Chapter 52: Back to the present!

The citizen’s of Valyria let out a triumphant cheer as they along with Dominic Vanhuesan’s eyes landed on their princess’s form looming in the apple tree over the royal grounds. She was leaning against the tree ever so confidently and nonchalantly and munching off a fresh apple that she had just hand plucked from the tree. Dominic found himself peering curiously at the rebel princess as he have been hearing stories about her since he stepped foot inside the Valyrian territory. The vampires of Valyria viewed her as some sort of god and they respected her a lot.

She landed to the ground on her feet, slyly and effortlessly like a cat and immediately the crowd around her separated to make for their princess. She blew a sharp whistle and suddenly everyone could hear the giant flapping of wings. Dominic found his eyes glued to the blue sky in astonishment and awe as a real life Falak dragon screeched and landed around the first princess protectively.
The Queen smiled proudly at her daughter while the concubine huffed in indignation, not at all pleased by the princess grand entrance while Mr Vanhuesan, Dominic’s father got up from his seat and narrowed his eyes at his prospective threat.

The Queen let out a haughty laugh and turned to the old man and scoffed at him and said snidely, “I believe your son is not king yet as we do have one candidate left whose claim to the throne of Valyria is undeniable……a candidate with the true Valyrian royal, blue blood, my daughter, Selena.”
“A woman…..Since when have woman ruled over kingdoms? They are meant to serve men, not rule over them.”, the old man sneered at the Queen and Dominic shot a look of annoyance at his father’s rude and obscene words.

With forceful willpower, he tore his eyes apart from the red head glaring at him with her dragon by her side and concentrated on his impudent father instead, afraid that his father might accidently offend the queen and create unnecessary mayhem.

Selena having enough of pretending to be her twin sister had refused to dye her hair blonde again when the initial one had run out. She had let her natural red, curly hair grow out and she confidently stood before the citizens of Valyria with her head held high for there were no more secrets about her identity.
“A woman can’t rule a kingdom. She merely isn’t strong enough”, declared the old fashioned Mr Vanehuesan and Dominic cursed internally, not liking where the discussion was headed.
“Don’t you not see the light flashing out of the Blood Sword recognizing her as its owner. The blood sword only allies themselves with the strongest of all mythical creatures and furthermore, do you not see the Falak dragon surrounding her and yet you dare call her a weak woman?”, the Queen spat back icily, not at liking the disrespect shown by the old man to the future Empress of Valyria.
He scoffed at her in defiance and challenged her outright in a loud voice, “Then we invoke the duel of kings. Let the Labyrinth of death declare the ultimate victor. Let the throne of Valyria be up for conquest according to the old tradition and may the strongest survive.”

Dominic winced at his father’s foolish mistake. From having done his research on the princess, he had found out that the princess had survived the Labyrinth of death and emerged victorious with blood sword in her hand and riding the Falak dragon. His father, underestimating her as a woman was probably betting on the fact that she would be too scared to accept the challenge whereas Selena had been already in there and had the experience to deal with whatever was inside the Labyrinth while he would be going in completely blind and lost.

The Queen snickered at him, satisfied that the old man had fallen right into her devious plan unwittingly.
The Queen was confident enough in her daughter’s capabilities that she sealed the handshake immediately without even a second of hesitation, sealing the deal and officially accepting the challenge. Now, ever Mr Vanhuesan was thrown off by her grand and confident gesture. He was betting on her to get scared as no supernatural being had ever emerged out of the Labyrinth of Death alive and sane.
She snickered at him and winked as she said, “And just so you know, that labyrinth is like a playground to my daughter.”
Both his eyebrows shot up in surprise and he shot a dubious look at his son who nodded at him, affirming the fact. It was then that he realized that maybe he had truly underestimated the red head standing defiantly before him.

With a jump, she easily landed on the podium over the crowd and right next to Dominic. At her closeness, Dominic suddenly felt like in a daze while Selena couldn’t be more unbothered by his presence.
Dominic felt offended by her lack of attention towards him. After all, he was a rather good looking guy with a lot of appealing charms but she didn’t even glance at his direction, instead her stormy copper brown eyes were fixed firmly on to her mother and the council members behind her.
“Hold on, who said anything about me vying for the throne?”, she said and the Queen shot a dubious look at her.

