Lurking in the Shadows; Creature of the Night

"I was informed that you are Mr Nolan's wife...right?" Sebastian said to the woman. He didn't know if it was because he had a liking towards Mr Nolan or something else but he didn't feel disgusted or annoyed when he saw Mrs Nolan and Mirabelle. On a normal day, when he meets a human for the first time a disgust and sour feeling from his gut would arise because of what humans did to him many years ago. But with these two, he wasn't feeling any anger. In fact, he was curious about Mirabelle.

"Yes milord" Mrs Nolan answered. "That's good. So what brings you here?" Sebastian asked staring at Mrs Nolan straight in the eyes. Mrs Nolan couldn't deny the fact that the strong presence of the king was suppressing and his looks truly exceeded her expection. No one in their family apart from Mr Nolan had seen the king. All they knew was from the rumors. Rumors that were pleasant and at the same time, not so pleasant. "The king hates people", "The king doesn't look like a human being", "The king is probably a creature of the night, heard he has red eyes", "The king is so handsome, the woman that will get married to him will be so lucky". Those were the kind of things she had heard about the king. But seeing him up close made her wonder if those gossips were true.

The king was indeed very handsome and exuded such manliness and aura that will leave any woman at his mercy but as she took few glances at him, she noticed his eyes were not red. Though she couldn't see it clearly from where she was sitting. She also noticed he wasn't looking at her with the eye of a peasant or with the eye of disgust and it made her wonder if really he hated people.

"On second thought, people can mask their emotions. Just they way people pretend to hate something when in reality they love it, is the same way people pretend to love something when in reality, they hate it" Mrs Nolan thought.

So he could actually hate people and pretend not to. She thought to herself.

Drawing her attention back, she answered "My daughter and I came to thank you your majesty. My husband told me and I myself saw the carriage and guards you brought to my family. I genuinely appreciate your kindness milord. May you live long". Sebastian gave a little smile and said "It's always my pleasure". Sebastian was glad the family was thankful but there was something else that had his attention at that moment and made him less concerned about Mrs Nolan's thanks.

"What's wrong with your daughter?" Sebastian asked and Mirabelle looked up immediately to where the voice came from.

Shocked by the question, Mrs Nolan found herself almost stuttering "uhmm. Your majesty, my daughter is blind. I deeply apologise if she's seeming uninterested" Mrs Nolan thought that Mirabelle's quietness and stillness annoyed the king in some way that's why she apologized.

Benjamin who was watching the whole scene was also curious as to why the girl's eyes looked that way. Like it was covered with scales, making her entire eye ball give off a very pale cream color. Mirabelle was born with Amber brown eyes just like her mother but after she was cursed, her whole eye balls were covered with  scales. Covering the unique color of her eyes.

"Blind?" Sebastian asked intrigued.

"Bring her closer" he ordered and Mrs Nolan quickly stood up and pulled Mirabelle up helping her to get closer to Sebastian.

Mirabelle felt her heart beat fasten as she felt the intense gaze of the king on her while she was standing right in front of him. Sebastian stood up from his throne and walked down to where Mirabelle was standing, just inches apart, he looked down at her eyes in bewilderment. "From birth?" He asked in a tone that only Mirabelle could hear. "No milord." She answered looking down but Sebastian used his index finger to raise her head up to look at him.

"How then?" He asked as he eyes begin to trail off her eyes to every feature on her face. Her brows, the freckles on her nose and some parts of her cheek and her pink lips.

"How could such an innocent creature be punished like this?" He asked himself inwardly.

"I was cursed by a witch milord" Mirabelle answered him.

He creased his brows after hearing her answer. For her reply made him angry. Not angry at her though. Mirabelle felt the aura around him change after she answered. "Hmm" Sebastian said taking a step back from her before returning to his throne.

"It's a shame to see your daughter in this state. Sadly, I have something to do right now. I'd be expecting your husband soon. My garden needs to be worked on." Sebastian said turning his head in Mrs Nolan's direction.

"Oh of course milord. He'll be at your service soon. Thank you for having us your majesty" Mrs Nolan bowed and Mirabelle did the same and Sebastian gave them a gentle smile before standing up to walk away.

After he was gone, Mrs Nolan and Mirabelle left also.