt exquisite and soft to the touch. Even though the cut was more fashionable than what I was used to, the outfit was comfortable to wear at least.

I was a princess now, but I didn’t want to lose sight of the real me. Grace. Just Grace. That was all I had ever wanted to be.

A pipe dream now perhaps.

Dad cleared his throat. “My daughter… are you alright?”

His cheeks were painted red. When I realized what he meant by the question, it took all of my self-control not to show them the true extent of the emotions Silas had stirred within me last night.

Desire. Passion. Fulfillment. The night I’d spent in my new husband’s embrace had been amazing.

He was a vampire. A scary war hero. Yet he had treated me with such gentleness, making sure I was alright and that I was satisfied.

Still, he had run off in the morning as if someone were chasing him… or maybe he really was just busy. Regardless, he had stayed with me all night, cuddling with me. That action didn’t fit his image of a brute at all.

So puzzling, my husband was.

“Grace?” Mom gave me a worried look.

I realized I hadn’t said anything for a while. I mustered a smile. “I’m okay. I think my husband and I will be alright… in that department.”

With a soft sigh my mom relaxed, leaning more into the sofa.

Dad was still not convinced though. “You’ll tell us as soon as the vampires do anything bad to you.”

My gaze wandered past him to the maid that stood by the door. I couldn’t quite promise my dad something like that while the palace staff was listening. Besides, what could he do to save me if anything bad happened? We were just powerless humans. The ruby blood made me special, valuable, but I was still frail and delicate compared to a vampire.

I didn’t want dad to worry though, so I gave him a resolute nod.

“There’s something you need to know.” Dad leaned on his knees, looking me straight in the eye. “Your mother and I received a lot of money from the King. A gift, he called it, since we were now part of the Hoyt family.”

The way dad said gift, I recognized he saw the King’s generosity as a ‘bribe’ – maybe given to make the fact that the vampire royals had taken me away from my family easier?

I thought back to the King’s warm smile. He had seemed genuinely happy that his son had finally decided to get hitched. I couldn’t picture him having any malicious intentions towards my family. The more likely reason for him sending the money was that he simply thought my parents should lack nothing, just as I would lack nothing in the palace, as long as I played my role right.

My stomach clenched at the thought of what could happen if I failed as a princess. Would my husband cast me aside? No, I didn’t want to see that kind of end for myself. I would have to do my very best to learn everything I needed to know as quickly as possible.

“How much money did you get?” I gave Dad a curious look.

Dad shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable with my question. “Enough to… renovate the store and the house and… even open a few more shops if we wanted to.”

My eyes widened. That amount was a lot of money.

So the King really did want my family to lack nothing.

“Will you open more stores?” I gave Dad a warm smile. To imagine him as the head of a booming business – what a wonderful thought. My parents certainly had it in them to run a grocery store chain. They were the smartest people I knew.

Dad coughed once. “Maybe… I haven’t thought that far ahead yet…”

I turned my gaze to Mom. “I’m so happy for you two.”

Mom returned my smile, but hers was much fainter. “We will make the best of the situation. But… Grace… we need to return to running the store now. It’s been closed for two days. Will you be alright if we leave you alone in the palace?”

My stomach clenched again when I imagined myself being in this place all alone without anybody I knew from my old life. I didn’t let my smile drop, though. I didn’t want my parents to worry about me. Even though they had enough money not to work now, I knew they loved their lives and business. They wanted to return to work. They must be feeling as out of place here as I was.

The burden of being the princess of Estone was mine and mine alone.

“I’ll be fine,” I let out a small chuckle. “I’ll have to spend the next few weeks learning how to be a royal, so we wouldn’t have much time to be with each other anyway.” I sobered up. “I’ll miss you, but I can always visit you if the loneliness of being apart from you is too much to bear.”

Mom dabbed at the edge of her eyes with her handkerchief.

Dad sighed and then looked at me with a resolute gaze. “You are my daughter, Grace. You’re a Milton. You’ll be fine.”

I was sure he was trying to convince himself of that fact just as much as he was trying to convince me.

My smile went even wider as I got up from my seat and walked over to them. Mom and Dad got up. I hugged Mom, and Dad joined the hug with his bear-like embrace.

I kept up my smile as I walked them to the door of my apartment. With one final glance, they left, taking with them the last familiar comfort I had from my old life.

I walked over to the large window. The curtains were open, and the sight of the starry sky greeted me. Since it was fall, the days were getting shorter and shorter. Right now, the time was barely 6 pm, but already night had fallen. Time for the vampires of the house to stir.

I didn’t have to wait long before a knock resounded at my door. The maid opened it, and in walked five people dressed like nobility, wearing expensive suits and long gowns. Vampires, obviously.

I turned around and walked to the middle of the room to face them.

The woman at the front of the gathering – with her light blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun and very pronounced cheekbones in her face – smiled at me warmly, showing her pointed teeth. The others behind her wore different expressions. An old lord looked bored. Another man seemed friendly. The fourth and fifth women had strict expressions on their faces.

Who were they?

“Princess Grace,” the woman at the front curtsied to me. “I hope you’re well. I’m Lady Ruth Flores, and I will be your history teacher. The others are…”

She introduced each of the tutors to me.

The old bored man, Lord Arthur Hamilton, would teach me etiquette.

The friendly man with curly red hair was a musician, and his task was to teach me to play the piano.

One of the strict-looking women would be in charge of teaching me embroidery, and the other one would teach me dancing.

The names of everyone besides the first two flew in one ear and out the other for me. I knew I would have to memorize them eventually, but right now I was so nervous that I just focused on standing still and keeping what I hoped was a pleasant smile on my face.

There was so much I would have to learn to become a proper princess. So many things I’d never even tried before. I hoped I would be able to catch up quickly.

“I’ll be in your care,” I nodded at my tutors.

“No, no, no,” Lord Arthur exclaimed. “Not like that. Not like that at all.”

My eyes widened as the old vampire went on a rant about the right way for a princess to address her subordinates. I listened closely, trying not to be too intimidated.

When there was a pause in Lord Arthur’s monologue, Lady Ruth injected, “Alright, Arthur, it seems you want to be the first one to teach her. We’ll leave you two alone, then. Princess Grace, I’ll prepare a timetable for your lessons and come by in a few hours.”

“Thank you,” I smiled at her.

“No, no, no,” Lord Arthur said again. “She’s just doing her job. You don’t have to thank her. It puts you in a position of…”

With a chuckle, Lady Ruth turned around, and together with the other tutors she walked out of my apartment.

I was left alone with Lord Arthur.

At first, as he described different situations to me and asked me how I would act in them, I felt intimidated by him. All my answers were wrong, and he spared no sympathy in telling me how terrible I was at being a princess. As time flew by though and I started to learn, I grew grateful to him.

With the knowledge I gained from his teaching, the odds of me making mistakes in public grew smaller and smaller.

My lesson with Lord Arthur lasted four hours. Afterwards, Lady Ruth came by to begin my history lesson.

My learning continued until the early hours of morning.

When I retired to bed and laid on my side, looking at the place my husband had occupied the previous night, an inkling of loneliness fell upon my heart. I had only slept with him once, and yet I already missed his presence. I couldn’t even say I missed his warmth, as his undead body was cold to the touch, but… I still wanted him to be here, and to hug me.

However, when I fell into a tired sleep, Silas wasn’t there, and when I woke up in time for my next lessons, I didn’t see him either.