Chapter 40: Breaking through impenetrable barriers!

Caro eyed his future bride to be warily as he realized that he couldn’t read her at all. Even though she had a pleasant face on, Caro felt that she was up to something.
“Do you love her?”, Selena asked tentatively and Caro let out a resigned sigh. It was common for men from royal families to take in more than one wife and he hadn’t expected such a common notion would upset and rattle her so much.

“No”, Caro said truthfully and Selena winced at his honesty, feeling suddenly bad for his concubine.
When she raised both of her eyebrows at him, he sighed and replied adamantly, “It was a one night stand, Selena, nothing more, nothing less. But I am not a man who runs away from his responsibilities so I took her in as my concubine so as to ensure the safety and wellbeing of my kid”

Selena glared down at him, upset by his choice of words as well as his lack of emotions. She let out a sigh as she pondered over her mother’s words carefully. The Queen had made it perfectly clear that they won’t stand a chance until Caro Silva allies himself with them.
“You need me much more than I need you, Selena. You will never be able to ascend the throne of Valyria without my support.”
Selena raised an eyebrow challengingly at him. So, he too was aware of that fact? And more importantly, he was betting on that to secure his marriage?

He gently took Selena’s hands in his and held it as he said, “If we were to unite, then no one in this world would stand a chance against the both of us. We could conquer worlds side by side. Please be my queen, Selena”

Selena sucked in a sharp breath, pretending to ponder through his offer, then meekly nodded her head nonchalantly, while her insides were screaming with joy at having succeeded so quickly without even dwelling fully into her plan.

Caro looked pleasantly surprised at the ease with she had finally given in and let out a relieved sigh. He closed the distance between the two of them and pasted a small kiss on her lips, as if to seal the deal. Being this close to her and still not being able to do anything to her was agonizing for him, but he was determined to be gentleman until the very end. He felt like he was on a thin ice with her and he intended to ensure that she fell for him heads over heels. He knew deep inside, that she had agreed so readily to his proposal now when she had spent the last few weeks avoiding him was because of the current dilemma she was in and not because of her sincere feelings towards him. She needed to secure his allyship and he was fine with that as all he ever wanted was him to have a proper chance with her. He was confident that know he really stood a good, solid chance at winning her heart.

Someone knocked on the door and Selena froze. They were currently at Caro’s guest room at the Valyrian palace and it would be against custom and tradition to be in their fiancé’s bedroom before marriage, that too this late at night. Selena shot a panicked glance at Caro and he nonchalantly pointed at the cupboard and Selena getting the inference, headed towards the cupboard and locked herself in, waiting with heated breaths wondering who the hell it was meeting him at the brick of night?

Selena peeped through the keyhole of the cupboard and being a vampire, the voices were extremely loud and clear from where she was sitting.

“Caro”, muttered a dreamy voice, and Selena frowned in her cupboard as she instantly realized who its owner was….
Vanessa…..her half sister. She clearly hadn’t given up on her feelings for Caro to be showing up unannounced at a man’s room late at night.

Selena watched with narrowed eyes as she entered herself on to his room and threw herself on to his bed. Caro looked both petrified as well as seriously offended by her bold and reckless action.
Vanessa was wearing very little clothing and her pale, milky skin was a little too exposed. It was very obvious that she was trying to seduce the King of the West.
Not bothering to keep royal protocols, Caro spat at her, completely pissed off, “What do you think you are doing?”


Vanessa shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and said in a pitiful tone, “To serve you, Your Highness. I know you are engaged to my sister and that she would be your legal wife, but being a king, you can still take in concubines. If I can’t have your whole heart, I would still gladly settle for a piece of it.”

Caro sucked in a sharp breath, rattled by her bold confession. He was utterly fed up with her. She had been approaching him making one excuses or other from the moment he stepped inside the kingdom of Valyria and he had thought that he had made his feelings perfectly clear when he shunned and ignored at her, every time they ran into each other, but clearly not.

Caro let out a sigh as he made up his mind, he clearly didn’t want to treat a lady this way, but it was the only way she would get the message.
He dragged her off from the bed and threw her out of the room in a blink of a second and he could see her terror-stricken face as he slammed the door on her face loud enough to wake the entire palace.

He was still boiling up at the very thought of how easily she had marched into his room and volunteered to serve him. Selena opened the cupboard and got out meekly and Caro frowned at her reaction. She looked like she was itching to shout at him, but was barely holding it in.
Shouldn’t she be happy with the way he took care of it? This definitely proved that he had only her in his heart, but then, why the hell did she look so upset and cross with him?
“Did you really have to resort to such idiocies. You could have just made your point and gently walked her out of the room. There was no need for such drama. You hurt her pride and a woman can be very dangerous when her pride has taken a serious fall. With your loud slamming of the door, you must have woken up the entire palace and now everyone would see Vanessa’s embarrassing plight from your room. Is that what you call being a gentleman?”

Caro swore internally as he realized the implications behind the atrocious action he just did. Yes, she was in the wrong but the way he dealt with it wasn’t quite ideal either. Whatever the case may be, she was a woman and a royal one at that. She would have to face ridicule from everyone in her clan if she is caught by anyone wearing that ridiculous outfit and emerging from the guest wing of the palace. It wouldn’t take much of a brain to figure out what exactly had happened and he felt horrified that he put a lady through that all, even though not on purpose.