Chapter 14

Miaka’s P.O.V

“Kaleb!” I caught him before he could fall to the floor and laid him down carefully, before turning to Rain. “What do you think you’re doing? How dare you act without my permission?”

Rain sat frozen against the opposite wall, looking at me flabbergasted. “Your Highness…I thought-”

“I don’t care what you thought.” I snapped at her. “You do not act without my orders and you especially do not go around hurting human civilians!”

Just as I expected of Rain’s aim, Kaleb’s throat was slit from corner to corner and if I didn’t act fast, he’d be dead. He was trying to stem the blood flow by pressing a hand to his throat, but it wasn’t helping much. So I did the only thing I could think of, I cut my finger at the corner of my fangs and prying his lips open, poured a few drops of blood into his mouth.

The reaction was instantaneous as his throat began to close up and the wound started to heal in front of my eyes. He was no longer choking either.

I looked behind me at the kitchen and found a tiny towel hanging from the handle on the oven. Rushing over, I took the towel and wet it in the sink before rushing back to his side and dabbing it lightly over his neck. Only a bright red line indicated the area of the cut and that too was healing. Within a second, all signs of assault were gone and Kaleb blinked up at me, looking relieved as I helped him sit up, the cloth still around his neck.

“Shit…that was…thank you.” Kaleb looked around at all the blood that had spilled all over the floor as he touched his neck once again to feel the cut. It was already healed.

“Don’t.” I shook my head. “I should be the one apologizing for my Knight’s behaviour.”

I narrowed my eyes at Rain as she stood up from the floor and came towards us with slow measured steps, dressed in her usual black shirt and pants. There was a big dent on the wall I’d thrown her on to, but she was a nine hundred year old demon. For her this was like getting a paper-cut.

“How long have you been following me?” I asked her, standing up so I could face her.

“Since yesterday.” She confessed. “You had been acting differently.”

“Does my father know?” I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Father was overprotective without being too obvious and that was the most dangerous kind.

“No.” She shook her head immediately. “I was afraid you would get into trouble. You had been inside this apartment for an hour already.”

An hour? Damn! I hadn’t realized it was that late.

“Umm…I’m sorry to interrupt but…can you please tell me why did you just try to kill me?” Kaleb spoke up, looking from me to Rain and she glanced down at him like she had only just noticed him.

“I thought you were a threat.” Rain shrugged. “Seems like you aren’t.”

“And you realized that after killing me?” Kaleb stood up too, towering almost a foot over me.

“If you were a threat, Her Highness wouldn’t have saved you.” Rain looked at him from head to toe before shifting her gaze to me. “Should I wait downstairs?”

“That would be my preference, yeah.” I told her before pointing towards the blood on the ground. “After you’ve cleaned up the mess you made.”

“That won’t be-”

“Why don’t you shower and change?” I cut him off before glaring at Rain when she stood still. “Dried blood is a bitch to clean.”

“I think the same goes for you.”

“Huh?” I looked up at Kaleb confused before he pointed to my face. “What?”

“You have some…ugh, splattered…” He motioned on his cheeks with his bloody hands.

“Oh.” I took out my handkerchief from my pant pocket and wet it under the sink before dabbing it on my face to clear away any of his blood.

“I’ll…go take a shower.” And then Kaleb was dashing into one of the doors and shutting it behind him.

I could hear his rapid heartbeat through the door before he moved away from it. Poor guy. Now I know what he meant by being helpless amongst so many immortals.

“Yeah.” Rain said as he hunched down on the floor. “He’s definitely traumatized.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” I glared at her. “You nearly killed him!”

“I thought you were in danger.” Rain sighed. “You don’t have a habit of disappearing like this into stranger’s houses and not surface for an hour.”

I pursed my lips, thinking about how Rain was actually right. “You could’ve just called.”

“I did.” She frowned. “You didn’t pick up.”

I took out my phone from my pocket in haste and found out that I had put it on silent mode and forgotten about it. There were actually thirty missed calls from Rain. Wait…thirty bloody missed calls?

I looked back at Rain questioningly but she motioned at the door behind me and shook her head. I was about to go sit and wait for Kaleb but then Rain stopped me again.

“You should be careful who you share your secrets with.” She warned. “Katherine told me about him…don’t worry, I asked politely.”

Wow. Now Rain was threatening my friends? What the hell has gotten into her?

“Rain,” I shook my head. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing. But you need to get your act together, Miaka.” Rain swept her hand over the blood on the floor and it just vanished into thin air. “You’re the King. You are not to mix with mortals.”

“Why?” I frowned. “You think I’m going soft now?”

“No…because it hurts to lose them.”

The sound of the door opening distracted us from our banter as Kaleb came out of the room, looking all fresh and clean like nothing ever happened to him. There was no mark left on his neck and he was wearing a black shirt similar to the one he had on previously, along with black denims.

“You okay?” I asked, a bit worried.

“Yes.” He nodded, his hand instinctively going to his throat. “Thanks to you.”

He handed me a folder before I could probe further. “These are the files I found on…Zero. I brought you here to give it to you, before we got…distracted.”

My eyes widened as I snatched them out of his hands, trying my best to not show any emotions in front of Rain. “What does it say?”

“It’s all his blood test reports along with a bunch of other tests.” He frowned. “You can keep it, I have a copy. I’ll get in touch with you again, as soon as I get any new information.”

“Good.” Rain answered for me as she came forward and threw her bike keys at Kaleb. “I’ll be taking Her Highness with me. Keep the bike. It’s an apology for trying to kill you.”

With that, Rain took a hold of my hand and practically dragged me back to my car. I didn’t complain until I was inside the car and the doors had been shut tight, with Rain taking the wheels. It took me a while to realize that the agitation she was feeling wasn’t directed at me, but something else. Something was bothering her and her protective instincts were up to the max.

“Will you tell me what’s wrong now?” I asked, keeping my voice low, my tone light.

Rain let out a sigh and ran a hand through her short hair. “A letter arrived at the castle today.”

“And?”

“Since you already agreed in front of the Council…King Rihero has set a date. For your engagement to his son. And it’s this year.”

And everything just came crashing down around me.