If waking up had been hard in her comfortable bed before, then the bed she was in now made it practically impossible. [Y/n] felt as though she was swimming in a veil of warmth and security. Her room was... amazing. Huge, filled with priceless ornaments of gold and platinum, painted ceramics and silk banners. The four poster was twice the size of any large double bed she'd ever seen before - she wondered if this sized bed even had a name.

Two knocks sounded at the pine double-doors, causing [Y/n] to lethargically sit up and pull the cashmere dressing gown that had been left on the side for her over her figure. She walked over to the door, tiredly pulling it open.

"Good to see you again, [Y/n]," a lazy, pitchy voice drawled at the other side of the door. [Y/n] froze, immediately going to shut the door on the raven haired man, though it was futile as he kept the door open with his foot. "My, how rude. Olli was the one who requested I come here in the first place so don't think I came here by my own free will," Rayne rolled his eyes. "Speaking of which... I couldn't find him. Is he in here with you?" the doctor questioned. [Y/n] slowly shook her head.

"I'm here," Olli responded from behind Rayne, causing the male to turn around and dip his head to the king. Had he been following the whole time? Probably.

"Alright, [Y/n], come with us," Rayne said shortly, beckoning for the girl to follow. She pulled her dressing gown closer to herself, casting an unsure look at Olli, who gave her a small nod. With that, [Y/n] sucked in an anxious breath and followed, allowing the king to lead the way with Rayne only a step in front of her. She was glad the doctor didn't pressure her to walk in front of him - she felt much safer behind the two of them.

Quite quickly did they arrive at a small white room, a single bed in the corner. It looked like a medical office. She supposed it made sense that Olli would have his own room to have his wounds treated. Rayne beckoned for [Y/n] to seat herself on the bed - she hesitated once more, though ultimately did as he'd suggested. Rayne slipped his bag from his shoulder, removing a few objects from it.

"I assume you don't want me to see you every day," Rayne muttered, looking at [Y/n], "and frankly, I'd rather not see you either. So I've decided to teach Olli how to extract your blood," Rayne explained with a bored look on his face. He looked over at Olli. "Ever used a needle before?"

"I was trained in basic medicine around 300 years ago, but I'm sure things have changed since then. I admit my memory of that time is also relatively fuzzy," he hummed, looking at the needle Rayne held in his hand. Rayne nodded and Olli approached [Y/n], a sympathetic look on his face. He had only ever had one injection - it had merely been a booster just before a battle - and he'd remembered how much he disliked it.

"You should have no problem finding a vein," Rayne said, harshly snatching [Y/n]'s wrist, much to her displeasure. Olli nodded his head, as Rayne beckoned to the vein that would be best to use on the back of her hand. "I want you to try and push this needle into that vein," Rayne explained. The needle was connected to a long tube which then connected to a blood bag. Olli took the needle with a clear amount of hesitance, looking at [Y/n] apologetically as he took her hand from Rayne, far more careful than the doctor had been. He was a completely different man to the one she'd imagined after their first meeting. Expectations vs realities, perha—

Whatever [Y/n] had just been thinking about immediately disappeared from her mind as the feeling of the needle being pushed into the back of her hand jolted her to a start — she had to fight every instinct to bat Olli away and run to whichever corner she could find. Though Olli was clearly not enjoying the experience either, Rayne didn't seem to care in the slightest. He glanced over now and again, but he seemed busy scribbling something down in a notebook.

[Y/n] watched her blood fill the needle and travel down the tube, slowly dripping into the bag (which Rayne had hooked on the side of the bed as he didn't bring an IV stand). She felt faint just at the sight of it, but kept herself sitting up, not allowing herself to slouch forwards (as much as she wanted to). Olli rested her hand on her lap, looking over at Rayne.

"Is that all I need to know?" he questioned. Rayne looked up from his notebook and shrugged.

"Guess so," he shrugged. For the amount of excitement he'd had leading up to this, he seemed pretty disappointed now. What had he been expecting? To suddenly awaken some dark side of the king that he could twist and mould to his will? Nah, Rayne knew that was obviously completely impossible. So, had he wanted to see [Y/n] again? Obviously not. Why had he been excited in the first place? No one knows. Not even him. It seemed to [Y/n] that he was contemplating this very phenomenon now as he held his chin in his hand in a thoughtful pose, his brows knitted. It was an unusually somber look for the eccentric, unpredictable man. Though is anything unusual if your entire personality is completely implacable?

