THIRTY TWO"Love is like a sudden flame; it springs up in the heart and often consumes the whole being in a moment." HONORE DE BALZACTHE DUKEWe walked stealthily to the place we had seen in the vision, I could see that it had been made into a garden and in the garden were two cottages. I signaled on Henry to follow closely behind me as I did not want to alert them of our presence.We hid watching when we saw somebody come out of one of the cottages, I instantly recognized her as the new maid the one that worked personally for GuinevereSo it was she who had stolen Katherine's body, I thoughtWe watched her until she had gone into the second cottage before advancing to the first and true to what I thought Guinevere was tied there, her eyes closed at first and I thought she was dead until she moved, opening her eyes. I rushed over to meet her but she was looking beyond me at something or maybe someone.It was then in dawned on me that I had walked into a trap, there was a man standin
CHAPTER ONE“When you meet someone for the first time, it is not the whole book. That’s just the first page”BRODY ARMSTRONGGUINEVEREI met the duke when I was a little girl of thirteen and he had patted my hair and said I looked beautiful, I had carried that all over with me because he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life. My papa had a meeting with him and came back home angry, he asked us never to welcome the duke into our home again and never to speak to him if we met him at any event we are invited to. My mama agreed to this but I was disturbed as to why I could not speak to the handsome man and so the only thing a girl of thirteen could do was to dream about him.Imagine my surprise when I meet this same duke at the age of twenty two and he had not aged a bit, I am perplexed at this and continue staring at him at the ball organized by lady Charlotte to commiserate the beginning of a new year. He stood tall among the crowd that gathered around him mainly constit
CHAPTER TWO“Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them”WILLIAM ARTHUR WARDGUINEVEREI woke up to a splitting headache and the angry voice of my papa echoing all over the house and trust me it was a big house.I pretended as though I was still sleeping because I did not want to hear what he had to say to me, it would mainly be him scolding me for drinking and any other thing everyone in the party did wrong. If I wasn't sure my mother wasn't some whore, I would think my father did not birth me as he had never said a kind word to me since I was a child. I had grown used to it just as I was used to the face that he adored my little sister, I adored her too but she was too much of a spoilt brat always requesting for things and sulking whenever it wasn’t done her way.I made sure to keep my eyes closed even when my mama came into the room to feel my head and also when my sister also came in the rummage through my things and steal my jewelry thinking I wasn't see
CHAPTER THREE“Life is a barter of choice and consequences”SAMANTHA SOTTOTHE DUKEI do not know what has brought me to the abode of an enemy except that I wanted to see his daughter again, the one they called Guinevere and so I had drafted up a contract before coming in hopes that he was going to see from my angle and give me her hand in marriage. It wasn't that I could not just take her but I was trying to be civil. She looked and smelled as beautiful and tempting as she had when I had first seen her years ago, she was surprised to see me alright which gave me a very warm feeling… it was strange that I was satisfied at her surprise. Contrary to the belief about Vampires we are not all cold blooded and heartless but I am among the cold blooded ones. I have lived for centuries and have seen people and loved ones come and go, mostly I have travelled from one place to another anytime my presence starts to arouse suspicions from the local authorities and this not because I cannot bend t
CHAPTER FOUR“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but In having new eyes”MARCEL PROUSTGUINEVEREThroughout the next day the only thing that rang in my heart was that the duke was a vampire and a drinker of blood. I wanted to call my papa a liar and ask him to tell me the truth this instant but deep in my heart I knew that he was not lying, my mind went back to when I had met the duke and now and how much he hasn't aged a day. I had heard about vampires and that they were ruthless and cold blooded, drank blood and killed without mercy.Does he also have fangs? I asked myself as I walked about the manor hardly seeing. Is that why he had always paid attention to me, so he could drink my blood? I asked no one in particular.My papa and mama had a huge fight the night the duke came to see my papa and I began hating him for causing my family pain, hating him for being so handsome that I did not care if he was a vampire, I would still marry him.My mama came
CHAPTER FIVE“When you walk to the edge of all the light you have and then take that first step into the darkness of the unknown, you must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for you to stand upon or you will be taught to fly”PATRICK OVERTONTHE DUKEWe drove slowly, I had instructed Arthur to take his time driving because I did not want her to be discomforted. Closing my eyes although I wasn't asleep reduced her anxiety in being alone in the carriage with me and so I closed my eyes, all of my other senses super aware of all her movements. She was twirling fingers and glancing at me from time to time, I could hear her breathing and could smell her scent so strongly."Can you not teleport?" She asked me after some time"I can""Then why are you riding in this carriage." She asked again, her voice getting stronger"Teleporting drains energy""What do you when your energy is drained.""You are awfully curious." I responded opening my eyes to observe
CHAPTER SIX“There is only one kind of shock worse than the totally unexpected: the expected for which one has refused to prepare”MARY RENAULTGUINEVEREI froze where I stood and glanced up at him definitely sure he was joking, his wife… how could that be?"You are surprised" he stated simply observing my face"Why do we look so alike?" I asked him trying hard to regulate my breathing"I have no idea, I aim to find out." He mutteredHe aims to find out, my brain echoed"How, pray tell do you intend to find out?" I blurtedHe merely looked at me not acknowledging the fact that he heard what I said. I stood in front of the photo for several minutes critically assessing it, the only difference between myself and the woman in the painting was our hair. While mine was red, hers was jet black although I could not be sure; the artist might have just painted her hair in that shade.I turned to ask the duke another question and noticed he was gone, it was bad enough that I was here and now I
CHAPTER SEVEN“She is clarity and confusion, never enough… always too much. A simple, complicated and perfectly flawed mess”PERRY POETRYTHE DUKEShe was watching me, staring at me eat even when she knew I was aware. She was supposed to be afraid of me, what was she doing staring at me with those soulful and innocent eyes."Aren't you supposed to drink only blood?" She had asked me.I had wanted to respond immediately and tell her the food wasn't enough and that blood was my main source of nutrients but I decided to tease her a bit and asked if she was offering herself to me.Her expression showed she took me seriously and I winced as she sat up straight in her chair and focused solely on her food not glancing at me even once againI heard her exclaim and turned, she had cut herself and I had immediately taken her finger in my mouth forgetting that her scent was something I could not resist. I had been anticipating tasting her for quite a while but it did not compare to the rush of b