“As far as I recall, I remember the council appointing Andrew as the king. Shouldn’t he be the one going forth with the challenge?”, she continued snidely, clearly mocking the council and Dominic found himself watching everything she did, every step she took with an open mouth. Being a player, he had his fair share of woman but never had he ever came across a woman who had dismissed his presence entirely and was confident of her own powerful self and commanded everyone’s undivided attention with just her strong and unwavering words. She clearly was a queen born to rule. When she spoke, everyone unconditionally listened and that was a mark of a great and respected ruler.

Judging by her venomous tone, Dominic figured that she had some beef with the council and she was now playing with them, toying with their desperateness.
She then concentrated on the royal concubine and said in a sing along mocking tone, “And you….if you had played every dirty trick in your book to get your son to ascend the throne you should have made sure that he stayed on it. What was the point if he is going to be dethroned so easily and so pitifully after just a few years of rule?”
Dominic watched with an open mouth as he realized that his otherwise impudent and rude father too was keeping his mouth firmly shut and eyeing her warily. That was the power she held in her hands. Not one among them dared to open their mouth while she was speaking and Dominic found himself becoming more and more fascinated with her.
The princess then suddenly titled her head at his direction and he straightened out his shoulders nervously, suddenly finding himself in an edge.
She pointed at him and said smugly, “And you boy, stop ogling me.”



Dominic almost jumped off his skin when the mesmerizing copper brown eyes were fixated right on him. He wanted to retort back with a classy, witty remark but instead, he found himself ogling her numbly in a daze of his own.

The council elder timidly bowed his ancient head in front of their princess and said in a soft voice, “My child, my sincere apologies for how we have treated you. Please do move past all of that and do your duty as the princess of Valyria.”
Selena turned her attention back to the council elder and Dominic relaxed visibly and slowly regained his lost senses, now that the copper brown eyes had left him.

“So be it. I accept the challenge. Shall we head to the Labyrinth of death now itself?”, she asked challengingly while raising an eyebrow daringly at the old man who scowled in turn at her.
Dominic took a step forward, finally regaining his senses, then bowed deeply to show his respect for the princess and said, “Your Highness, everyone knows that you have already been to the Labyrinth of death and had escaped out of it with barely a scratch on your body. It wouldn’t be a fair fight.”

“And yet it was your father who proposed the duel.”, she snapped back at him venomously and he found himself with a loss for words.
Despite her nonchalant attitude, the truth of the matter was that the appearance of Dominic Vanhuesan deeply rattled her and put her on an edge as since the time she stepped inside Valyria, all she had been hearing was how she might just be the most powerful vampire in the world if it weren’t for Dominic Vanhuesan. The only vampire who had the ability to beat her was Dominic Vanhuesan and she had been waiting for the time when the two foes must meet head to head.

Knowing that he can control anything he wished with just his mind put her in a tense spot despite the confidence she was faking.
She flicked her fingers and blew a whistle and the Blood Sword lighted up once more as it rushed back to its owner’s hands at her command.
Within a blink of a second, the red head before had him kneeling on the ground in front of her with a sword on his neck, yet he found himself grinning like a fool, unable to do anything.
His father cleared his throat loudly and Dominic flashed out of his daze and shook his head vividly as he eyed the blood sword on his neck warily.

“Prepare yourself well, boy! You have two months’ time. By the eleventh of this month, we will have the battle of the kings at the Labyrinth of death.”, Selena declared out pompously and slowly removed her sword from his neck.

He got back into his two feet, knowing full well that though his powers were stronger than hers, she was a better warrior than him. That was much obvious from the ease in which she had disarmed him and had him kneel to the ground before her.
With that she stalked out of the podium, with the entire council and the Queen following after her, leaving only the concubine and her son along with them. The concubine hesitated for a second before following them out, with her son, the dethroned king at her heels, leaving Dominic and his men alone in awe.