The Crown's Obsession (WN)
chapter-79

Sophie looked startled at Madeline and slightly surprised that she wasn't taking the rare opportunity of taking favour from the King. Men and women often jumped when it was the King himself who was offering something, but it appeared that this stupid human didn't know she was rude by declining the King's offer.

"I think Lady Madeline doesn't know how to behave with our dear King. Do you even know what your refusal means?" asked Sophie who stepped forward and crossed her arms looking down at Madeline, "You must be taking the King's words too lightly-"

The vampiress stopped talking when Calhoun raised his hand, an indication for her to stop from speaking any more than she already did.

It wasn't like Madeline didn't know what it meant by refusing the King's help because it was considered to be rude, but it was James life here, and she couldn't stay quiet while the King called James to the castle and did something unspeakable. She saw how Calhoun's eyes intimidated her.

"Can you explain why you don't want the newly made handkerchiefs? They will be made of the finest silk," asked Calhoun even though he knew exactly why she said no. Madeline didn't want to ask if the King was still furious about her lying about James as she had tried to protect the man she shared affections with.

Sophie stood there with her furrowed eyebrows, waiting for Madeline to speak while Calhoun's eyes didn't falter away from her. Madeline said, "There is some present in the cupboards of the room which I will make use of. The handkerchief I was looking, for now, was just something I had picked for myself in the past, which was why I was looking for it. I can make use of others."

"It is just a handkerchief," Sophie shook her head.

Calhoun and Sophie were the first one's to step out of the gallery. Madeline who was behind glared at the head of Calhoun. When the time came to part away, Sophie was the one to leave Calhoun and the human as she was given the guest room, unlike the room which Madeline was present in the King's quarters.

Calhoun and Madeline walked into the quarters quietly with only the sounds of their shoes against the floor that didn't go too far as Madeline was the first one to break the silence, "Where is it?" she asked him.

The man paused his footsteps when she had stopped, turning to her with a questionable look, "Where is what?"

Madeline's lips pursed tightly as she tried to get the word out of her mouth, "My garter."

The questionable expression on Calhoun's face changed, and he stared at her, "Didn't I say it was a souvenir. Something to remember by."

"I am already here, you don't have to steal-" Madeline stopped speaking when Calhoun took a step in front of her, "You cannot do that. It is impolite!"

"Don't patronise me about what is polite and what is not, Maddie, when you were the one who fell asleep on the couch when the painting was about you being punished." His eyes quietly narrowed down at her, "Consider this to be your punishment."

"What about the painting?" asked Madeline, "You said you already painted something, that should be a punishment to suffice. No person in the sane mind would take an unmarried girl-"

"Earn it then."

Madeline blinked at his words, "What?"

"Take it from me. If you are a good girl, I will think about returning it to you until then it stays with me. Safe," Calhoun was the definition of evil in Madeline's mind. With the time she had spent and known the man, she knew he had no intention to return it, which was very similar to the freedom that would never be granted to her.

She stared into his red eyes for a long time, to have him stare back at her, "Lies," she whispered.

Calhoun's eyes softened a little, he said, "Why do you try when you know then?"

"In the hope that one day my side of the bargain would win," she answered to him and his lips twisted.

"Hope is good only when you are uncertain about a thing. And a King is never uncertain about what he wants," stated Calhoun. He took a step in the direction they had come walking, "Go sleep, sweet girl. Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day."

Madeline was worried about tomorrow, "Is it true? That you have summoned James to the castle?"

Calhoun sighed, tilting his head to the side, "Am I not supposed to ask my tailor to come to take mine and other men's measurements?" If it was going to be just about clothes, Madeline would not have been worried like now, but she didn't know what Calhoun had on his mind. The King had found it to be too convenient to call James tomorrow.

"Don't do anything to him. He hasn't done anything and he's a good man." She pleaded softly but her words instead of appeasing to him, it added fuel to the anger that had only simmered down in the evening.

But Calhoun didn't show it, instead, he smiled at her, a smile that was unnerving to Madeline, "You think very lowly of me. I am hurt."

Madeline tore her gaze away, "The last time something happened you cut the man's head in front of me."

"My bad," was his response.

Madeline blinked at his response.

"What did you want me to say? That I am sorry?" asked Calhoun who held little to no remorse for beheading the man, "You surely didn't expect me to let go of the man without giving him a decent punishment, now, did you? Not when he was speaking to you in such a tone...Don't worry, I won't harm the poor man tomorrow."

Madeline wasn't so sure about Calhoun's words. She would only know about it when James and Calhoun met each other tomorrow.