The Dark King's Bride (16 page)

             
What was in this dream that caused you to be on edge?

             
Daniel…

             
Humor me, Lily.

             
The dream didn’t go bad…until I saw some startling images.

             
Such as?

             
My father with a group of men from the countryside and town holding weapons in my directions while he was ordering them to kill the vampire queen.

             
Lily wrung the cloth out with her own hands before she draped it over a side of the tub. She waited for a moment, but found his voice not speaking to her anymore.

             
Daniel…Daniel, what’s-

             
The sound of her bedchamber door closing caught her attention, and had her to break the connection with him. She turned her head, and found Magdalene poking her head in the bathroom and smiling towards her.

             
“Let’s not waste time, my lady,” Magdalene said, softly, “for I need to get you dressed and ready for the grand ceremony tonight with Daniel in the grand ballroom before the royal court.”

             
Although she had a desire to lash into her for telling Daniel about how she was feeling when she had come into the room to get her out of the bed, Lily bit her tongue and gave a nod of her head shortly before speaking up to her in a soft yet polite tone.

             
“All right, Magdalene,” she replied, “I will get up, and come in there once I dry myself off.”

             
“Very good, my lady.”

             
She waited for Magdalene to go back into her room before her body rose to stand up in the tub. Beads of the water trailed down her body, causing it to glisten in the faint rays of the setting sun. Her head turned, and looked to where the sun was moving further behind the mountains now while she couldn’t help but wonder about Daniel and the sudden silence that he had graced her with. Lily let herself ponder on it for a while shortly before she removed herself out of the warm water and towards where her robe was awaiting her.

Chapter Eighteen

              Securing the black trousers on his tall physique’s lower part, Daniel bent down to retrieve his shirt from the foot of his bed. His hands trembled with a hidden rage that had been consuming him as soon as he had left his private bath to get ready for the night.

             
I knew that something like this would occur when I finally find the woman that is my other half.
Daniel cursed at himself, silently, from what he heard Lily tell them during their mental communication link with one another. The news of her dream made him feel very unsettled and nervous.
The moment that I discover true happiness…it causes my future wife to have a premonition of what might happen.

             
He struggled with the fabric of his top inside of his fingertips. The amount of anxiety and unbridled anger inside of him started to make it impossible for him to have the ability to open it up so he could place it on himself.

             
Knock.

             
Daniel tossed the shirt that was made for the wedding onto the floor of his room out of frustration. He moved his hands up to his face and ran them across the sides of his head as his voice came out muffled due to his hands moving across his face like they were.

             
“Come in.” He said. His voice bellowed out of his parted lips with all of the turmoil that had been building up inside of his body.

             
He caught the sound of his door opening and closing in a matter of moments of each other. Daniel lifted his eyes in the direction of his full length mirror, and saw Richard, his advisor, walking up, and retrieving his shirt from the spot he had tossed it down on.

             
“Everything is in order for tonight.” Richard said, “All of the guards are in place, the hired help is in the kitchen with the cooks, and the members of your court will be here very soon.” His voice came across as being polite and professional while his chubby hands held the top opened for him to move his hands through the sleeves of it. “There is nothing to be concerned about.”

             
“Yes…There is.” Slipping his arms inside of the sleeves, he relaxed his body to let his confidant move around, and start to button it up for him. His voice got more deeper and concerned as he spoke to him. “Lily received a very troubling dream that has left her unsettled.”

             
“What did she dream of, my lord?”

             
“She saw her father leading a group of men in her direction, coming for ‘the vampire queen’, with the full intent on killing her.”

             
Daniel waited for him to button the very last one before he moved up to his full length mirror. He focused on himself in the glass while his hands tucked the bottom of his shirt into his pants. His body remained tense and on edge about the whole thing while he listened to his advisor speaking up in a slightly shaky sound.

             
“Lily’s father and whoever he decides to bring with him will not be able to break through the line of defense I have set up for this evening. No mortal man can get through what I have arranged to keep everyone within these walls safe.”

             
“No offense, Richard, but I am not going to be at ease until the ritual is complete, and Lily is my eternal wife. Only then will I be able to focus on letting all of the tension out of me.”

             
His eyes moved away from the mirror to the balcony that stood nearby, and gazed in the direction of where the mountains lied. He looked upon the sun disappearing behind the peaks of the mountains, slipping completely out of sight. The sight eased a small part of the tension away from his voice as he turned around, and put his full focus on Richard.

             
“Let’s go…We have guests to greet, and a wedding to take part in.”

