Chapter 64: The reformation of the Kingdom of Valyria!

For the past few weeks, Selena had been spending most of her time with Caro Silva and her subjects, which rubbed Dominic off the wrong way. He regretted helping her get rid of Vanessa, as she was her only love rival when it came to Caro.

He was constantly bothered by her growing closeness to Caro Silva and now nothing about their conversations felt awkward and forced anymore. They had broken the ice which was separating them and was now the best of friends and Dominic had a hard time from watching these two from afar. After all in their last little confrontation with each other, his grand uncle had assured him that he had absolutely no intention of giving up Selena and it was quite obvious from his behavior whenever she was around him that he still fancied her.
Caro carefully and very slyly wrapped his arm around Selena’s waist to aide her in crossing the little bridge made of wooden planks and Dominic scoffed out loud and yelled frustrated at a bewildered Demetri who was keenly keeping watch for any sign of danger, “Okay, that’s it. I am going to break his finger.”

Demetri eyed him warily and retorted back icily, “That’s your grand uncle you are talking about. Besides, he was just helping her cross the bridge politely like the gentleman he was. Grow up and stop acting like a spoiled, jealous toddler.”
Dominic scowled at him, annoyed that there weren’t any of his men around to take his side.
He missed his kingdom and his people, yet he couldn’t bear to leave her alone out of his eyesight, even for a second.
He missed his home town and he heard from his men that his father was going bat shit crazy and looking for him everywhere. If he didn’t show up within his eye sight in a day, his father was going to declare war on the kingdom of Valyria under the grounds of them abducting and holding their king hostage. Dominic felt that both his family members, be it his own father or his grand uncle was starting to be a huge pain in the ass. He knew he had to show his face to his father before he went mad and declared war, but he was hesitating because he didn’t want to leave Selena alone with Caro Silva at the moment.

His presence in her chambers was still unknown to many and he longed for many to know about their relationship so that he could be with her openly rather than being ridiculously dressed as a guard and following her around, but he knew deep down that may cause her more harm than good and that was a risk he wasn’t willing to take. After all, her rule hadn’t completely settled in yet.
And he wished ardently to be her strength instead of her weakness. He knew very well that their relationship is going to be opposed in open court as first they were the rulers of the respective enemy countries and second, he was younger than her and their relationship was anything but ordinary and traditional to the customs of Valyria. He frowned wondering how the citizens and the council’s reaction would be when they come to know about their relationship? Would they support it or oppose it blindly without even giving a chance? Dominic was leaning more towards the latter as the most probable outcome.

As Selena approached them, separating from Caro to head back to her chambers, Demetri stood guard outside her door while Dominic entered after her.
He stared down at her and Selena titled her head and innocently and asked, “What? Why are you so upset?”
He eyed her warily and snapped at her furiously, “Now did you really have to act so chummy with Caro Silva?”
Selena raised her eyebrow at him and grinned at him as she teased him, “What? Jealous much?”
He rolled his eyes in annoyance at her, being both frustrated as well as annoyed that he couldn’t be with the woman he loved openly and had to resort to such drastic measures as to disguise as her personal guard and follow her around like a puppy.

He snapped at her, “Why are you always with him? I get that he is your counselor and you two have an important job of rebuilding the nation but that doesn’t mean that you have to spend every moment of the day with him. I am sick and tired of watching you from afar helplessly and being unable to do anything about it.”

Selena narrowed her eyes dangerously at him, not quite liking his tone and feeling rather offended by it.

“Dominic, I don’t care much for your tone and I suggest you start acting mature”, she said icily, her eyes clearly warning him not to push her fury any further.

Dominic however was too riled up to follow her keenly and started throwing a tantrum.
“There is rumors going around that the council is discussing to reaffirm the late king’s wishes to see you get married to Caro Silva and seeing how you two get along with each other now, they had decided to go along with that proposal.”, he stated furiously and Selena’s eyes softened at him as she finally realized what exactly it was that had been bothering him so deeply. She too had heard rumors about the council’s intentions to get her wed to Caro Silva but she had dismissed it altogether without giving it any merit, after all, in the end, everything was up to her. After all, she was the empress of Valyria and no one would even dare to force her into a decision that she was against in the first place.

“Do you not even have a midget of trust in me? Do you really think that I am going to let it happen?”
Dominic hesitated for a second before he pouted and muttered under his breath, “But the council….”
Selena locked his eyes with him and repeated firmly, “The council can’t do shit without my permission. I had made that fact very clear to them on the day of my crowning itself. I had assured them that I would listen sincerely to all their advices and suggestion, but whether or not I choose to act up on them is entirely up to me.”
She felt both offended as well as humiliated that he had only the least amount of trust in her when she was a woman who always kept her word. Now that she was with him, how could he let his suspicions get the better of him and question her just because she was working with her ex? She was a vampire who knew how to separate personal from professional and keeping Caro Silva as their ally was the best in the interests of her kingdom and its people and she hoped ardently that Dominic would one day see it instead of just being plain jealous.

Dominic let out a sigh, seemingly convinced by her attempts at calming him down.