The Vampire Prince's Toxic Consort (BL)
Chapter 4 The Wedding

The wedding began at midnight, and Emberton was bathed in splashy neo lights, huge and vivid AR projections of live streaming of the wedding, and a din of thousands of people gathering in front of the vast space before Vermilion Citadel, trying to take a peak of the royal wedding.

Elder vampires arrived at the palace one after another in luxury cars to attend the wedding and the banquet. Beautiful people dressed in panoplies were posing on the red carpet for the flashing cameras. Some even brought their half-naked human slaves to taunt the new war-spoil consort that their prince would claim tonight.

It was probably the greatest celebration of the year so far, and yet, the protagonist of the charade didn’t see any of these. He stood forlorn in front of the giant door while two guards stood next to him.

Sherriden appeared from a side door and came to Lucius’s side, “most of the guests have arrived. The ceremony will start soon. Do you need to drink some water? You look a little pale.”

“Not as pale as you, I should hope.” Jibed the human.

Sherriden smiled, “it’s very understandable if you are nervous. Do not worry. Prince Dorian is one of the most good-looking men in this country.”

“Oh, I do not worry about that. You vampires are all rather good-looking.” Lucius swallowed and tried to quash his frantic heart, “I only hope that he is not cruel.”

“Cruelty is a relative term. He will treat you well if you try your best to please him.” Sherriden’s quiet reassurance didn’t do much to assuage Lucius’s nerves. But it would have to do as the organ music began to play.

What’s with the obsession with organs... almost all vampire music had that instrument. Thought Lucius absentmindedly.

And then the door was opened, and resplendent light poured out like a toppling tide. In front of him was a long passage of black carpet covered in red rose petals. Thousands of candles irradiated the vast throne room, and on each side, countless vampire nobles gathered, and they all turned toward him, hearing the door was opened. Stretching their neck, trying to see the holiest man of their strongest foe falling from grace.

Lucius kept his eyes straight and tried not to notice those prickling gazes and malicious chatters. He was not used to all this attention. And though he had wished to be seen more by people around him when he was younger, presently, he only wanted to disappear in thin air.

And at the end of the long walk was the throne sitting on several stairs, and King Cosmos of Eternia sat solemnly. It was said he was one of the oldest vampires, the son of the first Vampire, King Edward Ashdown, yet he still looked handsome and strong in his thirties.

And at the bottom of the stairs stood a man. His Persian blood gave him rich raven hair, deep-set, alluring black eyes, and lustrous sun-kissed skin. He was dressed in full black with gold embroiders hemming the edges of his waistcoat. And his posture was straight and dignified. Though merely standing, there was an ineffable aura of danger, depravity, majesty, and a covert form of seduction about him that drew everyone in like a black hole sucking in light.

And that was the Crown Prince of Eternia, Dorian Ashdown.

His name was not unfamiliar to all people in Anthor, as he was the commander of all eternal armies in the recent war. People in Anthor hated and feared him, seeing him as the incarnation of the devil. There were many rumors about him. Some said he liked to eat human children. Some said he did experiments on all the captives and had a sacred room full of twisted human bodies. And some said he enjoyed hearing men’s screams while he ate dinner. But as Lucius laid eyes on him, he couldn’t help but forget all the horrible stories about him for a short while and was astonished by his devilish beauty.

And Dorian was also gazing at him, a smile hinged on the lip corners. Lucius couldn’t tell if the smile was genuine or not.

He walked up to his side, trying hard not to avert his gaze as Dorian kept peering at him. Lucius had that dreaming feeling once again.

It was his wedding, possibly the most important occasion in his life, yet he felt like a stranger.

The vampire wedding was similar to human weddings, except for certain strange traditions. They had to bite on their own wrist and pour their blood into two small crystal vials, seal them, and exchange them with each other. And then, they had to stand in a circle with runic symbols carved into the ground and vow to be faithful and loyal to each other. Lucius was pleased that he said his vow unerringly, given that he had only memorized it two hours ago.

As the King pronounced them husbands and husbands, the throne room was inundated by cheers and music. The King appeared to be offish and disinterested, though he still gave Dorian a nod, “may this marriage bring us peace and prosperous as you hoped.”

Lucius could hear the satire between those words. So the King did not agree to this marriage?

Dorian bowed reverently toward his father king, “when have I ever let you down? Father.”

The king grunted as he glanced at Lucius. It was a strange look, and Lucius almost imagined he saw pity in those red-tinted brown irises as someone looked at a cattle that was going to be sent to the slaughterhouse.

And then Lucius looked back at Dorian, and for a moment, the smile on the prince’s lips slipped, and a brief coldness fleeted across his sculptural countenance.