*                            *                            *

              As Magdalene was lacing up the back of her dress, Lily kept her attention on the full length mirror that she stood in front of, focusing her gaze on the beautiful purple and black lace trimmed dress that had been made for her wedding that evening to the land’s king. A faint smile came to her face as she lingered on how she appeared in the gown.

             
I have never seen anything as lovely as this dress in all of my life.
She couldn’t help herself but feel attracted to the view of her body being dressed in an elbow length sleeved gown with a skirt that flowed down to the tops of her purple and brocaded slippers, matching the material that the dress was created from.
This is something that seems to be unreal…Like…Like it something from a dream, and it is not real.

             
It’s your dreams that have had you worried since you woke up, Lily.
Her conscience slipped into her mind, giving its own opinion.
Perhaps there is something to this, Lily. Maybe your dreams are trying to tell you something…something that is going to happen if you go through with this wedding, and allow Daniel to turn you into a vampire like him.

             
Lily couldn’t disagree with the suggestion that came from her rational part of her mind. There was a small part of her that had wondered if what she dreamed of was her impending future. What if her marriage to Daniel would bring about a war that could not be stopped by anything else other than her own destruction and demise?

             
“How does your dress feel on you, my lady?”

             
She broke out of her thoughts, and focused on the mirror to find Magdalene smiling at her from the side. Lily took a moment to look over how the gown clung to the upper part of her curvaceous body to a degree while the lower part was flowing and gave her legs room to move. Her eyes let the sight soak in for a moment before she moved them in the direction of her fiancée’s maid.

             
“It fits very nicely, Magdalene.” Lily replied, friendly. She managed to put a smile on her face despite how she was feeling on the inside, and kept a light hearted tone with her to not let anything on. “I believe it is on me just right.”

             
“If you will move over to the vanity, my lady, I will run a brush your hair, and finish the last things that are needed to be done before you make your way downstairs for the ceremony.”

             
She made her way over to where the vanity was nestled with Magdalene at her side, and eased herself down on a cushioned, white bench. Her eyes tried to focus on her face in the mirror while her hair was being fixed, but were unable to due to what was going on her mind, causing them to look at her lap.

             
I have to tell Magdalene…I need someone to give my mind some reassurance that everything will be fine.

             
Lily looked to where Magdalene’s reflection was in the mirror in time to see her giving her hair a few more strokes before reaching to where some purple and black hair ribbons had been set out. She drew in a breath of air, and released it, shortly, before her voice came out in a soft tone.

             
“Magdalene,” she asked, “can I ask your opinion on something?”

             
“Of course, my lady.” Magdalene answered while her hands worked the ribbons underneath a portion of her hair on the top of it, and proceeded to weave in several strands of it. “I would be happy to answer anything that you have on your mind at the moment.”

             
“Well…um…Do you ever have dreams?”

             
“I have had dreams, my lady.”

             
“Do those dreams ever seem…real?”

             
“There are some that do seem very realistic…Why do you ask?”

             
“Do those dreams…seem to be telling you of something that might…happen in the future?”

             
The moment the question left her lips, Lily found Magdalene’s hands stopping at the bottom of the ribbons that had been weaved into some of her hair. She turned her head, and watched her move over to a side of her body before she moved to kneel down and speak to her.

             
“Does this have to deal with what you dreamed of before I woke you for your bath, Lily?”

             
She tried to keep her emotions in check, but found them causing her to rise up, and move over towards where the glass doors of her balcony were located. Lily wrapped her arms around her waist, and clung to herself while the words came flooding out of her mouth.

             
“Yes…I saw my father storming towards me with men from the village and the surrounding countryside with torches and swords in their hands…wishing to harm me.”

             
“Why do you believe it might happen?”

             
“Because my father was telling the men to get the vampire queen…” Her body trembled as the words came from her mouth. Dropping her head, her voice grew even softer and had a hint of sadness to it. “What if my dream was a vision of what is to come, Magdalene? What if my marriage to the person who I have come to love unconditionally in such a short amount of time brings nothing but despair and-“

             
Lily’s words fell silent once she found Magdalene’s hand moving onto one of her shoulders. She looked towards her, and found an expression on her face similar to that of her mother looking at her with a gentle kindness before her ears picked up on the sound of a tone in her voice to match how she was looking at her.

             
“Lily…There is a saying that dreams are windows to a future that is possible and can happen. However…We hold the power in making those dreams come true, or change them before they are a possibility.”

             
She was right…She knew Magdalene was correct. Her dreams held no power…She did. If anything was to happen, it would be on her own accord, not her dreams.