Hellbound Heart

"The castle's servants and nobles." He replied in an instant after reading her question.

'Just any servants?'

"Just the ones who are willing. We can't just grab them and drink from them. They need to give us permission too, as per the law. But for the nobles, it's their duty to serve us. So they come to us without excuse when we need them."

Surprised, Elle quickly scribbled the question down. What she wanted to know were the details. 'The nobles are assigned to serve you?'

"We choose them. Though most of us no longer need them as almost everyone's already married."

Elle's brows creased as she looked at him with questions in her eyes. And before she could write her next question, Sebastian continued talking. He could already read the question that was burning in her eyes. "It's because once a vampire is married, the couple will drink from their spouse's blood. And most don't find it morally acceptable for a vampire to still drink from another woman when they already have their wife and vice versa." He explained rather casually as if he was talking about something as mundane as the weather.

But to Elle, the topic quickly caused a certain unwanted disturbance within her. This meant that Sebastian too, had his own chosen noble. And since he never drank from her despite them already being married... it means he was still drinking from another female – that noble he chose to serve him. And it somehow struck her with a wrong note as she thought of it.

Elle already learned from the book that she read in Whitefalls that the vampires always drink from the opposite sex. And that information did not bother her at all when she first found out about it... until now.

The image of Sebastian drinking from another woman flashed in Elle's mind. The picture should've atleasy looked a little scary but the image she saw in her mind was... so intimate and... the awful feeling within her worsened.

A soft knock echoed and Sebastian's attention was pulled towards the door.

"What is it?" his voice echoed.

Elle could not quite hear nor understand the faint voice coming from outside the room but she knew Sebastian did.

"Send her away." Sebastian responded in a low tone. "Tell her to come back next week."

When he returned his attention to her, Elle quickly dropped her eyes down to her notebook. She did not want him to see her conflicted feelings at the moment that were being reflected in her eyes. Though he was being so relaxed and open with her, she was not quite sure if he would be as accepting of the feelings that were running through her right now.

"Any more questions?" he asked, looking at her lowered head.

Elle hesitated once again but after just staring at the blank paper for a few seconds, she eventually moved her hand and wrote, 'Who is it?' She decided to go ahead and be brave to ask. She might as well do it since she was already asking questions anyway.

"Who... the one I sent away?"

She was actually asking about the female noble who he chose to serve him, but she nodded anyway as she belatedly regretted asking about who it was. She was glad that he had misunderstood her question.

"It's Kana, the noble I chose to serve me. Today's her scheduled time..." he trailed off and his head snapped towards the door again.

Elle's fingers clenched around her pen upon hearing what he had said. A sharp lancing pain spear through the region of her chest. Ahh... so the one he had sent away had been the one who served him as well? So, Kana was the name of the female noble he had chosen. She had been the one he was biting and drinking from...

"Lucas. Didn't you hear what I said?" Sebastian's hardened voice made her follow his line of sight and saw Lucas standing at the threshold, holding the door slowly open. He had an apologetic look on his face as he explained further.

"Your Highness, Lady Kana said you also didn't meet with her on your last scheduled feeding time. I'm afraid I need to make sure you will not neglect yourself since I heard you haven't..." Lucas glanced at Elle for a while before he continued after clearing his throat, "had any proper meal for days."

Sebastian shut his eyes closed in exasperation, hearing what Lucas said. But he took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair.

"Fine! Now get out, Lucas. I'll be there in a minute. Have her wait for me in the living room." He ordered with a growl. Lucas immediately nodded and once the door was closed, Sebastian then stood, scooping Elle up into his arms.

The moment he put her down on the bed, the door opened again and a white furry wolf emerged. It was Snowhite!

"Come here." Sebastian looked at the furry white wolf as he tapped his hand on the space next to Elle.

Snow immediately obeyed and hopped into the bed, lying docilely right next to Izabelle. His furry and large body thumped heavily on the sheets.

Elle kept her gaze on Sebastian as he talked to the wolf, telling him to behave in a way like he still had a bad impression of Snow but he just did not have a choice.

When Snow just looked away as if he was so done hearing the long list of commands, Sebastian returned his attention back to Elle. The stern look that he had used on Snow had now softened into a gentle smile as he looked at her.

He tucked a stray lock of her hair to the back of her ear and said gently. "I'll be back in a while. Be good and wait for me here with the wolf, okay?"

But as he turned to leave, Elle quickly shot her hands out and grabbed his hand in a tight grip.