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nA maid who had come to place fresh flowers in the vase of Heidi Curtis’ room knocked on the door twice, announcing herself, she turned the knob of the door to step inside the empty room. Once she was done replacing the wilted flowers with the new ones which was plucked from the garden, she wondered if Ms. Curtis was in the bathroom but there was no sound of water than ran behind the door. A little worried if the lady fell asleep or drowned in the bathtub, she knocked the door again calling for the lady before opening it to see the lady wasn’t there either. Maybe the lady woke up early but then none of them were given any task on attending the young lady.

nNot lingering more in the room, the maid stepped out of the room to find the butler standing right outside.

n“What took you so long to replace the flowers?” the butler enquired, his cold eyes staring at her. Not waiting for her answer, he ordered, “Get the rest of them replaced in this floor and then change the ones in the study room which hasn’t been done yet.”

n“Yes, Sir,” as the maid bowed her head and hurried with her footsteps, she turned around to see the butler had disappeared at where she had left him.

nOn her way down, the maid looked at the magnificent mansion which was being cleaned since dawn broke out. The chandelier in the hall glittered with the rays of sunlight that touched the crystal glasses to paint streaks of rainbows across the wall and floors of the expansive room. Glancing behind her as she looked up in the directions of the room, she wondered if Ms. Curtis was in the lords room. At first she didn’t think about it as the lady was engaged to the lord’s cousin, Mr. Lawson but it was strange for the lady to spend more time with the lord than her fiance. Not only that but she with few other house keepers had witnessed their lord kissing the lady, not on the cheek but on the mouth.

nComing from a human background and now working for the vampires, the maid found the vampires behaviour rather unusual. It wasn’t because they sucked blood to live but the way they thought and lived was different compared to the humans she had worked for. She was yet to complete an year at the Rune’s mansion and she often wondered if she had to quit. The rules were abnormal. The house keepers and the other workers of the mansion were not allowed to gossip and huddle around in their free time. The only thing they were expected to do was to work and if it weren’t followed, they had to face dire consequences. Due to this there was no way to find out what was going on in the mansion here. One toe out of the line and she knew she would be thrown to the wolves by the butler himself without an ounce of consideration. As she removed the flowers that were about to wilt from the vase of the study room, she remembered seeing a maid being dragged by the guards of the mansion roughly and it made her wonder as to what the maid might have done to receive that treatment.

nIn the lord’s room, Heidi was woken up by the cool wind that passed through the windows which were left open the previous night. Her eyes adjusted to her surroundings as she opened them to register she wasn’t in her room and the arm that her head rested on was Nicholas’. His arm was wrapped loosely around her waist. Turning to his side, she noticed him fast asleep and he looked no different than the time when he was awake. His pink, pale lips were parted slightly and his chest rose steadily in a perfect rhythm to indicate he was asleep.

nNot wanting to wake him, she rolled away carefully before tip toeing to the door. Heidi tried turning the knob but the door didn’t open as it was locked. Not knowing how to open it, she checked the door once again to realize she would have to wait for Nicholas to wake up. Now that she was awake, she decided to use the bathroom and in the end washed her face and mouth, gargling softly to rid any bad breath. Tip toeing back into the room, she climbed back into the bed to lay down next to Nicholas who moved to face her in his sleep. Like him, she turned to lay down on her side. His disheveled hair fell on his forehead and some which were pressed on the pillow he laid his head on right now, smiling to herself, Heidi continued to admire him from a close distance. Were vampires also subjected to fall under the spell of sleep like humans? The words she had heard before about few things about vampires seemed to be tales and myths but then Nicholas wasn’t an average vampire but a pure blooded vampire. His cheekbones were defined along with his upper half of his body.

nBeing a little brave, Heidi moved closer to him so that there wasn’t much distance between them. Stretching her neck upwards, she dropped a feather like kiss on his lips before tucking her head under his chin. What went unnoticed was the smile that appeared on Nicholas’ lips.

n“Do take care of the mansion for me, Stanley. We should arrive back by before dusk,” Lord Nicholas stated as he buttoned the cuff links standing at the entrance of the mansion while waiting for the carriage and Heidi to arrive.

n“Yes, master,” the butler obeyed.

n“I didn’t expect the Scrimgeor’s to hold an afternoon lunch in such short duration. Do you perhaps know as to what the occasion is?” Warren enquired, standing stiff as a rock next to his cousin, lord Nicholas.

n“Venetia didn’t inform you about it? Mr. Scrimgeor’s wife gave birth to a boy last night,” Nicholas straightened the suit he wore.

n“He did?” Warren raised his brows in question before murmuring, “I heard they weren’t doing so well.”

n“Just because they aren’t doing well, doesn’t mean he would stop doing his wife even though he has mistresses in other towns,” Warren frowned at Nicholas’ words and then sighed looking at his watch.

nHearing the footsteps behind, they saw Heidi who had dressed herself like them for the occasion. Nicholas’ eyes fell on the collar of her dress which covered the base of her neck and he stepped forward towards her, raising his hand, he pulled the collar to set it right as one side of it had turned the other way.

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