Bambi and the Duke

Leonard and Nicholas had come to the study room in the Carmichael's mansion while Vivian had gone up the stairs so that she could get ready as Nicholas had promised her to tour her with books which was much better than what Leonard had. With him giving his word of her being his sister, to emphasise he meant it, he had promised her to take her to his prized library which had made Leonard raise his eyebrow.

"You don't allow anyone into that library of yours and you promised to take her there?" Leonard looked at the Lord of Bonelake suspiciously, "Tell me you don't like her anything more than a brother would."

"You wound me, Leo," Nicholas faked a gasp, turning his expression to a wide grin, he played with the glass that he held in hand. On his instance, Leonard had opened the bottle of 'Willow 1492' as a sign of celebration, "I find her intriguing but not enough to take her to my bed. If that is what worries you I have no such intention. I meant it by heart when I decided to take her as my sister. My, but I do wonder. If my eyes were set in such ways, poor Leo would have been left heartbroken."

"Right," Leonard replied back in a dull voice.

"You don't believe me? You are aware that I have stolen more women who were married than the ones who were single, aye?" Lord Nicholas stated, taking a sip from his glass, he said, "I am a charming man, a lord who is hard to resist."

A smile came to form on Leonard's lips, he then said, "I have to say I am sometimes amazed at the amount of narcist confidence you have for yourself. You could try all your charms on Bambi and she would still be immune to it."

"And just who was talking about confidence," smirked Nicholas at the confidence he had over his woman or should he say wife now. But then it could be true. Leonard and Vivian knew each other since they were children which made their bond much special than what others shared. If he weren' wrong, he could tell that they were like transparent mirrors trying to reflect each other, "I saw that you haven't given her a soul bond yet," it was no mystery to anyone close to Leo that he wouldn't be placing a temporary bond but a soul bond to bind the girl to his life and in death.

"I should," Leo hummed as he arranged his books in order as he hadn't found before to do it. Most of the things in the mansion was cleaned and maintained by the servants but there were some things which Leonard didn't like touching, especially things in the study.

Vivian had gone through too much in the past few hours and days that he didn't want to hurry her with the soul bond. They had been busy that he didn't want to rush such a precious moment with her. He would bind her maybe tonight, or tomorrow and maybe the day after it but before that he wanted both of them to enjoy what they had now. Enjoy their day as newlyweds than dumping everything on a particular day.

Right now she was his beautiful, cute wife who was shy at the thought of having him as her husband. She didn't voice it out loud but he could read it in her eyes and her movements which he found rather quite endearing. He wondered if she realized how happy it had made him last night by taking her as his wife when she had agreed to marry him.

"I don't why you both refuse to acknowledge your relationship in public. She's already shown enough capability by not only passing the first exam but also showcasing enough presence and intelligence yesterday. I heard it all from Toby," Lord Nicholas nodded his head.

"Have you ever wondered that it might have not been a coincidence that my family was poisoned her in the land of Bonelake before anyone else' could. When we get into the council which is already corrupt and while trying to eradicate and fight against those corrupt people, we end up creating foes that not only puts us into danger but also our family."

"Until when have you planned to keep it a secret? One or the other day, they will find out about she being your wife," Nicholas downed his glass of wine, placing the empty glass on her table he looked at Leonard who was shuffling the books which looked uneven in the arrangement as they weren't assorted in size.

Finishing his book arrangement, Leo then turned to answer, "Only until the second exam gets over. The man named Jamien, he's worked with the black witch," Nicholas tilted his head up as if thinking something before he spoke,

"Funny that is. I had the ghoul follow him but he didn't seem to be doing anything in particular. What did you find out yesterday? Unfortunately, no matter how much Toby sits close by I will only find out what the rest have heard without the intrinsic details."

Leonard padded towards the plush seat and sat down, "There have been bodies piling up in the lake of bones."

"Rise in the level of the lake?" Leo nodded his head, "How many people have you been killing?" Nicholas teased the younger pureblood to receive a small glare, "I should have tutored you on how to take jokes. There had been some bodies that were lying yesterday. The ghouls feed on the dead and often go to the lake of bones to eat, I received the news before the wake of dawn and had it cleared by pushing all of them in there."

"Why?" asked Leonard confused. He hadn't heard about the bodies near the lakes else there would have been a survey taken in there.

"The bodies were beyond repair and the way it was put up was in a pattern as if taunting the dead souls of the lake. I asked the ghouls to take care of it after I made a walk around. Having so many bodies scattered around will only instil fear. I believe they were the bodies from the village which had been massacred," answered Lord Nicholas in a matter of a fact tone which he had done even in the past.

