Ensnaring his Dark Moon-Chapter 158: Coax, manipulate or force

’’Ah...’’ Esme moaned, melting into his arms as his teeth nibbled on the skin on her neck. Her grip on his hair loosened and she ended up clutching the collar of his shirt.

He kissed the spot he just bit before he pulled back from her to look at her face. The sight of her flushed face made him smile, ’’I am happy.’’

Esme had yet to come out of her reverie. ’’For?" her voice came out quite breathy and sensuous.

Aleister gulped softly.

’’Why are you happy?" She asked again, the sight of her narrowed eyes seducing him further.

Aleister wrapped both his arms around her waist and placed his chin on her head. Out of sight, out of mind. Don’t look at her and you won’t be seduced.

But oh man, how wrong he was!

Esme leaned into his body, the tip of her nose stroking his neck, ’’I asked what makes you happy?" her lips moved against his chest.

He felt his blood rushing to a certain body part of his. Aleister gritted his teeth. This woman. Did she not know the effect she had on him? Before she could do something more, he answered her question, ’’Because you decided to stay,’’ he said, his voice coming out unusually hoarse.

Esme wrapped her arm around his waist, ’’Al, do you know that I discovered something about a few days ago?"

’’That you and your mother are not related to the Reis family by blood?’’

She pulled back from him, ’’You knew...’’

’’Why do you think Rowan did not follow you when you went to call the Royal Physician to treat Arlan?"

That’s right. Now that she thought about it, that day, Rowan said he will escort her back to the room. And on the way, she decided to get the royal physician for Arlan. And surprisingly, the person who was supposed to escort her did not tag along.

’’How’d you know that Aunt would be discussing that matter with...uh... Uncle?" She was so used to calling him ’Duke Elias’ so addressing him as ’King’ sounded foreign to her. Hence, she decided to call him Uncle since they will get married as soon as they reached there.

’’That’s because Aunt kept ignoring him and a man can only take that much. Even I was curious about the past so I had a few guards keep an eye on him. And that day when he went to meet her, looking all frustrated. He even dismissed all the servants so I knew they were bound to reminisce the past over some tea, wine, or a kiss.’’

"_"

Esme was speechless. This scary ability to predict things. Good that he was not her enemy, ’’And how... did you know that I will visit her room to get the royal physician?"

’’Because I know you too well to know that you won’t leave your brother untreated. And for that, you will visit your Aunt’s room, unaware that the royal physician was dismissed earlier,’’ Aleister thought about it for a moment before adding, ’’Would you have left if things did not turn out to be like this?"

’’Yes, is there any doubt?" Esme rolled her eyes and turned around to walk, a smile making its way to her lips.

’’Doubt, there is,’’ Aleister caught up to her and wrapped an arm around her waist before placing a kiss on her hair.

’’You are taking advantage of me,’’ Esme said with a straight face, trying her best to not blush at the memories of their kiss earlier.

’’With how passionate you were, I believe you don’t mind to be taken advantage of,’’ Aleister teased.

She cleared her throat, ’’My legs are tired.’’

’’Shall I carry you?"

’’That’s not what I meant!" Esme blinked, ’’You can teleport us back to the room.’’

’’I am too weak to use my powers,’’ Aleister said dramatically, ’’Still, carrying you would be the best.’’

"No!’’ Was he not weak while carrying her? Always thinking of ways to get sneaky with her. Humph!

In fact, Esme was curious about why the King would treat the young Aleister so differently. Was it related to the Queen’s death? But she did not know how to ask him that without affecting him.

Everything she witnessed was not as simple as Aleister made it sound. It must be overwhelming for a child so Esme decided to tread carefully on this matter.

If anything, she can always confront the King about this. She thought.

Later that night, they went back to the castle.

Aleister left to interrogate ’Aunt Greta’ who was locked in the prison. She was placed in a small cage that twisted her limbs and there were thorny strings attached on the outside. The cage was hung above the lava river where Esme met Aleister for the first time in the Daven Castle.

And Leo was keeping an eye on her all the while.

Only the details were enough to give goosebumps to her so Esme chose to stay in the room for some time.

It was not that she was scared. She had seen worse but after revisiting the past with Aleister and witnessing what he went through, she was exhausted mentally.

Esme climbed up the stairs and removed the last piece of clothing from her body. She draped a beautiful robe around herself before stepping inside the bath.

The warm water relaxed her tense nerves. The day was a tiring one. And she wanted nothing more than a nice sleep.

Not even food.

Esme thought to herself as she sunk deeper into the water.

Her eyes closed, feeling the warm water caressing her skin.

’I’ve waited for you for a long time. You belong to me!’ A distant voice rang in her mind.

Her eyes snapped open. She looked around the huge bath.

’’Ah, did I fall asleep here?" she had her face leaning on the glazed wall.

She wondered if she had some kind of dream because her head felt heavy and there were some fuzzy scenes in her mind. A dark room. A huge pond with beautiful flowers. Layers of chains with locks.

She felt like she heard something but she could not remember anything when she thought about it.

Shaking her head, Esme pushed herself to her feet. ’’I must be so tired that I am starting to hallucinate things now,’’ she walked out of the bath and hurriedly wore a white nightdress before climbing into her bed.

She glanced at the ceiling. The image of a black butterfly flashed in her mind. The one she saw on Aleister’s back.

Where did she see it before? She felt like she had seen it somewhere else other than Aleister’s body but where?

It was not long before her breathing turned even as she slept peacefully, unaware of the chaos brewing in the castle.

...

’’Father, we claimed it in front of everyone that it is the remnant of a witch’s power that was controlling the darker sides of those two people but what now?" Luciana paced around in the room, ’’It seems like there really is some witch. I heard about it in the Castle. What’s more, the Duchess has disappeared, the Duke won’t come out of his room and the King is sick.’’

’’This Kingdom is strange,’’ Lucian said after some thought, ’’It is as mysterious as it is rumored to be. I never expected we would come across so many rare things during our stay. Be it that white beast, or the Prince’s fiancee, or even the witches who were rumored to have gone extinct.’’

’’Fiancee, not wife,’’ Luciana said.

Lucian narrowed his eyes, ’’Fiancee, eventually wife,’’ he said, ’’Don’t think that I don’t know who has caught your undivided attention at the moment but you must not forget your identity.’’

’’Even if I can’t have him, neither can she,’’ Luciana shrugged, ’’As for me, I will find a way.’’

’’Luciana!"

’’Enough,’’ Marcus snapped, ’’We were not here to fight over humans or witches,’’ he looked at them.

Lucian pursed his lips.

Luciana crossed her arms in front of her chest. Humph!

’’It’s not like I didn’t know. When I saw that gardener’s dead body and that maid’s delirious state in the court, I knew that there was a possibility that there is some witch involved in it. But if I said that, then it would have delayed what we were here for. Don’t forget that helping this Kingdom is just a front we are putting up,’’ Marcus reminded both of them, ’’It doesn’t matters if there is some witch or if this whole kingdom is destroyed overnight because we have found what we were here for. And we just need to take it.’’

A small frown settled in between Lucian’s brows when he heard that.

’’How are we going to do that?" Luciana asked curiously, ’’I don’t think that Princess is that useful except that she has got a sharp tongue. There is nothing that special about her.’’

’’It doesn’t matter. We don’t need to know what she is because we are acting on orders,’’ Marcus said, ’’About how we are going to take her.... coaxing, manipulation or sheer force. Anything works.