Heidi was glad that Nicholas didn"t question on her decision and plea to not to go and see her family. She hadn"t meant to say it, not out loud at least but before she could think about it clearly, her words had flown out of her clouded mind. She wanted to tell him, share things that had been bothering her but she was scared at the outcome. Just because the lord had told her he liked her, she didn"t want to take chances. At the same time she wanted to tell him, trying to build up the courage within her to talk about it.

Biting her bottom lip, she readied herself to tell him about the Duke"s plan. As every second pa.s.sed by she told herself to open her mouth to speak to him but she couldn"t. The tension in her mind built up so much that she could feel her head throb in pain. Maybe not today, she calmed herself. She would do it tomorrow.

"I wrote another piece, would you like to join?" Nicholas asked who had already begun working his fingers on the white and black keys, "Follow my suit," imitating his finger she smiled

Who knew that one day she would be playing the piano with the man she had saved that rainy night in Woville. Her hands were unsteady with mixed emotions. She was worried but relaxed at the same time. She was embarra.s.sed to be having Nicholas sit right next to her, his leg touching hers. She felt absolutely safe with him, somewhere deep she knew he would keep her safe. She wondered if she felt that way because she was in love with him. Her cheeks still felt hot, her body as though lit on gasoline after the touch he left on her. Lips that was soft and smooth, gliding across her skin before he pressed it on her skin. Seeing him play seriously, she continued to stare at him. His long, black bangs over his forehead looked strikingly good, the back of his neck sloped as the amount of hair reduced gradually from the crown downwards. If she weren"t sitting next to him talking, she would have pegged him to be sad, mysterious soul playing the piano. In Heidi"s opinion, he was still a mysterious man.

"You"re finally looking at me," he said, his lips pulled up to a smile, "I was contemplating if I had to change back my appearance. Was it too overwhelming?" he asked her.

"I was adjusting to it," she murmured looking away from him.

She hadn"t been shocked, rather like he said she had been overwhelmed by with his sudden change of hair and the piercing. All this while she always thought that the lord of the Bonelake empire was a charming man with a prince like appearance. But this one felt too strong, intimidating and dangerous with an edge. She had noticed how some subjects reacted to his mere presence recently.

"I heard your hair is naturally black and that you changed it before stepping into the lord"s position," she stated to see his smile grow.

"Looks like you"re interested in knowing the reason why."

"I do."

"Curious little thing you are, aren"t you. Like you said, I changed it right before taking the t.i.tle of lord. Even though the majority number of vampires exceed in Bonelake, it is also a home for the humans. Times were different back then. The council didn"t have the current head council due to which it wasn"t easy to please to get the position of the lord. The humans were hostile and weren"t accepting when it came to the vampires, not they are but it was worse. Sometimes you need to get into the persons shoes to know how and what they feel to win their favor. It is only that without the rings," he touched his ear, "And the black hair, Malcolm said it would be better to go with a more comforting look."

"But weren"t you the direct heir? Doesn"t that automatically make you the next in line for the t.i.tle?" Heidi who had stopped playing, asked him.

"Not if you have committed a crime. No matter who you are, sometimes the rules get strict. Would you like to know what happened? But I don"t think you will like it."

"Is it that severe?"

"It is..." his hands didn"t stop from playing the keys, "I killed the previous lord."

Heidi didn"t know what to say but stare at him, wide-eyed. She was more than shocked.

"W-why did you kill him?" she asked feeling gooseb.u.mps raise on her skin.

"We weren"t on good terms. Sometimes your destiny is written before you even know it. It is just that his was written the night I was born," his voice didn"t raise or fall, but was calm as ever. Why was he so calm about killing his own father? "I did warn you that you wouldn"t like it," he smiled.

Of course, but she hadn"t expected to hear something like this. According to what she had read along with Stanley during her study hours, no event as such had taken place to be written in the historical books. And the book had said how the lord had died to his old age and consumption of a potion which was fatal for vampires. There was no record that stated that Nicholas was the one who had killed him.