The Crown's Obsession (WN)
chapter-214

She was glad to hear it from Calhoun's mouth that he had nothing to do with her father's shop, that it was someone else's doing. Happy that any possible misunderstanding between them had been dealt.

Madeline continued to stare at Calhoun, his face holding a shadow because of the lack of light coming through the windows where they sat in the chapel. She wondered what he was thinking right now.

When he moved closer to her, her heart skipped a beat at the action, her brown eyes slightly wide, "I didn't know the castle had a chapel."

"Are you surprised?" he asked her, getting even closer and Madeline who had tried to change the subject failed to think of a reply because of Calhoun's closeness. She noticed how his lips parted, his tongue peeking out to run it over the front of his teeth, "Hm?"

Madeline's eyes snapped up to look back into his red eyes, "I-I thought vampires-That they don't believe in church. In God."

"Most of them don't. Hardly a few. When I became King, I ordered for the chapel to be built. Similar to what the humans hold but in a different fashion. As per my liking," he replied to her question, "I liked the look of the discomfort on the face of the people that took place after it was built." Calhoun took joy and thrill in making a person uncomfortable and deriving pleasure from a person's fear.

With Calhoun who was facing her, Madeline who had only turned her neck to look at him while still having her body faced towards the pipe organ of the piano, moved around to completely face him.

"Do you know what you did right now?" Calhoun asked her. Madeline gave a quizzical expression, wondering what she did, "It's called adjusting," the smile on his lips broadened. Madeline would have never thought that something like this could make Calhoun smile, but then the man was always smiling. Most of the time, it was a smile that looked like he was readying himself in glee to kill someone. But right now, it didn't look like that.

"I didn't get to see your mother's portraits," she reminded him.

"I will show it to you later. The portrait won't run away from the castle," he responded to her, "I know, I told I will wait, but I hope you remember it is only for the specific things," saying this, Calhoun leaned forward, putting his arm around her waist, he pulled her towards him. With smooth surface of the bench, Madeline gilded easily towards him.

Calhoun had decided to push and pull her to him, but it was hard to resist a treat which was right in front of him. There was no one around to find and even if they did, it wouldn't matter.

Madeline heard a loud sound that came from the other side of the room. Her eyes looked at the door she had walked through, which was now closed. Did Calhoun close the door? The power and his ability, Madeline didn't know what to think about it.

"Did you close the door?" she asked him, her eyes moving back to look at him.

Calhoun's hand had not let go of Madeline's waist, "Locked it too. I wouldn't like anyone interrupting my time with you," he said to her.

Slightly alarmed, she looked like she was about to slip out of his arm, but Calhoun held her in place, to stop her from moving away from him. It took less than two seconds for blood to rush up from Madeline's pale neck that travelled up to her face. One hand of hers was near his shoulder while the other was placed on his chest. Calhoun only moved his hand around her waist like a snake would curl itself around its prey.

When he leaned forward, Madeline thought he was going to kiss her, but the kiss never came as he only moved closer to the side of her head, his lips next to her ear, "Feels like it's been years since I last drank from you." She felt his breath hit her ear.

She had seen him drink blood in the morning during the time of breakfast, but it seemed like Calhoun was still hungry.

"Have you ever gone without having blood?" she asked him, feeling him pull away his face, just enough so that she could look back into his eyes.

"A couple of times," he answered before adding, "But it never went well though. The thirst vampires feel over the thought of blood is different. Imagine a human who hasn't eaten for a week." A vampire could drink blood from animals and humans. Animals were only replacements for human blood. And humans didn't willingly give away their blood to vampires, nor did the vampires take it too kindly, which often resulted in people going missing.

It was hard to imagine that the King of Devon could have missed his meals. But aware of his past, Madeline thought it was possible. He had told her that he wasn't born with privilege of castles before. Calhoun once used to belong to a place, similar to which she belonged to. The lower class was not appreciated even by some of the people who were part of that place.

It was one thing to look at him as the King and another as the man who worked his way up to where he was today. Madeline wondered why it was more daunting to think about the latter compared to the first one.

With his other free hand, Calhoun placed it on her neck. He could feel her pulse, her beating heart that occasionally hitched up before going back to being normal.

Was he going to drink blood from her neck? Madeline asked herself. His eyes fell on her slender neck, "Did you know some of us, believe that drinking blood from the neck emphasizes the intimacy between the taker and the giver."

His fingers brushed against her skin, making her shiver in this cold room.

Madeline couldn't deny the fact that Calhoun was not only the King of Devon, but he was also master of seduction. He touched her like a delicate being, but Madeline somewhere knew what those hands could do. It was the look in his eyes that told her everything.

"Have you drank blood from necks in the past?" Madeline asked Calhoun, wondering if he considered it to be an intimate action or if he had many women in the past with whom he had been intimate with.

Calhoun's lips twitched by hearing her question, "Yes, I have," he replied to her. He wanted her more anxious, pushing her close to the edge so that he would be the one to catch hold of her, "Only because I don't think that necks are the first intimate part in the body when it comes to consuming blood. The word intimate comes when it is something that is not known to others, and just the two of them," his finger moved around her collar.

The dress that Madeline wore today, it was a high collar one. One, that was most often worn by the women who belonged to high status. There was a black lace tied around the collar, buttons that went down from the front. The sleeves were long that reached until her wrists.

Madeline wondered if it was alright to question and ask more about it. But even she knew, too much curiosity was never good.

Calhoun noticed the lingering curiosity in Madeline's eyes that she now tried to hold back, "I would like to bite where I think it to be intimate," he said, giving her just enough taste so that she would bite in. Her eyes slightly dilated at his words, the smile on his lips broadened before it slowly fell. He wanted to have Madeline in every possible form and just because they weren't married, he didn't see why he should stop himself from tasting, not in the ways she thought it was not supposed to be crossed.

He leaned forward towards her neck, his teeth catching hold of the thin black lace that was tied around her neck—slowly pulling it free before dropping the lace down.

Calhoun's fingers tiptoed to the front of her neck, to place it on the top of the button and a shuddered breath escaped from Madeline's lips.