The Vampire Ambassador
Chapter 24

When we arrived back at the castle Maya was already waiting on me at the front steps. I took one step out of the SUV and she came running down to me for a huge hug.

"I missed you!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around me tightly.

"I missed you too," I chuckled, hugging her back, "Trust me, I'm not going anywhere for a very long time."

"Good," she said with a huge smile after she took a step back, "When you get settled, come down to the laundry. We need to talk."

"Like a good talk or bad talk?" I asked as we walked inside.

"Good talk," she answered, beaming from ear to ear.

"I'll be there shortly," I replied, still laughing from her giant grin slapped on her face. Once we were inside she went down toward the laundry area and Erik and I went up to his room.

Once I walked in I smiled as I inhaled the scent of his room that I had missed so much.

It smells like home.

"It is home, my love," Erik said with a grin as he walked over to his closet. He pulled out a white button up shirt and some black slacks and began to change.

"Where are you going?" I asked as I sat on the end of the bed. He came and stood in front of me still shirtless and kissed my forehead.

God, he looks so delicious.

Erik threw his head back in laugher and I slapped his stomach with a smile.

"Stop reading my thoughts," I laughed, wrapping my arms around his waist.

"Can't help it," he replied, "I like what I hear."

He leaned down and gave me a long, passionate kiss before pulling away. "I have some stuff to sign and take care of today. Then I plan on taking you to a nice dinner, if you're up for it."

"Sounds perfect," I said with a smile. He touched the tip of my nose with his finger and walked back over to the mirror to fix his collar of his shirt he put on.

"What time?" I asked, pulling my knees to my chest.

"I plan to leave around six," he answered as he ran a brush through his hair, "If that works for you my love."

"I have no other plans," I replied, "I'll be ready."

"I'll see you soon love," he said, walking over to me and kissing my forehead. He then left the room and I decided to run a long, hot bath.

I let the water and lavender bubbles rise to the very edge of the tub before I sank in deep and let the aromas do their magic on my sore muscles.

For once, my to-do list wasn't jam-packed with shit I had to figure out. I did need to call Patrick, but that could wait until I got back to normalcy. The only thing pressing I needed to do was figure out the hell what Maya had to talk about and have dinner with Erik.

And then jump his bones until the sun comes up.

I chuckled at my own thoughts, making the bubbles quiver in the water. I leaned my head back against the edge of the bathtub and took a long breath, reminiscing on what I had just went through in the past few weeks.

I didn't realize I had dozed off until I woke up and the water was beginning to get cold. I hopped out, dried off, and drained the bathtub. I wrapped the towel around me and dried my hair with the blow dryer before brushing my teeth.

I went to the bedroom to grab something comfortable to wear when I noticed a small box laying on the bed. I could read from where I was standing that it was Erik's handwriting. A smile formed on my face as I walked over and opened the box.

There was a set of diamond earrings in the box with a note. I picked it up and began to read.

My love,

I am so incredibly proud to stand by your side as you guide our kind into a new era of royalty. You are the most amazing person I have ever met. I cannot wait to see you tonight, dress code is formal. I have stocked the closet with enough dresses to choose from. Please wear these, I thought you would like them.

I'm so glad to have you back home with me.

-Erik

I wiped a lone tear that tried to escape my eye as I lifted up the earrings. They were dainty diamond drops; flashy enough to catch the right person's eye but not overbearing.

I placed the note in the bedside table along with all of the others he had written me over the past year and the earrings in my jewelry box. I threw on some sweatpants and a t-shirt before I left the room.

I walked down to the kitchen where the chef was preparing something. I smiled and put my hand on his shoulder as he turned around.

“Your majesty!” He exclaimed, giving me a distanced hug, “We are so delighted to have you back. May I fix you something?”

“No thank you,” I chuckled, “I’m just grabbing some wine and glasses. But thank you again. I’ll be back for some of your pie, don’t worry.”

“Sounds wonderful,” he replied, grabbing a bottle of wine and two glasses before handing them to me, “I’ll make sure to let you know when it’s fresh out of the oven.”

“Thank you!” I exclaimed as I headed out the door. I made my way down to the laundry area, which was empty. Maya must have been collecting from other rooms to bring down.

The dryer was running at a low tumble, so I set the bottle of wine and an empty glass on a stool before fixing my own glass. I hopped up on top of the washer and took a sip, wondering what was so important that Maya had to tell.

Unfortunately, my mind still wandered to what I was going to tell Patrick later when I made that phone call. I was sure that he would want a press conference since my kingdom was without a ruler with Johnathan gone.

Would Erik be up for the task?

I shook my head as I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. There was no way I could ask Erik to take on that kind of responsibility for me. He had his own kingdom to run.

You’ll just have to suck it up and be their queen.

I sighed at the thought of those words. I didn’t want to leave Erik again. Hell, I had just got him back.

Again.

About that time I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. I glanced up to see Maya shuffling with a basket full of dirty clothes. I jumped off of the washer and set my glass down, helping her with the huge load.

“Thanks,” she grumbled, “Some of these fighters are just plain gross. They only tell me to do their laundry twice a week. Pure filth!”

