A Bastard's Allure-Chapter 25: The Only One That Matters

For a moment, Elena was left dumbstruck by Gabriel’s revelation. She moved her lips but the words refused to come out, completely curbed in her throat. And when they did, her voice came out hoarse, drawn to a whisper.

"You... You killed someone?" Her eyes rested on his lips and only then did she notice the red on his usually pink lips.

"I didn’t want to," Gabriel said, raising his hands apprehensively. Why on earth did he even say this in the first place? "I tried stopping but... Believe me when I say I tried!" He found her eyes but he couldn’t read the emotions in them. She was just seated there, staring back at him in awe.

"You could have drunk from a glass," she voiced.

"You think I didn’t try? I drank a whole barrel. A fucking whole barrel!" She heard him curse for once. He drew in a long sigh.

"What did you do to me?" He asked when she was silent.

"Me?" Elena asked, looking sideways as if there was someone else in the room apart from the two of them. "Are you saying I was the cause of all this?"

"What I felt when I walked out last night... I have never felt something like it before!"

Elena creased her brows. "What did it feel like?"

Gabriel’s golden eyes settled on hers. This woman. What did she do to him? Could he even find the words to describe it? Whenever he touched her, kissed her... all he knew was he wanted it to last forever, yet it felt like venturing into something forbidden! His body always reacted in an alien way, as if he never possessed it.

"I..."

The door suddenly turned open before Gabriel could finish his statement. Brandon Sinclair stood there, his hands rested on his back, a smile expertly installed on his face. His hair was perfectly combed, the dark in it shining through the morning sun.

"Apologies My Lady," he offered a slight bow, and turning to Gabriel, "My...." His lips twisted as he faked thinking. "Brother?"

"Good morning, Your Highness," Elena replied, offering the prince a curtsy. However, Brandon was too occupied with giving Gabriel one of his unruffled brotherly looks to notice Elena’s curtsy.

"A lovely morning indeed," he said, his eyes trained on Gabriel all the while. When Gabriel didn’t bat an eye, he shifted to look at Elena with a sarcastic smile. "You should teach him how to smile sometime. It doesn’t hurt, does it?"

Elena noticed the temperatures in the room fall relatively low, the atmosphere growing tense with each passing second. Oh God! Why wouldn’t these two share a room at least.

"What brings you here Your Highness? It’s rather quite early," she asked to break the awkward silence.

"Early enough to leave a pleasure house and sneak back to royal chambers." He turned to look at Gabriel who had his hands clenched into tight balls.

For once, Elena saw Gabriel lose his composure! If someone didn’t act or intervene, their own room would turn into a bloody battlefield. And blood, oh she had seen too much to care! But this was not going to happen under her watch.

Gabriel moved and with him the knights that escorted Brandon. They stood behind him, their heads held high and their hands on the hilt of their swords.

For a moment, Gabriel halted in his tracks, his icy gaze piercing through Brandon’s dark eyes. He stood still though Gabriel could detect his heart racing through his relaxed mask of expression.

A punch on the face was all it’d take to send him sprawled on the floor. But the risk tied to the action was far much greater to take. In the end, Gabriel stood down, and only then did Brandon’s heart resume it’s normal beating.

"To answer your question princess," Brandon said after a while of silence. "Your husband here was spotted in a pleasure house last night. There has been some disturbing news coming from the same brothel I must admit. A whore, lying in a bed, drained to the last drop!"

And turning to face Gabriel. "I wonder what kind of creature sucks that dry? The crown is calling to question everyone who was present in the pleasure house last night, you included, brother."

Elena’s face was laced with guilt. She, better than anyone else, knew that Gabriel was the murderer. He had admitted it himself! Gabriel was entirely guilty, but why did she feel like it was all her fault? He had killed someone for heaven’s sake! She could just say the word and he would be taken.

"Gabriel, my husband, is also part of the crown," she said, and when both Gabriel and Brandon turned to face her, her heart skipped a beat.

"Is he?" Brandon asked, a smirk playing on his face. "Father once said, ’I will not have my kingdom run on favoritism ’. I think this was what he meant. Prince or not, everyone is made to answer for their crimes in Eldoria."

"I will be there," Gabriel said, his face cast down in a look of defeat. These were the moments he hated himself. He could already imagine the look of victory on Brandon’s face when he turned to look at him, oh and the sarcasm in his voice when he talked.

"I hope the crown finds your husband innocent My Lady," he said and retreated out of their chambers.

Elena closed the door behind her and gave Gabriel a worried look. Given how such cases were dealt with, she was more than certain Gabriel would be found guilty in the long run.

"I’m sorry," he said when she walked past him. She halted in her tracks to meet with his eyes. "I shouldn’t have let him talk to you like that!" He clenched his fists for the nth time.

"It is you I’m worried for, Riel." She saw something spark in Gabriel’s eyes when she said his name. It was as if she had lighted a glow in them that was not there before.

"It’s all my fault," she added, casting her eyes down. "I shouldn’t have let you leave!" Was that dread in her voice.

What she knew next, Gabriel had crossed the distance between them and held her in his embrace.

"You are the only one that matters to me now," he whispered, his voice laced in emotions. "Fuck the crown, fuck everyone else."