Heidi and the Lord

Chapter 82: Dark society- Part 2

After Lord Nicholas and Timothy Rufus arrived back at the mansion, Heidi was asked by Timothy to join them at the cellar room. It was located underground; a medium sized room where the three sides of the wall was covered with several bottles. At the center of the room was a table with seven chairs in place. The room had ample amount of light from the simple chandelier that was at the center of the ceiling, holding candles at each interval of space.

Heidi sat one seat away from the lord and two seats away from Mr. Rufus. Since she arrived at the cellar she hadn’t looked in the eye of the lord. He looked different. When she had first laid her eyes on him it took her few seconds to shake her off the trance she was put into by his mere appearance. She didn’t know what had caused in his sudden change of his appearance but if it was possible now he looked more daunting than before. Gone was his bronze brown hair to be replaced by an inky black mane which was cut by the sides while leaving the front long. But it wasn’t just the hair but the small piece of metal that adorned the upper side of his ear.

He looked too good to be real.

Previously his brown hair complimented the mask he wore in front of people but now his looks synced with his actual nature, thought Heidi to herself.

“Heidi, you haven’t taken a sip yet,” Timothy noted looking down at her glass.

“Ah-I am sorry,” she apologized, taking the glass by its stem and taking a sip to feel her toe curl at the bitter taste it left after she swallowed the liquid.

“Ahahaha, is it that bad?” she shook her head at Mr. Rufus’ question, “That’s alright. Not everyone is fond of the zorbeten. Isn’t tasting these also part of her education,” he asked the lord.

“Not all families welcome the thought of drinking alcohol, Tim,” she heard Nicholas speak and from the frequency of his voice she could tell his face was in the direction she sat, “Would you like to try something less bitter?”

She turned her head, meeting his eyes to only be captured by them. If it was viable she would prefer to combust into dust than be stared by him with his unwavering gaze at her.

“Yes, please,” she answered softly without giving it much thought, to which he offered a smile. Getting up from his seat, the lord walked towards one side of the wall while hovering his hand over the green bottles.

“That’s really unfair, Nick. Now is the only time I would wish to be a lady. He is too nice to women,” Timothy commented sulkily to gain Heidi’s attention. He then leaned over to whisper, “Nicholas never shares the bottles on that side of the wall. Not even the head council had the privilege to taste it. The last time he opened it was when one of the Count’s daughter visited few months ago.”

“You haven’t tasted it either?” Heidi asked curious.

“Oh, I did. Just a couple of times though,” Timothy grinned. The lord and the butler did match each other in few things. One who treasured apples, and the other who treasured the cellar of alcohols with what Heidi heard from Mr. Rufus.

Mr. Rufus continued to speak but Heidi stopped listening to him, seeing the lord pick a bottle in one go and bringing it to the table with a new glass. The bottle was half empty when Nicholas opened the cork with his long fingers to pour the liquid which didn’t even fill half of the glass. When the glass was given to her, she leaned forward to smell the aroma that wafted across her nose lightly. She then brought the glass to her lips and took a sip for the flavours to burst on her tongue. It had a sweet taste but when the liquid was gulped, it left a light prickly feeling in her throat.

“Does it suit your taste?” Nicholas asked and saw her nod.

“Thank you,” she murmured. Nicholas had also poured an extra glass for Timothy, and Heidi noticed how his glass was filled unlike hers. As though reading her face, Nicholas spoke,

“This is a wine specially made for vampires. Vampires don’t get high on the ones which are made for humans. If I gave you a full glass you wouldn’t be able to handle it,” he gave a short glance towards her while corking back the bottle, “When you are at a vampire’s mansion, make sure you don’t pick something which isn’t meant for you drink. There have been few cases when humans have fallen prey. Even if we speak about equality, I am sure you know the current crisis between the humans and vampires. For precaution stick to water, most of the humans follow it unless insisted by the host,” he warned her to be careful.

“You are scaring the poor woman,” Timothy frowned seeing Heidi’s guarded expression, “Warren is going to be beside her the entire time. There’s nothing to worry about,” he said to Heidi and at the same time they heard footsteps approaching the cellar, “Talk about the devil. Good afternoon, Warren. Come join us.”

“Thank you for the invitation but I will have to decline. I have somewhere else to be. Heidi,” hearing him address her, she stood up a little worried. She saw him look at her hands that was holding the glass with a serious expression. She realized she shouldn’t have joined the lord and the other man in the cellar as it seemed like her fiance disapproved of her presence here. For a fleeting moment she felt his eyes move towards the lord before looking back at her, “It’s a short notice but Duke Wilford wants us to join for a soiree he’s hosting this evening.”

“I will be ready,” she answered promptly, trying to take up the role as his partner and saw him offer her a patient smile.

“Thank you, I appreciate that. The butler said you received the invitation too,” he said as Lord Nicholas took a mouthful from his glass and gulped it, to empty the glass, “You changed your appearance,” he noted.

“I did,” Nicholas replied with a smile, “What do you think?”

“It suits you,” Warren kept his compliment short.

“It does, doesn’t it,” if one heard the lord’s conversation, they would surely peg him to be a narcissist. But Heidi did agree internally that the inky black hair suited him much better than his natural brown hair.

“Of course, it would. It is his natural color,” Timothy commented to Heidi’s surprise. So the brown and bronze hair he carried with himself all these days wasn’t the natural color? Now that she thought about it, she remembered seeing a family portrait in the mansion with a small boy with black hair.

“Heidi, I had something for you, would you like to join me in drawing room?” Warren asked her.

“Okay,” she nodded.

Before she could walk out of there she wondered what to do with the glass in her hand which was yet to be finished. She didn’t want to waste the alcohol which the lord had opened just for her but at the same time she couldn’t bring herself to drink with Warren in front of her. Nonetheless, she turned back, placing the glass on the table and excused herself to walk outside the cellar with Warren.