"Something on my coat?" Rayne questioned pointedly, sending [Y/n] a small glare. She averted her gaze from him to the needle that rested in her hand. What did he even mean by that? There was always something on his coat. Blood, some chemical stain, or some other fluid from a test subject or a test. The blood bag was now half full. 'Nearly there,' [Y/n] thought to herself, watching her blood drip into the bag.

"You can leave now, Rayne," Olli hummed, sending a glance over to the contemplative doctor. Rayne stared at him for a moment before nodding and leaving the room. His footsteps could be heard retreating down the maze that was Olli's abode, clearly confident in where he was going. That left [Y/n] and Olli in the room on their own. They sat in silence for a bit as [Y/n]'s blood continued to be drained. At last, the bag was full and Olli was able to take the needle out of [Y/n]'s hand; somehow this was more painful than it being inserted - [Y/n] couldn't keep in a small yelp of distress, which Olli responded to by apologising a few times.

The pair stood up, Olli fetching the blood bag from its hooked position. [Y/n] wobbled a little, her vision swaying, watching as the king placed the bag on the side and called a butler in to take the needle and tube to clean them. And then, with little warning, [Y/n] went tumbling forwards - her dizziness nearly brought her to the ground but Olli was quicker, carefully steadying the girl and bringing her upright once more.

"Are you alright?" he asked quickly, his hands holding her upper arms to keep her steady. [Y/n] let out a slightly unaware nod. He noticed that she was paler than usual, so kept ahold of her as he walked her to their next destination. "You must eat. Do you like duck?" he questioned. He knew about human food merely from having lived so long, though he didn't know whether [Y/n] would have the same royal tastes that he'd heard so much about.

"I've... never had it," [Y/n] said quietly. Olli seemed a little surprised.

"Calen went to the human world a while ago and was trained to be a chef. I believe he worked in what humans know as a Michelin star restaurant?" Olli mused. [Y/n]'s eyes widened a little. A vampire, who can't even taste human food properly, becoming a Michelin star restaurant chef? It seemed preposterous. A butler pushed open a large set of double doors for the two of them, leading them to their seats on a terrifyingly large banquet table. On Olli's side was a mere glass of red wine (though only the smallest taste), but on [Y/n]'s was a full set of cutlery and crockery, simply awaiting the food.

The pair seated themselves, silent for a moment. Olli swirled the splash of wine in his glass, taking the smallest of sips before looking over at the butler nearby and giving a subtle nod - the butler proceeded to fill Olli's glass to an ordinary level, before taking the bottle away and waiting quietly in the far corner of the room.

"Have you tried wine before?" Olli questioned. [Y/n], rather awkwardly, shook her head.

"No... I've tried a few spirits, though," she said softly. Olli mused over her words for a moment.

"Would you like some?" he asked, gesturing to his glass of wine. [Y/n] politely shook her head with a 'no thank you, but I appreciate the offer,' before settling back into silence. This was rather awkward, and it stayed that way for about five minutes before a smiling blonde wearing food-stained chef's attire waltzed into the banquet hall like he owned the place, making a beeline for [Y/n].

"A pleasure to meet you, [Y/n]," he smiled, "my name is Calen." He served her food, taking the ornamental plate away (which had only been in the place of her actual plate for aesthetic purposes) and placing a beautifully presented dish of roast duck and pear before her, glazed with something very sweet smelling, though she couldn't quite work out what. He also placed down a drink of what looked to be an apple and pear pressé, before turning his gaze back to [Y/n]. "Is there anything I can get you on the side? Oh, and do tell me if you don't like this particular meal, I'd be more than willing to make you another."

"Oh, no, this is wonderful, thank you very much," [Y/n] said, her words fast and almost stumbling over one another. How had she gone from being tortured to having food personally served by a Michelin star vampire chef? Sheer madness, [Y/n] realised. But... isn't this 'dinner'? Hadn't she just woken up? She had a look around the room for a clock, but failed to find any. "Um... d-do you know the time?" [Y/n] asked a little nervously to whoever answered her.

"It's around 7pm," Calen said with a smile. [Y/n]'s eyes widened. 7pm?! Had she slept through a whole day? "Well, I'll leave you to it," Calen hummed, beginning to walk away. "Send someone for me if you need me!" he called, waving his hand as he left.

