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nIn the time of the evening, her Uncle Raymond visited there along with his wife Aurelia and daughter Ruth. Her cousin Ruth was the sweetest soul she had met, who had only turned seven this summer. There were times when she wished she could have Ruth as a sister instead of Nora to only scold herself for thinking that way. She also wished that she could have a better, healthier relationship with her sister. Even they weren’t blood-related, they were her first family and she wanted it to work out. Nora had her good points even though they were only a few but still it counted. For instance, her sister had helped her while cooking in the kitchen and had now taken up the initiative to get the food from the kitchen to the dining table, her aunt took the opportunity to speak to her leisurely.

n“How have you been? I am dejected that you rarely write to me, especially after...your mother passed away,” aunt Aurelia asked, looking at Heidi sort out the vegetables on a platter.

nTheir aunt, Aurelia was similar to her late mother. A woman who was of a good family, kind and gentle by nature and the genes were now passed on to her daughter Ruth. Her husband, Heidi’s Uncle Raymond was a stern man who had connections with the north Lord. Her aunt spoke less in front of her husband as most of the human women with high upbringings were taught not to voice their thoughts unless it was of high importance. But her aunt was as shrewd as her mother, her eyes picked most of the details around her.

n“I am sorry I haven’t been writing. Things sometimes get very busy here and it slips out of my mind,” Heidi gave her aunt an apologetic look, “I’ll make sure to write to you regularly from now,” she promised but saw her aunt shake her head with a frown.

n“Write when you feel like you want to. Not because you have to. Alright?” her aunt said making her face break into a smile.

n“Alright.”

n“Good. So how have you been?” her aunt repeated the question.

n“I think I am okay. It’s been two years,” Heidi gave her an assuring smile that didn’t reach her eyes, “Sometimes it gets hard, reminding of the hollow a person leaves behind, on us. Life seems really strange at that time...to think...the person who was there is not here anymore,” her aunt rubbed her arm soothingly.

n“That’s what life is all about, isn’t it? But God has given us the gift of memory, a place where we can cherish and visit it as many times as we need to,” Heidi wasn’t sure if memory was a gift or a curse, there were things she couldn’t forget, things that agonized her in her dreams, “Now smile. Helen would be disappointed if she saw her children looking sad,” her aunt said before taking a spoonful of the curry Heidi had prepared.

n“I made it,” said Nora as she got back to the kitchen, “How is it? Is it good?”

nHeidi didn’t mind that her sister took the credit out of what she had made. It was something that she let it slide if it brought a smile on her face that was enough for her.

n“It is very tasty,” aunt Aurelia complimented Nora to which Nora gave her a wide smile before taking the gravy out of the kitchen. Seeing the girl go, her aunt leaned towards and whispered, “The man you marry will be very fortunate to eat something so delicious. Don’t forget to write down the recipe and give it to me,” and with that, her aunt left her alone in the kitchen hearing her daughter Ruth call for her.

nAs the two families had dinner, her father and uncle Raymond discussed the latter’s work. Heidi heard Ruth talk earnestly about the recent piano classes that she had only joined a few weeks ago. She smiled the entire time as she listened to her cousin speak about music even though there were few things she didn’t understand to keep the girl’s heart. Once everyone was done with dinner, the entire family sat in the living room.

n“Raymond, what happened to put a good word to the Lord through the Duke?” their father Simeon asked his brother.

n“Actually, I came here to speak on the same matter,” uncle Raymond said with a grim expression.

n“I hope it is good news that you brought us,” her father commented and then asked, “What is it?”

nRaymond took a deep breath before he spoke, “As the Lord’s son is young and unmarried, I tried speaking to the Duke and the Dutch’s who are a close acquaintance of the Woville Lord. I showed Nora’s picture and the Duke’s wife said she had potential and would put in a word about it. She came back last week with the news to say that the young lord didn’t want to marry right now as he wanted to hone his skills when it came to administrating the empire.”

n“Hmm,” Heidi saw her father hum in response.

n“But the Lord himself sent a proposal to our door after hearing such good things about Curtis’s daughter,” her sister who was looking dejected a while ago was now looking keenly at her uncle, her blue eyes bright in a slight hint of excitement.

n“I’m glad to hear that,” her brother Daniel began but her uncle huffed.

n“It isn’t. The council of the Empire has been keeping a note about the rifts between all the empire, modulating the people as well as the respective Lord’s. The council is hell-bent on keeping a balanced decorum between the humans and the nightly creatures. We all know that Woville and Bonelake haven’t been cooperative, and the head council passed few orders to both the Lords. Both the Lord’s of Woville and Bonelake decided to keep a truce with an alliance.”

n“What are you getting at Raymond?” her father asked, seemingly to understand where this was going.

n“The Lord’s along with the Council decided it would be for the best to have a defined relation with each other to show mutual trust. Our Lord has promised a Curtis woman from our family in hand of marriage to a close relative of the Lord of Bonelake,” Raymond answered with a bitter taste in his mouth. The ones who weren’t aware of it looked taken aback at the news.

n“What was the Lord thinking,” Daniel muttered.

n“That’s impossible!” her father slammed the table in front of him, “I am not getting Nora married into a bloodsucking family. Never!”

n“She is my daughter and I will decide where to get her married,” their father spoke angrily. Even though no one was happy about it, Nora had no qualms on it as she dreamt of living in a huge mansion like a queen but unfortunately her father was dead against the idea of sending her to a vampire household, “I will not send her there-”

n“Simeon, trust me I am not happy about it either but refusing the Lord wouldn’t be right. It would do nothing but damage, especially after the Lord has given his word. If we refuse now, it is not the Woville Lord we will have to worry about, the council will be involved too.”

n“But we can’t...”

nHeidi could see the conflict in her father’s eyes as he battled with the thought of Nora marrying a vampire. Both the Curtis brother’s weren’t fond of vampires, and the Lord of North deciding Nora to be the bride of a vampire was something all of them were digesting.

n“But I have a proposal,” Raymond spoke to his brother. Another one? thought Nora in surprise, she must be more beautiful than she knew to get so many proposals,

n“In the letter that was sent, it had clearly mentioned that our Lord promised a Curtis woman from the family. If you don’t want to send Nora why not send someone else in her place?” her uncle then turned to look at her making her heart drop instantly.

n“Heidi?” aunt Aurelia asked with a surprised look.

n“Heidi is a Curtis and she is as old as Nora. I don’t think a little change would cause any trouble,” said Raymond as dread began to fill Heidi’s heart. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears loudly, the blood rushing up in her body.

n“But uncle Raymond-” Nora began not liking the idea that Heidi was going to experience the luxury which was supposed to be hers.

n“You won’t be marrying into a vampire family, Nora,” her uncle cut her, giving her a sharp look meaning her words weren’t up for discussion. After a few seconds, he then turned back to her father, “So what do you say?”

nHeidi went as pale as a ghost when she saw her father nod reluctantly.

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