Chapter 872: Taken By Lord Vespera [Bonus - ]

Chapter 872: Taken By Lord Vespera [Bonus Chapter]

Once the bath was over and Aki had finally been coaxed back out from under the bubbles, the maids dried her off with thick soft towels and brushed her blue hair until it shone like silk all the way down to her hips.

A light touch of rosewater balm went on her cheeks, which were still faintly pink.

Nobody mentioned the word "wife."

Nobody had to... Every time Aki caught one of the younger maids’ eyes in the mirror, the girl would bite her lip and look away very quickly, and Aki would turn even pinker then Mira brought out a brand-new dress made especially for today.

"Phew..."

It was a high-necked sheath dress of deep blue silk that skimmed Aki’s slim newly refined figure with elegant modesty.

The long sleeves were trimmed with delicate white-gold cuffs, and a pleated overskirt of pale silver organza fell from her hips to the floor like morning mist over a lake.

Pinned to her left lapel was a polished platinum emblem for the Castellan family.

Aki turned slowly in front of the full-length mirror and she looked untouchable.

’I look like a Lord,’ she thought, lifting her chin and watching the girl in the mirror do the same. ’Finally... I actually look like one.’

"The Council’s transport is already waiting at the private skyport, my Lady," Mira reported, smoothing out the silver overskirt. "They sent it for you this morning..."

Aki didn’t move toward the elevator.

Instead, she lifted her left wrist and glanced at the slim expensive watch fastened there.

[8:45]

A slow knowing smile curved her lips, so fond that two of the maids exchanged confused looks.

"Tell them they can go back without me," Aki said softly. "My real ride should be coming right about now..."

The four maids blinked at each other.

FHWIP!

A sharp jolt of pressure cracked through the bedroom.

Out on the wide marble terrace overlooking the morning clouds of Rhyx City, the air folded open in a silent ripple of dark violet and Kara White stepped out of it onto the terrace.

She wore a high-collared official suit of midnight-black wool, sharply tailored across the shoulders, and a long sweeping black cloak lined with deep twilight purple that billowed in the morning wind and brushed the ground behind her.

Her glossy black hair fell past her collarbones and framed a pale strikingly beautiful face with a sharp jaw and an air of effortless calm.

Beneath her dark brows, her purple eyes looked like they’d seen the bottom of the world and found it boring.

Her left sleeve hung empty, folded neatly and pinned against her side with a single polished silver clasp.

Kara White had only one arm, and she carried herself as if she’d never once needed the other.

She stepped through the open glass doors, her long cloak whispering softly across the polished floor.

All four maids gasped and froze where they stood.

They’d all heard the stories.

Every servant in Rhyx City had heard the whispers about Kara White... the mysterious one-armed Lord of Blessed Land who answered to no clan, feared no council, and didn’t care in the slightest who knew it.

Kara didn’t spare them a single glance.

Her purple eyes went straight to Aki, standing by the mirror in her new blue dress, and a lazy wicked smirk curved her lips.

"Right on time, I see," Kara purred, her feminine voice smooth and rich with that teasing edge that always made Aki’s heart skip.

She crossed the room in three long unhurried strides.

Before Aki could even open her mouth to say a proper greeting, Kara’s single arm swept forward.

SWOOP!

It slid beneath Aki’s knees and behind her back and scooped the First Princess clean off the floor in one smooth effortless motion.

Aki let out a soft breathless squeak as she was lifted against Kara’s chest.

Kara held her securely with that one arm as if she weighed nothing at all, and leaned down until her lips nearly brushed the soft shell of Aki’s ear.

"And how’s my sweet little Aki doing this morning, hm?" she murmured, her voice dripping with lazy shameless affection.

Aki’s face went up in flames.

The royal dignity of the First Princess evaporated on the spot.

Her small hands flew up and wrapped tight around Kara’s neck, and she buried her burning face in the high collar of Kara’s suit, squirming with flustered delight.

"K-Kara...!" Aki squeaked, her voice muffled against the black wool. "The maids are watching! Put me down!"

"Not a chance, little princess," Kara chuckled, and Aki could feel the laugh rumbling softly through her. "You just survived your first trial. That means you get carried..."

"I’m a Lord now...!"

"Then you’re a Lord who gets carried."

"That’s not how it works...!"

"It is today," Kara said serenely, and tightened her arm just a little, enough that Aki gave up arguing and simply hid her face again.

Kara’s lips brushed close to her ear once more, so quietly that nobody else in the room could possibly hear.

"You look beautiful, by the way. Even prettier than before you left... That’s a little unfair to the rest of the world, Aki."

Aki made a sound like a kettle about to boil.

Three paces away by the vanity table, Mira stared at the sight of her royal mistress being held like a big blushing doll in the crook of the most notorious Lord on the continent.

Both her hands were clamped over her mouth and her eyes were as wide as saucers.

’Sweet little Aki...?’ Mira thought, her jaw practically hanging open behind her fingers. ’She’s being carried like a baby... The First Princess of the World is hiding her face in Lord Vespera’s collar like a shy kitten... Ah... she’s really being spoiled rotten by the Lord of Blessed Land.’

Truly that Silas Graves guy couldn’t compare at all.

Kara finally turned her head and let her purple eyes drift toward the four frozen maids, and offered them a polite charming smile with just a hint of danger in it.

