Chapter 192

192 Lodging

“When will we reach the capital of Xanmar?” Anastasia asked Caspian as they walked out of their temporary castle.

Caspian took out his pocket watch from the waistcoat pocket. He looked at it. It was 6 AM, the exact time they were supposed to start their journey in. “If we stick to the schedule and don’t face any interference, then we should reach there by 4 in the evening.”

“The coronation ceremony is in the evening?” Anastasia asked the most important question. In all the excitement, she had forgotten to ask about it.

Caspian adjusted the collar of his shirt and answered the Queen, “The letter said that the ceremony will formally begin at 11 AM. But I don’t know if the crowning will be done at that time or not. Whatever the case, we should reach there for the celebratory ball.”

“Ah! We are going to miss most of the ceremony then...” Anastasia let out a quiet sigh. She had hoped that she would get to spend at least some time with her brother. But it already seemed like she would just get to wave her hand at her brother and nothing more.

Caspian saw the sadness on her face even though Anastasia was not trying to show it. He didn’t want his wife to think that they were going to be late because he had planned for them to be late.

So, he made her aware, “The letter arrived a bit late for us. Else I had no problem staying there in Xanmar for a night and attending the ceremony from the morning.”

Anastasia took a quick peek at her husband and then smiled. “No, that wasn’t my concern. It’s just that, I thought I could spend a considerable amount of time with my brother. But it looks like I will have to keep the meeting short.”

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She heaved a sigh and asked her husband, “We are returning today itself, right?”

.....

“Yes, that’s what I have planned for now.”

Caspian and Anastasia had reached in front of their carriage.

Caspian gestured for the coachman to open the door for them.

Anastasia gave her hand to Caspian so that she could easily get inside the carriage. She took the same window seat as yesterday.

Caspian also climbed inside the carriage after his wife. He sat beside Anastasia, and then he ordered everyone to commence the journey immediately.

The coachman closed the door of the carriage. All the others also got ready to begin the journey. And when royal guards started to run at the front, all the coachmen instructed the horses to pull the carriage forward.

The soldiers who were under the supervision of Sergeant Nicholas had surrounded the carriages from all sides. They were maintaining a distance though so that when they entered the border of Xanmar, the werewolves wouldn’t be alerted of the presence of the Vampire King in their territory.

Nicholas was running at the forefront, by the side of three of the royal guards. He asked them while running, “You all remember, right? The moment we step foot in Xanmar, we cannot run like this. We don’t know who can keep up with our speed. We don’t want them chasing after us.”

“Yes, we remember. We are going to hire the horses and ride them,” Rupert answered the Sergeant and then picked up his speed.

Inside the carriage, Caspian had wrapped Anastasia in her shawl like yesterday although she was saying that she wasn’t cold yet.

He then took her hand in his and picked up the conversation that they were having earlier, “If you want to spend more time with your brother then I will see what I can do. If we can find a good place to spend the night in, we might as well stay there for a night and return home tomorrow morning.”

Anastasia looked up at her husband’s face with a wide smile. “Really?” She leaned her head on his shoulder and happily thanked him. “I am looking forward to it then. But I don’t think we need to be worried about the place to stay in. I am sure that Everard won’t let us be stranded after inviting us all the way to his Kingdom. There must be guest quarters in his castle.”

Needless to say, Caspian wasn’t amused by that idea.

Even if he was to spend the night in the werewolf territory, there was definitely no way he was going to stay in the beacon of the enemy territory any longer than he needed to.

Even though the werewolves weren’t planning to trap him and his fellow vampires, staying there in the castle meant giving them a chance to try that.

‘We will be at a great disadvantage if they were to do something,’ Caspian thought to himself. Keeping that in mind, he said to Anastasia, “Let’s see how things go first. If everything goes well then we will discuss that later on.”

The smile from Anastasia’s lips faded a little. She wasn’t sure why her husband sounded skeptical, and she wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘if everything goes well’.

After pondering upon it for a while, she concluded that her husband was a little jealous when she was talking about Everard so freely. So, she decided not to take Everard’s name during the journey. She didn’t want her husband to have even the slightest doubt about her relationship with Everard.

And in her heart, she swore to herself, ‘I should make sure to keep my distance from Everard while I am there. Caspian gets jealous very easily. I don’t want to fuel his jealousy further and give him the wrong idea by taking too much of Everard’s time. Yes, let’s keep the talk short; that is if I get an audience with Everard in the first place. And let’s not insist on staying there in his castle.’

“What are you thinking?” Caspian asked Anastasia as she went silent after he said that they would discuss the lodging later. “You aren’t mad at me, are you?”

Anastasia was brought back to reality from her deep thoughts. She held Caspian’s arm and snuggled with him. “Why would I be mad at you? I’m not.”

“Are you sure?” Caspian leaned down to get a peek at his wife’s face.

She looked at him and smiled. “Yes. I was just thinking that since Everard hadn’t invited us to stay there, it wouldn’t be nice of us to invite ourselves in. If Alexander isn’t returning to Lavinya tonight, then we can find somewhere to stay at. Or maybe, we can invite my brother to come with us right away, if he doesn’t mind skipping his classes for a few days.”

Caspian was very happy to hear everything that Anastasia said, especially the part where she said it wasn’t good to stay at Everard’s castle.

“Okay, we can try inviting your brother then,” he replied. That was the option that Caspian was most comfortable with since it didn’t involve staying a night in the enemy territory.