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VAMPIRE KING APOLLYON

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Apollyon had prepared himself mentally for this battle of the wills.

"I had taken over the throne for a long time, Queen Gloriana." He shrugged as he glanced down at his sleeping wife beside him, caressing her fingers with his thumb for comfort. "The Vampire King and my mother are dead because they were mated by blood despite how unstable the relationship was."

"Oh, I didn't know that my cousin had problems in their marriage." Queen Gloriana playfully patted his shoulders, and his cold, sharp gaze immediately landed on where her slender hand had touched him. "They seemed so in love to me. You were the one who killed your parents, am I right?"

"Queen Mother." Prince Aspen leaned closer and shook his head at her in a warning.

"I didn't mean to insult anyone, my child." Her laugh tinkled like wind chimes in the air, but to Apollyon, it sounded obnoxious.

"I just want to make sure that what I heard were facts." Tilting her head, Queen Gloriana smiled graciously, "There is always some grain of truth in all the rumors that came across our ears, right?" She winked. "Vampire King?"

If all women in the entire Realm had the level of charm as Queen Gloriana, Apollyon would have vomited.

Apollyon found Queen Gloriana's scent too sweet that it almost gave him a headache.

Her words were like honeyed venom—forceful and predatory and her dazzling energy cloyed into his aura with a force that made him want to avoid this conversation altogether.

It might disrespect his aunt, but he didn't like to look at Queen Gloriana in the eye, not when she was determined to be rude to him first.

The Spring Queen must learn that respect needed to be earned, not freely given.

It didn't mean that he was in her territory, and he owed her for her hospitality didn't mean she can insult her like this just because she was a Queen.

He might be her nephew, but that wouldn't change the fact that he was the Vampire King.

He wouldn't let the Spring Queen get away with this.

"If you want the truth, Queen Gloriana, I would gladly tell you, but I doubt it is any of your business."

Gasping, Queen Gloriana covered her hand over her berry-coated lips.

"My. My." She said in a sing-song voice.

Instead of striking at him back like a deadly cobra, she watched him coyly beneath her long lashes. "You are as prickly as the thorns of a rose, Vampire King."

"Speaking of the roses, you're Highness—"

"You don't have to call me you're Highness, darling—"

"Queen Mother." Curling his fingers on his mother's arm, Prince Aspen sighed. "Please."

She ignored her son and smiled at Apollyon. "Queen Aunt will do."

"You're Highness." Apollyon refused to play along with this fake 'we-are-all-family-here' mentality if that was what she aimed for.

Real family doesn't insult their family like this.

He stepped backward from their circle and pushed Luna's flower bed forward so that they could see her clearly. "I would like you to meet my precious rose, Empress Luna."

He wasn't alone, and the High Priest was busy talking to other Faeries rather than help him deal with the spectacle.

The royal family gathered around the flower bed to watch her while the curious elves tiptoed and stretched their short necks to check Luna out.

Some of the spring faeries hovered above them to see what the commotion was all about.

Apollyon was proud that his sleeping beauty got the Faeries' attention, but now he changed his mind, wanting to hide Luna away.

What if someone decided Luna was valuable and decided to steal her away when he wasn't looking?

This is a bad situation.

"Ah, that's a shame." Queen Gloriana pouted.

"Your mate is gorgeous, King Apollyon." Lifting the heavy skirts of their ball gown, she moved a little to peer at Luna's ivory face. Luna's eyes were closed, and her pink lips were slightly open. "If you weren't married, I would have arranged a marriage between you and my daughter, Princess Alisabethe."

Princess Alisabethe was a young woman whom Apollyon thought wasn't of the marrying age like what Queen Gloriana had implied.

She had worn a triangular golden crown as aquamarine stones adorned her greyish hair braids.

Her two pairs of aquamarine faerie wings were as translucent as her form-fitting geometric patterns of lace on her neck down to her belly, and the skirts of her gown were made of feathers clinging unto her legs.

Apollyon could tell that Princess Alisabethe could be a faerie fashion icon.

She had aquamarine eyes, pointy, elven ears, and small cherub lips.

Still, her face wasn't striking for his taste—too boring and plain—that at first sight, people couldn't care about what she looked like because the dress had already caught their attention.

"I apologize, Queen Gloriana. I already have a mate." Apollyon replied in mock-regret. "It's a shame to refuse such promising beauty."

Why do Queen Mothers pressure their sons and daughters to wed so young?

Prince Aspen had even forced himself to possess a human concubine that his parents hate as his future wife just to annoy them and stop the marriage themselves.

Didn't they figure out how a forced marriage was reckless and would end up destroying people's hearts?

"Wife." King Nuada Silverhand spoke up at the right time. "This must be the reason why the Vampire King had brought his sleeping Empress so that he wouldn't be set up with one of your daughters."

"You can leave the married man alone now." Apollyon noticed that the King of the Spring Court looked slightly amused as he rubbed his goatee. "This is his first welcoming celebration in the Realm of the Fae. Do not pressure the young man."

"I forgot that you had visited the Spring Courts first before the Summer Courts, King Apollyon." Queen Gloriana said.

Crossing his arms, Apollyon said drily, "I'm sure Prince Aspen had told you the reason."