Nicholas didn't want the councillor looking at that particular area as it wasn't something he would suggest. The lake of bones had the souls of people, some known and unknown. The day before yesterday when he had been given the report by one of his ghoul on the bodies being found, he had first looked into the village before coming to the lake of bones to get the dead beings buried in the there.

He was surprised to see his dead father's spirit that stood far which was faint, looking at the tree as he stood waiting for the ghouls to do their job. It was a rare sight to have the spirits surface out as they were dead beings and mostly made of smoke and fog. His thoughts went to the day he had killed Wilhelhum, seeing the terror which is basked himself in.

"No! No! Please don't kill me! You are my son!" his father cried as he dragged his body from the floor to the bed so that he could support himself as blood seeped out of his chest. For a pureblooded vampire, Nicholas found the man to be pathetic. How long had he waited to avenge his mother's death? For what she had to go through because of his lustful desire.

He had the ghouls tear his body out, ripping his heart and crushing the core to have his lifeless body finally lying on the bed. After having the body buried in the cemetery, he had got it removed and throw here as this was where his rightful place was.

But to think that the man stared at the tree with so much amount of contempt made him somewhat smile as if the dead's reaction brought him solace. The tree was where he had put his mother's ashes below it. It wasn't common practice to bury the remnants of the dead under a tree in their society and was strictly forbidden but some did it anyway. It was forbidden because of some said this let the soul wander amongst the living without giving the peace which was needed to move to the afterlife.

His mother, his sweet mother had given up her life for his sake, time and time hiding until she was killed by the people whom he had hunted and killed after a few years. Revenge was always sweet when it came in the form to torture someone.

He heard Leonard speak, "The council didn't go to look at the lake of bones and I doubt anyone notices the rise in the smoke," it was true. No one took interest in the dead not unless they were crazy. Being the keen observers from the beginning and Nicholas who usually came to spend time with the tree, he had come to see the rise and low of the smokes in time. Enough that it had turned to be one of his favourite spots when it came to disposing of the dead bodies.

Hearing the knock on the door, they saw Vivian who had dressed herself to a much suitable attire than what she had previously worn.

Leonard stared at her, his eyes not able to move away from her presence as she stood there with a small smile and hint of shyness. She wore a dress that was light blue in colour which went along with white texture and a ribbon-like white lace that went around her waist to be tied behind delicately. Her hair was tied up with few pieces of the strand that were purposely pulled out at the sides of her face. Her lips looked pink and kissable. For some reason, she looked much prettier than yesterday.

Standing up and walking to her, he leaned forward unable to resist her so that he could leave a kiss on her lips.

Though it had only been a few hours since they had slept in each other's arms, he wanted to take her back and made love to her all over again, "Let me go get my coat," he said pulling back to see the faint blush that made to her cheeks.

Having him kiss in front of someone, that someone being Lord Nicholas she nodded her head, "Yes," she breathed the word.

"You guys make me miss my non-existent lover, Vivian," she heard Lord Nicholas comment once Leonard went out of the study room.

Not wanting him to dwell in her love life, Vivian subtly moved the conversation to him, "Don't you have anyone you like?"

"Me?" Lord Nicholas hummed as if giving it a lot of thought, "I like a lot of them," a smile cracked up Vivian's lips.

"What if you had to pick just one of them?"

"I don't think I share such feelings. Not the kind you and Leo share," Vivian wondered how that was possible. Lord Nicholas was not only a handsome man but also intelligent and smart. He was the Lord of Bonelake who could have anyone yet no one had caught his eye, thought Vivian to herself. Was he the kind of man who didn't believe in love? Vivian hadn't found enough time to know about him closely, therefore, concluding his nature would be rude. She had heard about his past from Leo, not to forget the ghouls and the room where he was in when he was young. Her heart ached for him.

"Maybe she isn't born yet," Vivian gave him hope. What would life be without someone not there to share with? She couldn't think of her life without Leo, without him her life would have been nothing but grey and empty, a void which she wouldn't be able to fill completely.

"That might be so. Until then I shall have my fair share of fun," he winked.

Reaching the Rune's mansion, as promised, Lord Nicholas took her to his secret library which according to Leonard he didn't let anyone in there. The library wasn't big but a narrow dark one. Not more than five could be in this place as it would only cramp the space and be difficult to move around. The three sides of the walls were stacked with books, two lanterns hanging to give enough light for one to read through and search a book. To allow her, she felt somewhat special. Though Lord Nicholas didn't let her touch one section of the books which was locked in a glass case, her eyes being curious drifted to it until Lord Nicholas asked her,

"Wondering why those are locked?" Vivian didn't nod her head and saw Leonard standing at the entrance of the library where he was leaning against the wall by his side.

"Leo has something like that too," at Vivian's words Leonard didn't respond but he couldn't help but think that she had noticed it.

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