Chapter 58: Night out with Dominic Vanhuesan!

“You look beautiful”, Dominic declared proudly as Selena stepped out of her northern wing palace.
Dominic couldn’t tear his eyes of her and was drooling with an open mouth. He knew he was a goner when he found himself ogling her like that. Dominic being somewhat of a player and a lady enchanter had his fair share of the ladies, but never once had he ever been drawn to a woman like this before. Her existence in itself was awe worthy to him and everything she did, even the teeniest of things fascinated him and he was ardently and helplessly in love with the woman standing before him coyly.

She smiled at him, feeling flattered that a man was so proud of her that he was basically showing her off. Gone was her modest gowns, she had adapted with the rapidly changing society and was sporting a simple white, fluffy top with lace and a blue jeans to match with it.
At first, she was reluctant to even form a friendship with Dominic Vanhuesan as he was after all, after her throne and had mistaken his romantic intentions towards her as fake so as to upsurge her throne. She had kept her distance from him, afraid of being played and used as a pawn but he turned out to be sincere in his attempts and soon wore her down and broke every single one of her barriers which she had adamantly set up against him.

She found herself becoming nervous at the thought of a night out with a man, after all for fifty years, being constantly on the run from the royal family and the concubine’s men had put her through a dry space where she had neither peace nor men.

He bent his head and kissed her right hand and she smiled at him giddily.
“Let’s take a peaceful midnight stroll, shall we?”, he said ardently and she nodded at him, pleased.
She didn’t anything luxurious or dramatic and she preferred to keep things simple and he seemed to know more about her than she did herself.
He had assured that their little midnight outing would remain a secret as she didn’t want anyone else to know lest they forge their own conclusions.

He daringly took her right hand and interlocked his fingers with hers and continued walking forward.
He was taking her into far east corner where there was no civilization and it was just them and the birds in solitude. She breathed in the peaceful midnight air and smiled contently at the man waking beside her, matching her pace with his.

She eyed him warily, and hesitated for a second before finally making up her mind to go for it and took the plunge, her heart beats thundering in her chest, “Dominic, I think we should carry on with the duel of the Kings.”

He raised an eyebrow at her, being perplexed by her sudden declaration and she jumped to reassure him, “It’s not that I want to purposefully pick a fight with you. Bowing out of it would render unnecessary suspicions in the minds of both the citizens as well as the council. Besides, I can never truly hold on to the throne if I don’t win it by the duel of the kings.”

He nodded, finally getting my point as well as my intentions behind my words.
“Do go easy on me”, she said wistfully as she knew very well how magnificent his powers were.
He eyed her intently, then romantically tucked a rogue strand of her hair behind her ear and murmured, “I could be the one loosing if it was ever a fair fight for you are more skilled and experienced than me, but there will never be a fight for I could never bear to harm you, my love.”

Selena slumped her shoulders, relieved and smiled at him and he, on an impulse and unable to resist, bent down and kissed her ardently. She froze, taken aback by his sudden attempt at kissing her, and her mind war reeling in different directions, unable to comprehend how to respond. But even before she could even get a chance to respond, rustling of leaves where heard and they both sprang apart and stayed on alert, knowing full well that they were being cornered by not one or two vampires, but a battalion of them.

Selena’s eyes narrowed at the newcomer as she realized it was none other than the royal concubine and her daughter, followed by their fleet of assassins.

The royal concubine scoffed at both of them and said icily, “Oh my, what a scene. This had been your initial plan, isn’t it? To make use of the Vanhuesans to finally gauge the throne of Valyria but poor you, as long as I am alive, that is one thing that will never happen.”

Selena being at the end of her patience, snapped back venomously without even the slightest indication of hesitation or regret, “Well, maybe then you should die. Your death would certainly make this world a better place.”

The concubine’s smile froze on her face, then took several seconds to compose herself before regaining her confidence and sneered back at her venomously.

Selena scoffed at the mother daughter duo in front of her and scoffed at them, “Finally, you yourselves have shown in front of me in a deserted place where there is no one to witness or save you.”

The concubine eyed her warily and spat at her, “You seemed to be misunderstanding, dear. We are the ones with the fleet of army behind us”
Selena barked out a maniacal laugh as she took each step forward, locking eyes with her target.

“From the day I entered the palace, I had only one true mission, to slay the ones responsible for my sister’s death, everything else including ascending the throne of Valyria was purely secondary. You shamelessly murdered a paralyzed and incapable vampire and now it’s time for you to pay for your crimes. Now, as you, have walked yourself willingly to your own death, let’s get down with it today and put an end to it permanently, shall we?”

Vanessa shot a panicked look at her mother while Dominic immediately positioned himself defensively on my side while I narrowed my eyes at the lot of them, preparing myself to murder them in cold blood and seek revenge for my fallen sister. She was determined not to let go of this golden opportunity as once in the palace she couldn’t even a touch a hair on their head because of the council’s watchful eyes and this time, she was determined to fulfill her promise to her twin sister which she had vowed on the day of her funeral.