Chapter Two-Hundred-And-Thirty-Eight
**3rd Person POV**
“What are you doing here?” inquired Kristoff. His voice was mean but Charlotte was not his servant nor was she beneath him so in no way did he intimidate her.
“Would you like to duel for the answer?” returned Charlotte in an equally mean tone. Nathan began to have a mind change. Perhaps, he would have had better chances if Charlotte had not shown up at all.
“I'm keeping the servant,” stated Kristoff. His voice was stiff as he tried hard not to allow Charlotte’s deliberate jibe to get to him.
“He's not yours to keep; he's not some slave or property to be owned,” was Charlotte's response.
“Perhaps he wants to be owned, seeing as he's wearing my servant's uniform and sneaking into my cells,” said Kristoff.
“Nathan, leave this minute if you intend to continue breathing,” commanded Charlotte. Nathan did not wait for Kristoff's response; he scurried away at once leaving the two of them in the dark passage.
The minute Nathan was out of sight the two pounced on each other in a long deep throated kiss. Even while kissing, the aim seemed to be to dominate the other and while Charlotte might have worked with her sword she did not hold a sword here.
“This is nuts,” Kristoff said as he drew away from her. Charlotte cocked her head to the side as though mocking him.
“What?” he demanded.
“You're such a baby. Do your obligations control your life?” she asked in a cruel tone. Kristoff swallowed hard and decided to show her that nothing controlled his life except him. He pushed her against the wall and began planting kisses down her chest.
It was them and the wall and nothing else.
****
There was nothing awkward about Kristoff and Charlotte the following evening when the negotiations began. They sat opposite each other at the long conference table. On Charlotte's right and left were Harlin and Reginald respectively. While Kristoff was flanked with Drieden and another vampire Charlotte had seen several times in the company of Kristoff but had no inkling who he was.
“Before we begin, I would like to formally introduce to you, Lord Akasha, Duke of Constantine,” said Kristoff in a cool voice. Akasha simply nodded a little at the other side. It was clear that he was not a man of many words. His distaste for werewolves was also very glaring.
The werewolves nodded their heads in acknowledgement of him too. They were not going to show respect to anyone who had no visible interest in showing them respect. Kristoff smiled uneasily at this awkward greeting and proceeded with the first round of negotiations.
“We are not open to having vampires on our soils just yet except for official visits and on invitations,” Reginald made his position very clear to Kristoff. The three of them were speaking on behalf of all the werewolf kingdoms.
“And yet, you want to stop the raids in your land?” quipped Kristoff as though Reginald's demand was lubricious.
“We want the vampires raiding us to be labelled criminals. When we make an arrest, your government should acknowledge that the vampire in question has gone against the will of the Kingdom of Dome,” Harlin asserted in a firm tone. He may be younger than all of them but he had not learnt nothing growing up.
“That is ridiculous!” Major Drieden said in a gruff tone.
“What is ridiculous is the number of deaths that have occurred on our soil at the hands of your people,” returned Charlotte, her voice firm and strong.
“Have you any idea how many vampires died on werewolf soil fifteen years ago? We were basically slaughtered! SLAUGHTERED!” shouted Major Drieden.
“I WILL TELL YOU ANOTHER THING THAT IS RIDICULOUS, IT IS…”
“STOP! STOP IT, YOU TWO!” Kristoff realised quickly that this was going to be like a child's gathering with lots of screaming if he did not intervene with a scream of his own.
Major Drieden and Charlotte eyed each other maliciously but they remained quietened down.
“The war caused a lot of deaths on both sides; I would like to reiterate that Dome had nothing to do with it,” said Kristoff. He had been much younger then but he remembered clearly that his father had rejected the idea of going to war with the werewolves to the other vampires. He had cited precedence as a concrete reason to be excused from it and he had been right.
Major Drieden had a lot to say to that but he kept his mouth shut. In his opinion, the Domes were a poor excuse for vampires; they were mere cowards. He sometimes wondered if they were truly purebloods because he could not understand their sympathy for werewolves.
“Very well, but our people will not accept that so for now it is best we are not seen in each other's lands. However, we can destroy the business of the black market and find a way to trade openly with your kingdom at the very least,” suggested Charlotte.
Kristoff found this reasonable. He turned to Akasha to check if he agreed but his friend looked away. Kristoff was semi frustrated but he said nothing. His father had forced him to take the two to the table with him and so he had had little choice.
“We absolutely cannot do that,” said Major Drieden rather strongly. No one at the table knew but he had a lot of influence on the back market front and he was not about to give that up. He knew how much what Charlotte was proposing would dwindle his business. Of course, trade with Dome alone would not wipe out his business but if the other kingdoms saw the money it would bring Dome, they would want to follow suit and he could not have that.
“Major Drieden, is there a reason you are against the trade?” asked Kristoff, a little surprised at his strong objections.
“We cannot trust them. They could poison the things they sell to us in the name of trade.”
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