Luka's expression didn't change at Queen Nadia's words, his dry smile still gracing his lips.
Nadia went on without prompting from him. "Even if you were there before either of them arrives. You will immediately take your leave."
Luka sucked in a sharp breath, the Queen had said it was a request but he knew without being told that it was a Royal Order and ignoring it would bring unsavory consequences.
"Is Your Highness intending for the alliance joining to be a proper wedding?" He tilted his head to the side.
"I find that to be none of your business," Nadia said with a menacing smile. "You're awfully concerned about what my son decides to do. Don't overstep. Remember your place."
Luka wisely kept his lips clammed, Queen Nadia was more pleasant than most Vampires, it wouldn't do him any good to get on her bad side. Her husband was even more of a nuisance than his own father, and if he upset Queen Nadia, King Vatore and his father would be all too eager to make sure he paid for it.
He vanished out of the Queen's presence, he didn't go to his rooms in the castle. Like most nobles who were welcome to live in the sprawling castle if they so wished, his family had several homes in the capital as well as all across the country.
For the first time in years, he left the castle with the intention of going to a townhouse that belonged completely to him. He felt the cracks in his psyche widen as he got a fast horse from the stables and set out.
Dematerializing was rather convenient but there was a distance limit on how much a vampire could cover, and they could barely take much things on their person. So the usual modes of transportation were still well used among Vampires.
Luka dashed out of the castle gates on his powerful horse, his hair was unbound, his cravat discarded. He looked like a lit flame streaking through the street, his expression dark as the castle got farther and farther behind him.
-+-
Alessio stopped outside Silvan's room, a tad nervous. He was worried about Silvan but now that he had gotten here, he was anxious about the human Prince's reaction to his presence.
The door opening in his face made him flinch and lose his voice, stumbling over his words. "I-I merely... I w-was asked to check on you. Have you eaten yet?" He finally got a question out without nearly biting down on his tongue only to go pale as his gaze dropped to Silvan's neck.
Silvan remained unaware of the riotous thoughts going through Alessio's head, he had been about to go for a walk, remaining cooped up in his room was making his head spin.
At Alessio's mention of food, he realized that he indeed hadn't had a bite of food all day. All he had for a meal had been a goblet of wine and that hadn't gone over so well.
"I haven't," He said in a deliberately polite tone. Alessio was the only Vampire to make him self conscious about how he treated him.
Alessio got over his thoughts of taking a drink from Silvan's throat and his worries about referencing it at the human Prince's civil response.
"I asked mother to arrange something for you to eat..."
"Will you be eating with me?" Silvan interrupted before he could stop himself.
Alessio paused, covertly double checking if he was standing in front of the wrong room. Mere moments ago, Silvan had treated him like he couldn't stand to be in his presence, and now he was offering that they share a meal.
"...you're... you're fine with that?" He spoke cordially out of surprise.
Silvan went quiet for a moment, Alessio drew him in like a magnet, but then he was reminded that the other was a Vampire and he wanted to put as much distance between them as possible.
He had to remind himself that it was beneficial he built a cordial relationship with Alessio. The Vampire Prince clearly meant him no harm, he would be a very beneficial ally.
Eating with Prince Alessio was merely to protect his interests -- Silvan's distant blue-green gaze dropped from Alessio's swirling gray eyes, down to his startling red lips, his disheveled black hair with orange petals in them completing the image, it burned his vision.
This was just to protect his interests, nothing more, nothing less.
"Yes." He replied shortly, keeping his expression neutral.
"Would you like to have a picnic in Mother's garden?" Alessio was quick to suggest, his smiles always seemed absent... suggestive. "She never lets me but if it's you, she'll definitely agree..."
Silvan barely heard the tail end of Alessio's words before the Vampire was vanishing right before him. His eyes went wide in alarm, taking an instinctive step back.
He supposed that explained why the maids that attended to him seemed to be practically invisible. Being able to vanish anywhere at a single thought, that had to be incredibly convenient.
Silvan caught himself and his strange train of thought. Barely two days in Vallyn, and he was already beginning to get accustomed to the strange creatures that were Vampires.
Despite that, he couldn't help but flinch when Alessio returned. Accepting that Vampires had such otherworldly abilities was one thing, experiencing it was another.
"She said yes," Alessio informed him with that bewitching smile like he hadn't vanished into thin air right in the middle of their conversation. "The arrangements are already being made," He went on, the orange petals in his hair gone.
Silvan couldn't help but want them back, the plain white clothes Alessio didn't suit him. Vibrant, fiery colors suited him much more, it matched his almost indolent nature.
"Give me a moment to change," He took another step back.
Alessio glanced down at himself like he just realized he was still wearing their ceremonial outfits. "I should change as well..." He muttered like he would rather not, walking off.
Silvan watched his retreating figure and voluminous hair until he slipped into his room before he closed his door and set out to change his outfit.