Chapter 74

74 The Kiss

Anna spent the whole day at the library, browsing through numerous books with Gemma by her side. She sat on one of the wooden chairs and closed a book shut with a look of dissatisfaction crossing her pretty face.

“No book about Demon mark’s?” She found it pretty absurd because out of the thousand books laying on the table, none of them spoke about Demon mark’s.

She glanced at Gemma who was already dozing off due to too much reading and Anna couldn’t help but smile at her sleepy face, she was just too adorable.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

Anna gently carried Gemma in her arms and her eyes surprisingly widened after the little one wrapped her hands around Anna’s neck. She was a little bit heavier than Anna expected her to be but she didn’t mind it and took her out of the library room.

She’ll come back another day to search for more books, but it’s time to put the little one to sleep.

As Anna headed up the long stairs, a maid hurried towards her and instantly let out a relieved breath at the sight of Gemma in Anna’s hands.

“Thank goodness I found her, I was wondering where she went to.” The maid hurriedly said before standing in front of Anna who smiled at her.

“She was with me and she fell asleep.”

.....

“Oh, I can see that.” The maid responded as her eyes moved to the sleeping girl before returning back to Anna with a warm stare, “then I better take it from here, thank you for watching over her, she can be a little mischievous sometimes and I have to round the whole palace walls just to find her.” The maid jokingly said before reaching to take Gemma from Anna’s hold.

Anna gladly gave her to the maid, seeing the maid was actually a free person.

“If you have trouble finding her, don’t hesitate to call me, I’ll be glad to help you.”

“Ah.. that’ll come in handy in the future.” She smiled gratefully and wanted to walk away, but then paused and turned to look at Anna yet again, as though she just recalled something about her.

“You’re the human girl, his highness’s maid am I right?”

She nodded. “I’ve been seeing you around, You’re pretty nice compared to what I’ve heard about most humans, but I’d advise you to avoid Miss Gretta and Lady Letitia if you don’t want trouble.” She whispered, “those two are like two peas in a pod so if you see them coming right, quietly follow left.”

She winked, causing Anna to giggle a little at how funny the maid was.

“I have to go now, it was lovely meeting you.” She hurried back up with the sleeping Gemma in her arms.

Well that was heartwarming, for the first time she had a normal conversation with one of the maids.

Anna smiled at the thought and headed down the stairs, she was thirsty and needed some water to drink.

“Now to find the kitchen.” She made it to the downstairs hallway and wandered past, her gaze mostly distracted by the interior designs and she couldn’t help but admire.

They might be demons, but they surely had good tastes.

She found the kitchen fortunately but there was no one there. She wanted to take a glass of water when her eyes landed on the berry juice in a big bowl and her eyes widened in stupefaction.

“Berry juice!” She exclaimed happily at the sight of it, it’s been a long time since she had berry juice and she couldn’t believe she forgot one of her very best fruit juices. Her mother always made them when she was little on her birthdays and she remembered how she always sipped little by little of it just so it wouldn’t finish.

Glancing around to make sure no one was nearby, she carried a cup from the counter and scooped a cup full for herself.

She drank everything to the last drop and licked her lips at how refreshing it was, and sweet too. It was nothing but a fruit juice she loved.

“Whoever filtered this did an amazing job.” She took another filled cup.

~

In the council meeting, several men were surrounding a long rectangular table with a look of seriousness contorting their faces, the air inside the chamber was murderous but then, a certain glacier amongst their midst looked relaxed, a complete contrast to the situation revolving around him.

“What do you want?” A higher Demon amongst the members finally spoke up, directing his question to Roshan cause ever since the meeting started, the glacier did nothing more but just sit there, refusing to contribute to their discussion.

“You outrightly refused to take the throne and become ruler of Viscarrian, yet you don’t want anyone else to take that position.”

“Agreed, cause it’s mine and I have the right to do what I want with it.” Came his blatant response but one of the members smacked his hands on the table.

“Nonsense!”

“Don’t raise your voice,” Roshan calmly warned, “raise your words instead, afterall it is the rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”

He could see just how much they were restraining themselves from lashing back at him and that was his goal. He really enjoyed making them look like fools in front of his midst, but since they wanted his contribution so badly, why not make the best out of it?

“Alright let’s do it like this.” He sat properly on his chair, his teasing gaze had changed like a flash of light and he suddenly looked dead serious.

“I’ll heed to your words, but you have to do something for me in return.”

