Chapter 3: First Kiss

They walked to the door, which was held open by guards. She grabbed a fistful of her dress as she hopped beside the King. As soon as they went through the door, a loud trumpet blew and everybody in the hall stood to their feet. Mauve instantly felt self-conscious and looked to her feet, forgetting they couldn't see her face because of the veil. They were standing at the top of the stairs and looking down into the hall. The king held her arms as they stood waiting to be announced. "King Evan Grey," the announcer's voice thundered through the hall, and more than half the audience did a proper bow; the rest stared him in the eye. Mauve didn't need anyone to tell her the rest were vampires. Their demeanor and pale skin were more than enough. "And Princess Mauve Grey!" Mauve closed her eyes tightly as she did a little curtsey. Almost immediately, she flung open her eyes and jerked her head upwards as she felt eyes on her. She looked up to find who she immediately assumed was her vampire husband staring intensely at her. Inches away from him, whom she assumed was the priest because of his outfit and the fact that he was also on the podium. She saw him from the corner of her eye, but he was the least of her worries. She was too far to see the groom's face as he stood on the pod, waiting for her, all she could see was his pale skin and dark-colored colored, but there was no denying the stare, she would have sworn he could see past the veil. She quickly blinked away, but she couldn't help but feel she had lost this battle. As soon as the announcer was done, they slowly began their walk down the stairs, and the feeling of happiness Mauve felt for being by her father's side slowly began to dissipate, and a gnawing feeling started to surface at the realization of what was about to happen. She's getting married to a vampire. There was no undoing this. This wasn't some bad dream she would wake up from. She was getting married. She looked up at the supposed groom, looked to where he stood in front of everyone, but she still was not close enough to see his face. She would worry about him when she got to the podium. In a bid to take her mind off the impending doom, she looked around., She didn't think there was anyone she knew in the audience, so there was no point staring. They were still on her feet as the tune led her to the groom. Someone had spread red petals on the floor; it was a deeper red than the rug, and if it wasn't for the circumstances surrounding her marriage, there was no doubt that this was better than any wedding she had ever imagined. She felt gazes and quickly brought her head do;n, the walk to the podium was longer than she thought. A few steps away, the king let go of her hand, and she climbed the podium, standing about two feet apart from the groom. For some reason, she couldn't find the courage to look up, so she kept her head down as the priest said the vows. "To love and to protect," the priest was saying. Yeah right! Mauve almost laughed, but it wasn't the least bit amusing. She was stuck without much of a choice in the hands of what was safe to assume was a monster. They all were. After hunting them like rats, her fear was understandable. She was surprised she wasn't trembling with fear, even if it was all she could feel. She could tell the attendants of the wedding were also trying to put up a strong face. They were all very terrified of the vampires, and if it wasn't the king himself who endorsed this, she was certain a quarter of them wouldn't have shown up for the wedding. It was no surprise, all the monsters needed was a slight change of heart, and the chances of survival for the people in the hall would drastically reduce to zero. Their fear was logic, also hers was also. "I now pronounce you man and wife." She vaguely heard the priest say as she battled with her thoughts. Man and wife! Of course not. Vampire and slave sounded more like it. If they were generous enough, they could call her wife, but the dude that stood before her was no man. "You may kiss the bride." Mau, we lost in him, though he didn't notice until he was upon her, nor did she hear the priest's words. She gasped as he reached where she stood in a long stride. He raised her chin before he carefully flipped the veil. She swallowed and bit her bottom lip. She could taste her fear. She opened her lid to find the palest of blue eyes she had ever seen, and for a second, Mauve forgot her fear as she stared at the most handsome figure she had ever had the grace to stare at. Even his pale skin did nothing to hide that. Unable to help it, she thought maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Maybe she was scared for nothing, and that was when she tasted his lips and her mind blanked out. His lips felt cold as they touched hers, soft too, h, r mind immediately registered, but it wasn't like she knew har; this was her first kiss, and it was sealing the deal of her enslavement to the vampires. She knew marriage was just a fancy name for it. She was just food. Mauve felt his tongue push through her lips, and her body melted. Before she could think, she was kissing him back. Tasting the recess of his mouth. It felt so nice, she wondered if it was because he was a vampire. Now, she knew why the maids often made a fuss about it, and she had caught a few more often than not making out with the menservants at odd places. He started to withdraw, and Mauve heard herself protest before she could stop herself.