"Thank you for taking care of her, ladies," Kara said smoothly, nodding toward the untouched cake on the table. "I’ll take it from here... And save her a slice of that. She’ll want it later."

POP!

The air cracked.

In a split second, Kara White and Princess Aki were simply gone from the room.

A gust of displaced wind whipped through the bedroom, sending the silk curtains flying and knocking the silver dome off the cake platter, and then the room settled into ringing empty silence.

FHWIP!

A thousand feet above the gleaming glass towers of Rhyx City, the sky tore open.

Kara White appeared in the open air with her boots standing on nothing at all, Aki held securely against her chest with that single arm and her long black cloak whipping around them both like a raven’s wings.

The whole city spread out below them like a tiny glittering circuit board of gold and silver light, framed by pale morning clouds.

Deep inside Kara’s Core, the wind stirred and uncoiled.

WHOOOSH!

A cone of compressed air formed beneath her boots and wrapped around them both in a quiet sheltering pocket that kept out the freezing high-altitude wind.

Kara kicked off the empty sky.

BOOM!

A thunderclap rolled out across the clouds as the wind threw them forward, and Kara tore through the morning sky like a falling star, streaking out over the land toward the distant blue line of the open ocean.

Aki held tight to Kara’s neck with her long blue hair streaming behind them inside the sheltered pocket of air, her eyes wide and sparkling with pure exhilaration as the clouds blurred past.

’I missed this,’ she thought, pressing a little closer. ’I missed this so much...’

Kara glanced down at the girl in her arm, her purple eyes narrowing slightly against the wind.

"Are you prepared, Aki?" she asked, her voice carrying clearly over the roar of the air. "Your father’s called the whole Council together... Every single person on that island is going to be staring at you the moment we land."

Aki lifted her face from Kara’s collar.

The sweet blushing girl was gone in a heartbeat, and in her place was the Lord of Aki’s Wonderland, eyes burning with cool steady resolve and small hands resting firmly against Kara’s chest.

"I’m prepared," Aki said, her voice clear and certain. "Let them stare... I’m not their little toy anymore."

Kara’s lips curved into a slow devastating smirk that seemed to light up the whole sky.

"Good girl," Kara purred, and Aki’s resolve wobbled very slightly at the edges.

Kara leaned forward into the wind and poured more power behind them until the air shrieked around their ears.

"Let’s hope we get there fast," she added, a wicked chuckle bubbling in her throat. "I have somebody to bully."

Aki blinked up at Kara’s sharp confident profile in sudden confusion.

"H-huh...? Bully... who?!"

Kara just laughed and flew faster.

Far to the south, surrounded by the dark choppy waters of the open ocean, sat the island of the World Council.

It was a remote fortress of white stone, sweeping walls and tall administrative towers that housed the highest governing authority in the world.

High on top of the central Council building, hundreds of feet above the surf crashing against the rocky cliffs, stretched a wide stone rooftop terrace.

Standing near the edge of its carved railing with her hands tucked into the pockets of an oversized high-collared grey coat was World Council Number 5.

She had a pale, small, almost perfectly doll-like face, and her eyes always looked half-lidded and bored, which fooled a great many people into thinking she wasn’t paying attention.

Usually, she was stationed in the Sovereign Realm, but today she’d come back to the island for the King’s meeting.

The cold salt wind whipped across the rooftop and tugged at the hem of her coat.

Number 5 tilted her head back and gazed up into the empty northern sky then, without any warning at all...

SHIVER!

A violent icy shudder ripped down her spine so hard her teeth clicked together.

Number 5 froze.

She blinked her big doll-like eyes and rubbed the back of her neck with one small gloved hand.

’Who’s thinking about me...?’ she thought, her brow furrowing in deep suspicion.

SHIVER!

A second shudder, even worse than the first, tore through her shoulders.

The answer settled in her mind with instant absolute certainty.

’Kara White...’

Number 5’s eyes narrowed into two thin venomous slits... It could only be that insufferable, arrogant, one-armed black-haired menace.

Every single time Kara crossed her path, she took enormous pleasure in teasing her, poking at her and generally making her life miserable in front of anyone who happened to be watching and Number 5 knew exactly what was flying toward this island right now with the First Princess tucked under its arm.

Kara White was almost certainly up there planning six different ways to embarrass her the moment she landed...

Number 5 stared up at the distant clouds then the corners of her small pale lips began to twitch.

The twitch spread into a wide stretching grin that split her porcelain face from ear to ear, and a shrill villainous cackle tore out of her throat and echoed off the stone walls like a flock of screeching gulls.

"Kekekekeke...!"

Number 5 hugged her own ribs and rocked back and forth on her heels with her eyes dancing in wicked delight.

’Go ahead and plan, Kara White,’ She thought gleefully. ’Plot all the petty little torments you want... Because today, the tables have turned. Today, I’m the one doing the bullying, and you won’t be able to do a single thing about it. Kekeke...!’

Fifty paces away, leaning against the doorway of the rooftop elevator with arms crossed tight, stood World Council Number 7.

Number 7 watched the tiny doll-faced woman standing alone at the windy edge of the roof, rocking on her heels and cackling like a deranged hyena at the empty clouds.

They slowly tilted their head.

A heavy exhausted and deeply disturbed silence settled over the rooftop.

Number 7 stared at her from across the roof.

’Has she finally gone senile...?’