Chapter 54: The confrontation!

“Dominic”, Caro murmured, realization dawning in his eyes as he recognized the familiar, bulky figure in front of him as family.
Dominic eyed his grand uncle warily and slipped out of the death hold he had on him. He shrugged it off and took several steps backward and fixed him with a stern glare, having already heard every bit of their conversation as he had been eavesdropping ever so dutifully.
Caro having at last caught hold of his grand, nephew was determined to give him a piece of his mind and put him out of his maniacal plan to take over Valyria. He was both displeased and appalled when he had heard of his plans to start a war with Valyria. He was further more distressed that he had used a celestial weapon against Selena. Now everyone in the kingdom was seeing her as some sort of goddess as she had survived the attack of a celestial weapon but being an ancient vampire himself, Caro had already figured out how she had managed to survive. It was the little handy work of her little guardian of a dragon. The Falak dragon being the most ancient of all mystical creatures had taken the brunt of the attack. And he had confirmed his suspicions, when he come across Selena with her dragon just a few seconds ago. The dragons wings were slightly clipped and his skin was paled down and torn from having born the full power of a celestial weapon. He felt suddenly thankful that the dragon was always by her side.

“Dominic, Why on earth are you after Valyria. Your kingdom is strong enough as it is. You are a conqueror now instead of a king. Don’t tell me that at last you are enticed by your father’s grand dreams.”

Dominic frowned at him and retorted back icily, “I didn’t intend to conquer Valyria, I was merely displeased by its current authority. The people were starving and not properly looked after by the royal family and their king was a useless, blithering idiot who couldn’t even step up to protect his subjects and willingly receded his throne. He is not worthy of the throne and the concubine and her family had been spoiling the riches and culture of Valyria for their own personal use and was shamelessly disregarding their own people.”
Caro snapped back suspiciously, “Then why are still going forward with the duel of the Kings? Now that King Andrew had stepped down the throne and Selena had laid an official claim for the throne of Valyria, why don’t you stop now? I assure you, Dominic that Selena is born to be the Empress. She would be a good ruler. She is fierce yet caring, shrewd and conniving yet considerate. She would do good by her people.”

Hearing her greatness from Caro irked him out as he was already jealous of their relationship.
“I know she would make a good Queen without a doubt”
“Then why are you still going forward with the duel?”, Caro pressed again, agitated.
“Because that is the only excuse I have to be in Valyria to see her”, Dominic snapped back angrily and his grand uncle shot a dubious look at him, not at all believing what he had heard with his own ears.
Caro shot him a horrified look as realization finally dawned on him, and asked him in an incredulous tone as if begging him to tell him that he was misreading it, “You fancy her?”

Dominic nodded peevishly at him, not wanting to keep it a secret from him. Caro Silva was a man he admired deeply and he didn’t want to play any underhanded tricks here just because both of them fancied the same woman, but neither did he have the intention to give up and step back and be a gentleman.
Caro eyed him warily, then spat at him venomously, finding himself suddenly riled up and flaring, “Don’t you think she is far too old for you?”
Dominic scoffed at him in indignation and retorted back angrily, “Don’t you think she is far too young for you?”

Caro opened his mouth, then unable to come up with a witty remark for that closed it firmly.
“Age is a just number for us vampires because we live for years. Her being older than me doesn’t bother me at all. Let’s have a fair fight and I will never long for another man’s woman. As far as I can see, she is not your woman yet despite the both of you having a history together.”, he said snidely and left pompously, leaving a flustered Caro alone, caught up in his own treacherous thoughts.
Of course Selena was rather an admirable and beautiful woman, and her having other suitors was completely normal, he just didn’t expect that his own grand nephew would be pining after the woman he was madly in love with, but sadly didn’t stand a chance with. Caro very well knew deep within his heart, that whatever may, he had his chance with her and he blew it. Dominic might have misunderstood that Caro stood a better chance with her as their past relationship was an advantage to him, but he couldn’t be more wrong as their past relationship was precisely what set Caro Silva at a disadvantage.

Elsewhere, Selena was busy glaring down at her mother, still fuming inside at her mother’s audacity to interfere in her life and relationships like that. Even after coming back, she was strictly staying in her wing and was tedious as to make sure that she didn’t run across the members of the royal family, even her mother by accident. And now, she herself had sought her out, run over by fury.
The Queen eyed down her daughter warily, then repeated for the thousandth time, “Selena, it was for your own good.”

Selena rolled her eyes at her mother in disbelief, recoiled by the fact the even now her mother firmly believed that what she did was entirely correct and honorable.
“You messed around with three lives”, Selena shouted at her mouther, losing it.
She furrowed her eyebrows at her daughter in displeasure, not quite getting why she was so upset about this.

“You messed up everything….my childhood, my life, my love….Yes! I loved him so ardently and yet you had to come in and mess everything up. You couldn’t bear to see your own daughter be happy, could you? You wanted me to remain sad and lonely, just like you. What I hate the most about my sickening, pathetic life is that you are my mother.”

The Queen winced, and was rattled down completely, upset by her daughter’s little outburst of indignation. Despite her venomous tone, the Queen was glad that at least her daughter was still alive and right in front of her very own eyes. She could handle Selena’s anger as long as she stayed within her eyesight. For the past few days, she had been desperately trying to catch hold of Selena, but her daughter proved to be rather swift and nimble on her feet, always giving her the slip. The Queen felt at ease that at least she was talking to her, even if it wasn’t cordial or friendly. Years without her had left an aching in her heart and she was desperate for her daughter’s warmth and she longed to hear one word from her daughter’s mouth for so many years…..’Mother’.
She always addressed her as the Queen and never mother or mom and she longed for a time when they would be close like a real mother and daughter and comfortably share their worries and woes with each other.