Chapter 1🦇
He stood at the window in front of his castle and peered at the snow storm outside and shook his head once again at the loneliness of his castle;Lord Salvatore of Hampshire who had spent four thousand years in the castle thought it always lacked company and workers,he shut the curtains and grimaced, they always died or thought he he was creepy and......his thoughts were interrupted by an ear bursting screech, coming from the usually quiet dark forest behind his castle,next to his large garden,he paused conflicted with the thought of getting involved with whatever that was or simply going upstairs to settle in his rocking chair for a nice read,he started to go up the stairs when on second thought be blasted out into the blizzard and arrived at the scene,he caught a glimpse of some wolves were mauling an old woman,attired in a green peddler-like dress,as they dragged her in every direction,her basket rolled free from her grasp and then he realised she had been stealing from his garden before the wolves had caught up with her,he started to go forward when one of the wolves bit hard into her her arm and swung her across, blood oozed out and pooled around the woman; He paused, nostrils flared, never had he perceived anyone as appealing as she,but for his years of restraint and punishment of his thirst,he would have killed her himself,the wolves howled, inviting the rest of their pack to join in for the catch and he snapped back into reality and walked forward,a feral growl rumbling in the back of his throat,his eyes a bloody red,the wolves whimpered and scattered off in different directions,he approached the woman and crouched by her side, he didn't need to touch her to know how hard her pulse hammered,he picked her up,cradling her in his arms,as he did the hood over her head fell off and he found himself staring at a woman that was in fact no where near old,she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen,her hair was a mass a mass of Auburn waves which that framed her oval white almost translucent oval face,her nose stood straight and pointed,her rosebud bow-shaped mouth was had tiny lines of a grimace, and at that moment,he knew he would always want her.
******************************************She drifted awake after sometime,to meet a warm fire,she sat up on the soft bed she had found herself,she looked about the room,it was large and contained two big wardrobes,one cupboard where a sweet smelling luke warm tea rested,a dressing table and a pile of woods, she shook her head trying to recall how she had come by such comfort from the cold dark forest,she reached for the tea when she realised the pain in her arm was gone,she pulled up the sleeve of her dress and checked,the bite she had vividly remembered was gone ,she instantly became intrigued,she threw back the covers and started to make her way to the door when a young beautiful man walked in,he walked with a certain grace,as though he had all the time in the world,he had the palest skin ever, he had no facial hairs exempting his eyebrows and eyelashes,his head was covered in shiny long black waves that touched his neck,he was tall and the neatly tailored luxury coat and suit he wore did nothing to hide his rippling muscles,his silvery blue eyes moved slowly as he appraised her,she watched as a small smile played across his lips and amusement glittered in his eyes, he approached her with a measured gait and asked a question but she didn't hear any of what he has said,her eyes were locked on his face,he sighed softly and asked if she was ready to stop staring, she immediately narrowed her eyes and looked him up and down and he smiled"who are you?"he asked again,his voice light and teasing
"I'm...uhm..... I'm Janet and I i did not steal from you,i appreciate the fact that you helped me but that isn't a medium to accuse me of things i have no inkling about"
"Hmmmn" he mused "that was a very long sentence" he took one of the chairs by the dressing table,sat on it , and edged it close to the door, "Katherine" he began " You do know that lying isn't very ladylike, I know you stole from my garden"
"What?" She muttered stunned by the confidence in his tone,she had made sure no one had seen her while harvested the berries, she stared at him ,her eyes willing him to budge to her version of the incident but he remained perfectly still,his eyes not darting from hers even for a second,she sighed,hands clenched at her side "Alright,i did visit a certain garden,but i didn't steal,i only......borrowed..some of the berries" He lifted a brow
"Borrowed? That's one way i wouldn't put it"
"Fine,i didn't exactly borrow it"
"Katherine,not exactly borrowing sometimes without the owners permission can earn you a very quality time with the constable"
" I...I.I can pay for them if you want me to" she reached for her basket and started to rummage through it for money , suddenly she paused and turned to him "How do you even know my name?" He stared at her the amusement in his silvery eyes shimmering,she rolled her eyes "whatever be that way, what do you want?"
He leaned back on the chair,his lips stretched into luring smile and pointed at her protruding chest. Katherine gasped in outrage "How dare you?! You-"
"It's on your cape" he said calmly,his eyes eerily focused
Her gaze followed the direction of his finger to where a a bright red brooch rested with her name embroidered in gold threads,it was such a little detail that she thought no one would ever notice, she reached up and took it off "So what if you know my name?,it doesn't exactly prove anything,by the way how am I sure you own those berries I supposedly stole?"
"I am-"
"Never mind!" She snapped " I know exactly who you are, you are a pompous,stuck up castle hand, and I don't need your name, neither do I need to explain myself to you" she went around his chair and swung the door open "I think you should work on your manners" she said then slammed the door shut hard.
He listened as she wandered around the castle demanding the lord of the house and insisting that his butler had acted with out proper manners, he sighed and walked out of the room,trailing after her quietly in the shadows, he found himself smiling when she yelled for his master every now and then but then he figured she was bound to get frostbite wandering about the castle all night searching for a nonexistent lord ,so when she rounded another corridor, he appeared before her,his eyes glowing a strange amethyst,he intended to compel her to sleep but her eyes grew wide with what seemed like shock and she turned on her heels to run but he was faster ,he knocked her out before she could make her way back to the previous corridor,she fell into his arms completely limp and he stared at her in what he tried to convince himself wasn't fright, Why hadn't Persuasion worked on her?. The same thought lingered in his mind that night after he had tucked her to bed , derailing him from his usual nightmares