The members of the higher Demon exchanged glances, wondering what schemes his highness must be planning again but none of them seemed to have an idea.

“Which is?”

Roshan leaned forward, resting both his hands on the table and interlacing them together.

“It’s simple, I just need someone to tell me what a meteor mark means.”

~

After a few boring minutes of having a conversation with the higher Demons, Roshan finally left the council chambers, he strode past the hallway with his hands shoved into his pockets, looking lost as he pinned his lips together, forming a thin line.

Dissatisfaction settled on his troubling mind like a shadow and he couldn’t understand how the higher Demons knew nothing about a meteor mark.

They’ve promised him they’d do a research and notify him about it once they get an idea but he doesn’t know how long it’d take, he remembered his promise to Anna, he was going to help her get rid of that mark, if only he knew what the birthmark meant.

“Azazel should have an idea since he’s in charge of the limbo, shouldn’t he?”

He walked past the kitchen, only to find Anna half asleep on the table counter with a cup of juice in her hand. He immediately forgot about what he was thinking earlier, as though the sight of Anna had left his mind blank.

“Anna?” He strode towards where she sat, she held a berry juice in her hand and was about to take more of the sweet juice but he stopped her, finding her behavior a little strange.

“What are you doing?”

She freed her wrist from his grip, “I don’t want to talk to you, leave me alone.” She shooed him away, as though she was swatting a fly and she suddenly smiled again, turning her attention to the berry juice in her grasp.

“Are you drunk?”

Her eyes half-closed as she sent a look of daggers at Roshan’s direction, “I’m not drunk.”

Roshan sniffed her drink and his eyes widened as a very faint pungent like scent entered his nostril.

There’s liquor in the juice, who kept it here??

He looked around but there was no one present in the kitchen except for Anna.

“You’re drunk!” He told her, but Anna brushed it aside.

“You’re the drunk one, I just had berry juice.”

“Why did you take it?”

“It’s my favorite berry juice and it tastes amazing! You don’t believe me, here, taste it.” She wanted to feed it to him, but he turned his head to the side and made her sit back on the stool.

He shook his head hopelessly as he watched her subconsciously murmur a few words to herself, words he couldn’t even make out himself.

“You need to sleep, come.”

“No.” She shook her head, “I want more berry juice.” She stubbornly turned away and planned on pouring more for herself, but it led Roshan to carry the woman in his arms and her mouth hung agape.

“You_”

“Shut up.” Was enough to silence the sleepy and drunk Annalise, she instantly kept quiet like an obedient puppy.

He carried her to her chambers and laid gently laid her on the bed, she relaxed to the comfort of the bed and her lips curved into an innocent pretty smile

She was his maid, she was meant to take care of him but it seems reverse was the case on his own terms.

Her closed eyes suddenly fluttered open and she turned to meet the blank stare of Roshan.

“There’s something I want to say to you.” She said, but Roshan knew it was something that wouldn’t be important.

“Tell me tomorrow.” He was in no mood to hear her drunken statement but the stubborn woman shook her head yet again.

“No, I’m telling you now.”

She seemed adamant, giving Roshan no chance to leave and he dejectedly crouched before the edge of her bed, he leaned closer to hear what she wanted to say but instead, she sat upright and her arms immediately circled his neck, pulling the glacier closer as her lips shockingly met his for a kiss.

It felt like everything around them went still at the unexpected kiss, his head went blank and his thoughts faded like a cloud in a horizon. It took Roshan some blinking seconds to understand what just happened.

His eyes slightly widened and he froze in place the moment her soft lips slowly moved against his in a gentle caress. He stiffened like a wave-beaten rock and didn’t move, nor did he respond.

It was only a touch of the lips but there were unsaid emotions that came along with it, emotions that came like the sweep of a sun-rent cloud over a quiet landscape and it took over him completely. He’s never felt anything like this before and his nerves thrilled like throbbing violins.

Why did it...feel so familiar??

He waited, thinking she’d proceed further with the kiss but to his disappointment, she moved back to meet his stare instead. Her eyes glimmered like twinkling stars in her pale face and he restrained himself from kissing her back.

“Be nice to me.” She uttered with a smile before throwing her hands in the air and falling back to the bed like nothing happened. She closed her eyes to sleep, turning the other way to get a comfortable position and that’s when he noticed the bite mark on her neck.

Roshan was left dumbstruck and he didn’t even realize his face had turned a shade of pink to his ears.

She kissed him!