“That is pretty nasty,” I chuckled, helping her put the clothes into the washer. She added some detergent and stain booster before turning the machine on and plopping down in the other empty stool.

I poured her a glass of wine and she began to gulp it down.

“Erik has recruited more soldiers,” she said as I topped off her glass, “And no help on our side. We can hardly keep up with just the laundry, not to mention cleaning the bunk house. And it’s like they just roll in the dirt every day for the hell of it and we have to clean it all up.”

“Sounds like I need to put a bug in his ear to hire you some help,” I replied, sitting in the other stool. Maya looked tired. She had some small dark circles forming under her eyes, her cheek bones were slightly more pronounced than usual, and she seemed to be loosing some weight.

“Please don’t,” she said, “King Donovan took me in when I had nobody. He’s been so kind to me and I wouldn’t want him to think I’m complaining.”

“He wouldn’t think that,” I said, putting my hand on her thigh, “You can’t do it all yourself, Maya.”

“Did I ever tell you how I got here?” She asked, looking up at me with those huge doe-like eyes of hers. I shook my head no and she poured another glass of wine for both of us.

“I was in a pretty serious relationship at one time,” she said, swirling her finger around the rim of the glass, “I thought he was the one; my true love. I loved him so much that I moved with him here from back home in Florida. Away from my friends, family, and everyone I was close to.

“He wanted to follow his career in politics. He was big into the council here; he researched them constantly. He wanted to make a big impression on them and hopefully get recruited into an undergrad position kind of like an assistant to them.

“I wanted to get into design school. The college on the outskirts of the city has a well-known program for aspiring designers, and when I brought up the idea to Mark he instantly shut me down. He told me women were made to be in the kitchen or doing other house chores.

“I instantly found out that he wasn’t the kind person I thought he was. I stayed home and it was my job to cook and clean for him every day. When he eventually stopped looking for a job after he was turned down by the council, we were dead broke. I offered to get out and do some job searching, but then he found out that King Donovan was hiring.

“That brought on a whole other scheme. He was so damn money hungry it was like a debilitating mental illness for him.” She took a long drink of wine before meeting my gaze.

“He told me to work for King Donovan and find out all of his secret entrances and everything,” she continued, “He planned to rob him of anything he could get. I played along for a while, but when I had finally saw how kind King Donovan could be I realized I had to put a stop to Mark. I finally went to King Donovan and told him everything.

“We had became friends over the time I had worked here especially after his father passed away. As you saw the first few weeks you were here, he has a hard outer shell to break. Once I passed that, I knew I had to come clean with what Mark was planning.

“He immediately called the council and Mark was arrested. I haven’t seen him since the day he was brought here and sentenced with life for treason and plotting murder against a Royal.”

The room was quiet for a few moments after she finished talking, and I was astonished that this kind, sweet person was put through so much.

"Maya," I whispered, "I'm so sorry that happened to you. Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I don't know," she mumbled as she bit her lip, "I guess I was a little embarrassed. I didn't want you to think I was a bad person."

"I would never think that," I said, putting a hand on her thigh, "Sometimes we don't realize how toxic the people are who we think we love. We do anything for them, and in return we get shit on. It happens; we move on."

"It was tough to move on," she said, looking down, "I thought about him all of the time. I wrote to him. He never wrote back, but it took me a long time to get over him."

"And that's understandable," I replied, "You loved him. It takes a while for that love to die out completely."

"True," she said, smiling up at me, "Thank you for listening to me. I'm honestly so thankful to have a best friend like you."

"Same," I replied, taking a drink and clapping my hands, "So now to change the subject, what did you need to talk to me about?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed, snapping out of her thoughts from before, "Um, so you remember Christian?"

"From the ball?" I asked, "Of course! You dated him for a while."

"So..." she said, dragging out the word, "We never really stopped dating. We kind of had an open relationship, I guess you could say. But then it got kind of serious and..."

She stood up and reached into her pocket to slide a huge diamond ring on her wedding finger. It was a perfect oval shape with several little diamonds all around it.

I jumped up and squealed with excitement. "Oh my gosh, Maya! I'm so excited for you!"

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, "I'm so pumped. I have been making a wedding board on everything I want."

"When did he ask?" I asked, "And how?"

"Well," she chuckled, sitting back down, "We were actually at his castle. Or well, his dad's. It was totally casual, like we had just got done banging and he just reached over and handed it to me and asked."

"You weren't bothered that he didn't get on his knee?" I asked, "I mean, I would have thought that would piss you off."

"No!" she laughed, "When I'm with him it's...I don't know. Just hard to explain. I'm so relaxed. I'm not all prim and proper when Christian is around. I mean, I can be if I need to be, but for the most part it's totally casual."

"I love it," I said, a tear playing at my eye, "I'm so damn happy for you."

"I have one request, however," she said with a smile from ear to ear. I raised an eyebrow at her with a smile.

"Will you be my maid of honor?" she asked. I threw my hands up to my mouth and nodded as the tears exploded from my eyes.

"Oh of course!" I exclaimed as we hugged tightly, "I would be honored."

"Thanks bestie," she said with a laugh, "I don't know what I would do without you!"

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