67 Endurance- Part 1 (2/2)
Heidi chose to smile, instead of talking about it. Her mother was a good woman who had brought her up without trying to differentiate people with their wealth or kind. But not the same held true for the rest of the Curtis' family. Her family had conspired against the Lord by joining hands with Duke Scathlok. Since she had left Woville, she prayed and hoped that the Duke wouldn't send her a letter as he had promised to do. She was scared of the man and worried about the little bottle he had given her, which now laid at the bottom drawer of her cupboard in middle of her clothes.
Three more days, she thought to herself. Three more days and she would be meeting her family who had sent her as an offering instead of sending their own child here. Three more days and she would be officially engaged to Warren. She could feel her heart sink, deeper and deeper, lost in her worried mind until someone interrupted her thoughts.
The butler after seeing the lady retire back to her room, went to his master's chamber to serve him a glass of freshly drawn out blood. The lord was at his desk, writing something on the parchment when the butler stood at his side, holding the tray in front of him with his other hand which rested on his back. It took a few minutes before the lord stopped writing, to place the quill in its stand, leaning his back against the chair.
When he raised his hand, the butler placed the glass in his . Taking the thick liquid into his mouth in one holding until the last few drops in the crystal glass, he licked his lips for any remnants.
”I'll need another glass,” Lord Nicholas said not satisfied with one glass. Being holed in his chambers working over the mess the black witches had created had taken a lot of his time. Thanks to the witches, the death rate had increased to thrice the average death in the Empire. There was also the pressing matter of his own situation where he found out that the trader he had been using all these years had been caught like a fool.
”Would you want me to summon any of the ladies tomorrow?” the butler enquired if his master would need someone to feed on to. Though Lord Nicholas didn't mind feeding blood from a male or a female, he usually drank their blood through their wrists. Women from a high bred family were the only ones he preferred to drink blood from their neck.
”That won't be necessary. I have plans for tomorrow,” he stated, taking the parchment and beginning to roll it with his hands, ”Where did I place the ribbon?” Nicholas pulled the drawers one by one, from the top to finally find it in the last but one drawer from the bottom.
”I want you to deliver this after you're done serving me the next glass. See to it that it reaches Dutton and no one else,” the lord handed the tied parchment to the butler.
”What does it contain, master?” Stanley looked at it curiously.
”Count Morris was caught yesterday near the south border when he was trying to smuggle the goods from one of Mythweald's town. He won't open his mouth wi but it will cause a lot of losses for us. I will have to get him out to see what caused the mishap,” the lord narrowed his eyes in slight irritation.
Nicholas didn't like it when things didn't go his way; he was a persistent man who always achieved his goals by either a straight or an indirect approach.