[Y/n] stared after him for a little while. He'd seemed so strangely familiar. She shrugged the thought away before cutting a small slice of the roasted duck, watching as it fell apart with such tenderness and succulence that the girl had never seen before. She had a small mouthful to start, allowing the burst of flavour to settle on her tongue for a moment.

"Do you like it?" Olli questioned, tilting his head at [Y/n]. She looked up at him after finishing the mouthful with a bright smile.

"It's amazing!" she said excitedly, a brightness to her that had been gone for quite some time. Olli smiled at this, though there was something on his mind. Something he needed to know about.

"[Y/n]," Olli hummed, looking into his glass, "earlier you inquired about Nyais," he said quietly. [Y/n] stopped eating for a moment, looking down at the plate of food before raising her gaze to meet Olli's. She nodded her head. "How much did you know about him?" Olli questioned.

"Very little... I know he doesn't like Rayne, and I know he was married to Leya, but she died during childbirth," [Y/n] said. "He never really told me anything about himself. I assume it's because he's not proud of who he was," she sighed.

"I intend to tell you the truth about him," Olli said calmly, "so you can decide for yourself whether he is someone you think you should trust." [Y/n] paused. What did that mean? "And, if you are willing to continue trusting him, I will do all that is in my power to allow you both to stay by one another's sides." [Y/n] nodded. "He and Leya... they were a power couple, Leya being almost as strong and intelligent as Nyais himself. There was a third party to their relationship, too. Their friend, Dr Rayne."

"I had a hunch..." [Y/n] whispered. "I saw him in some of Nyais' old drawings." Olli nodded his head.

"He and Rayne knew one another before Nyais knew Leya. In fact, Rayne was the one who introduced them," he said, taking another sip of his wine, "but their friendship began to grow unstable, especially after Nyais' marriage to Leya. Rayne's work began to become less about healing people and more about learning as much as he could about humans - his sanity was slowly slipping, and so was his view of Nyais and Leya, both of which he loved very deeply." He sighed, placing the glass down on the table. "At one point, Rayne decided he couldn't continue to be a third party. So, he decided to make a choice between Nyais and Leya — he chose favouritism over Nyais." [Y/n] furrowed her brow. "So, Rayne had an affair with Leya, and she died of childbirth."

[Y/n]'s eyes widened. Leya and Rayne had an affair?

"Nyais found out about their affair merely days after it had happened," Olli continued, "and left the two of them in a fit of rage. For the nine months of Leya's pregnancy, Rayne had broken her psychologically, and physically for the last two. Leya came to me shortly before having her child, asking me to protect it. I had a hunch as to what Nyais would do when the news of Leya's death reached him, so I took the child and preserved him in the royal crypt to be given to another group in a few years time. As predicted, Nyais killed every child in the kingdom, and then found Rayne with the intention of killing him, too. He, for some reason, couldn't manage, though he did torture Rayne to the point of making him the man he is today."

[Y/n]'s mind couldn't come away from how matter-of-factly Olli had declared that the man she thought she loved had massacred hundreds of children. Though she wasn't entirely surprised that Nyais might've tried to kill Rayne — hell, if she was stronger she'd probably have a go at it too — but the murder of hundreds of innocent children? For what reason? To make sure his wife and ex-friend's illegitimate child was dead? [Y/n]'s hand covered her mouth as suddenly her appetite faded away.

"The child..." she whispered. Olli looked away. "Did it survive?"

"Yes," Olli nodded his head. "The royal crypt is made up of fluid crystals, which provide the essential conditions for a vampire to live, though they also stop every other process. It's as though they have been frozen in time... all passing monarchs decide to be placed in one of those crystals before they truly die. It's merely tradition," Olli explained. "Years later, after Nyais was definitely confirmed to be sane, the child was placed with five others as per usual. He grew up with them and now, without either of their knowledge, works under his father."

[Y/n] paused. But his father was Rayne. There are only two people who work under Rayne, and both of them... she placed her hand on her head. And, of the boys, there were only two who didn't know the names of their fathers yet. Draka, and...

"Aytsa?" [Y/n] said quietly. Olli nodded his head.

"You mustn't speak a word of this to anyone," Olli said quietly. [Y/n] nodded her head, her gaze fixed on the food before her. Though she no longer felt any hunger, it would be an insult to the chef to leave this much, so the girl once again allowed herself to indulge in a luxury she wondered whether she even deserved.