Throughout the wedding and the banquet, Lucius hadn’t a chance to speak a word to his husband, for everything went by fast and chaotic and noisy. Vampire’s feast was every inch true to their reputation. Every ambrosial was bathed in blood, and naked entertainers presented extremely suggestive performances while the nobles drank and laughed and even touched and kissed and undressed their slaves and lovers in public shamelessly. Even Lucius, who was not a stranger to parties and debauchery, felt awkward and uneasy.

He didn’t dare to touch any food or drink, thinking it was all made with human blood. And soon hunger was roaring in his belly. He could only hope that the loud music concealed the rumbling sound.

“You can eat some fruits. They are clean, no blood.”

Lucius jolted and turned his head. A very handsome man was standing next to him, handing him a plate of assorted fruits. The man’s appearance resembled some similarity to Dorian, except with longer hair and softer features. Lucius recalled information that an agent imparted to him before his departure and surmised this was Dorian’s younger half-brother, son of Cosmos’s favorite concubine Lady Devina, Prince Silvan.

According to the agent, Dorian and Silvan had a rather strained relationship, for Dorian and his mother were exiled to Levanin because of Lady Devina’s false accusation that the former queen had poisoned her daughter. And though Dorian later managed to clean his mother’s name, the vampire queen had passed away when Anthor took hold of Levanin several years ago. After returning from exile and being re-introduced to the court, Dorian was unexpectedly civil and amiable to Lady Devina, yet there was always an undertone of competition between Dorian and Silvan, as they were both considered potential heirs to the throne.

Dorian’s position was not as solid as it appeared. He was appointed as Crown Prince only because of the king’s guilt toward his ex-queen. Some said the living lover could not compete with a dead one, as memories were always the sweetest. But since King Cosmos didn’t punish Devina at all for her treachery against the queen, how long would it take for her to whisper some poisonous honey into his ear and turn him against his first son?

All the information quickly flashed across Lucius’s mind, and he smiled politely toward Silvan, accepting the plate, “you are very thoughtful, Prince Silvan.”

“You recognize me.” Said the prince surprisingly.

“You and your brother often make the news of my country. And someone like you two is hard to forget.”

Silvan raised one side of his brow and chuckled, “be careful your holiness. If not knowing you were a High Priest, I’d thought you were flirting with me.”

Lucius secretly chided himself for forgetting he was supposed to be his pious and bashful brother and not his frivolous self. He maintained his cool and replied, “I’m only stating the fact. How to interpret it is on you, your highness.”

Silvan tilted his head and studied him with great interest, “I thought priests are pretty dull and boring. You seem different, though.”

“How many priests have you seen, given they lived long enough for you to know them?”

Silvan laughed amusingly, and then his eyes flickered to somewhere on the other side of the room, noticing Dorian was glancing in their direction, observing their interaction tacitly.

The younger prince’s smile went a bit wider. He picked up a strawberry, dipped in the dark chocolate sauce, and put it next to Lucius’s lips, “try these. There is no blood in them; they are very sweet and delicious. I hate seeing the new groom starving in his wedding banquet.”

Lucius tried to take the strawberry with his hand, but Silvan retracted a little and moved it closer to his mouth.

Lucius frowned. Such behavior was rather intimate, but then...maybe it was a norm in the vampire world? Compared to the orgy happening in one corner of the room, feeding a strawberry to someone else was only too vanilla. He hesitatedly opened his mouth, and took a bite.

Just then, someone cleared his throat behind him. Lucius turned and saw Dorian was there, glaring at him darkly. He was way taller when he stood closer, and Lucius felt like he was being pressed down into the floor by his shadow.

“Dear brother, your companion is looking for you. Leaving a lady alone in a banquet is not very courteous.” Dorian said in a deep, magnetic voice.

Silvan smirked, “I should say the same to you, brother. You shouldn’t have left your very lovely consort here all by himself. Beware all the staring eyes. What if someone whisks him away?”

“I appreciate your concern for MY consort. I will indeed always keep an eye on him.” Dorian then moved his attention back to a nervous Lucius. The Crown Prince squinted his eyes, then put a big hand on his chin, tilted his face up, and leaned in. Before Lucius could understand what was happening, something soft, wet, and demanding swept against his lip corner.

Dorian let go of his chin while tasting something in his mouth, “you had some chocolate there.” He whispered huskily and seductively, “I cannot wait to taste you more thoroughly when we return to our room.”

Lucius goggled at him, stunned. Words had failed to come to his lips. Then hotness spread under his cheek instantly.

And then Dorian straightened his back and announced, “my consort and I will retire for the night. Please continue to enjoy the food and the wine without us. The night is still young.”

And in the rumbling, laughing and cheering, Lucius’s mind was completely black as Dorian took his wrist and pulled him out of the ballroom.

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