I asked our lovely maids to bring the suitcases of our guests to their rooms while I guided the guests themselves to the salon where they would get a little bit to drink while we waited on a light lunch to be served for us.

  While we were walking over there, Ilse was hanging on my arm with the rest of the family behind us as Alessia entertained Em’s father for a bit.

  “This is a very beautiful chateau.” Ilse commented, looking around at the rich decorations in the hallways we were walking through.

  “It definitely is.” I replied, tracking her gaze so I could see what details she was looking at. “I always get mystified when I walk through these halls too, and the rooms are just as impressive. There’s just so much history in all those details. Not only how they look but also the craftsmanship and the work hours behind it all.”

  Ilse took a break from looking around her and instead fixed her gaze on me with a bright smile.

  “W-what’s wrong?” I asked as her gaze made me rather subconscious, even more so as my mind linked her gaze to a look Em would occasionally give me too. You could definitely tell they were mother and daughter.

  Ilse’s smile deepened. “Oh, nothing.” She hummed happily and while getting back to looking around the hallway.

  Even though her reply literally said nothing, that ‘nothing’ nonetheless managed to make me blush up quite a bit.

  “Auro, could you stop flirting with my mom, please.” Em commented in response.

  “I ain't flirting with no one.” I protested. “I’m innocent.”

  That only managed to make Ilse giggle and Ria, who was walking directly behind me, joined her in that.

  I rolled my eyes and guided the group the last little bit into the salon. The wood fire was already burning making it feel rather cozy once we walked in.

  “Want to sit by the fire, Ilse?” I asked.

  “That would be lovely, Aurora.” She smiled.

  I then walked her towards one of the larger sofas near the fire and sat her down. “They will come soon with some tea. Is white tea good for you?”

  She nodded. “I’m not going to complain about that.”

  I nodded back with a smile and looked at what the others were doing. Karin and Em sat down next to their mom while Ria stayed standing by my side. As for Alessia, she was discussing something with Em’s dad. From the sound of it they were discussing something about economics but that went a little too over my head for the moment. There were two notable people missing from the room however.

  “Aren’t you going to sit down, Rora?” Ria bumped into me ever so slightly.

  “No, I’m fine standing up for the time being.” I smiled back. “Don’t wait for me to take a seat.”

  Ria smiled and took my hand, walking over to the smaller sofa and then pulling me down next to her. Much to the amusement of our three onlookers in the other sofa.

  “Ria…”

  “Shush.” She silenced me rather quickly. Pulling my gloved hand into her lap. “Weren’t Aileen and Viktor also going to come?”

  I nodded again. “Yeah. I honestly thought they would be here. At least that was the plan.” As I saw Alessia looking over, I gave her a slightly confused look and somewhat subtly gestured towards the room.

  She pulled the corner of her mouth down a little and gave me a quick subtle shrug in return. So Alessia also didn’t know where they were.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “If only that’ll end well for them later on...” I vividly remembered them talking about Alessia giving them nightmares. So I hoped they had a good explanation on disappearing on us.

  “I’m sure they have a good reason.” Ria remained a positive influence in the room.

  Before we could continue the conversation, a knock on the door signaled that the tea was going to be brought in. I had noticed it the day before when Alessia was going over everything and she had told me that she asked the staff to always knock before walking into a room with hot beverages. Because a lot of the doors often remained closed, it was always better to knock first and warn people on the other side of the door before you accidentally run into them with hot tea. Even though in this case the tea was brought in on a cart, I still found it a rather good idea.

  It was Rosemary who went around the room serving beverages to everyone. She had delegated the task of the luggage to the others so she could help with the food and drinks.

  As Em’s dad and Alessia had come to stand next to us, it was our group that was being served last.

  “Rosemary, would you perhaps know where Aileen and Viktor are?” I asked right as she was pouring me some ‘special’ iced tea.

  “I do.” She nodded.

  “Really?” Alessia looked just as surprised as I was.

  “A little accident happened in the kitchen concerning the cake so misstress MacInally and master von Sachsen have proposed to go to the village to get a quick replacement. The bakery was about to close so they had to leave in quite a hurry.”

  “See, I told you they had a good reason.” Ria smiled and gently leant into me while sipping from her own sweet tea.

  “You did.” I smiled back and laid my hand on her thigh.

  As this left me without plenty of free hands, Rosemary put my tea on the little salon table in front of me. “I’m sorry, I probably should have notified you about it, my lady. I only found out about it when I got to the kitchen myself though.”

  I quickly waved away the apology. “Don’t worry about it. We were just wondering where they were. Do you think they will stay away for a long time?”

  “I don’t think so. They went on foot.”

  “On foot?” Em’s dad asked, he tilted his head a little. “That village is almost fifteen minutes away by car, isn’t it?”

  “Ah, Dad…” Em started. “Vampires aren’t just practically immortal. They are really fast too.”

  “Very fast, actually.” It was Aileen’s voice coming from the opened door to the side. “My apologies, we are a little bit late. We didn’t want the cake to get mushed on the way back.” Aileen draped her coat over one of the free chairs on the other side of the room and then took the box that Viktor was holding in his hand.

  “Oh…”

  Aileen didn’t wait for the confusion on Em’s father’s face to disappear before she walked over to him to give him a handshake. “The name is Aileen MacInally, nice to meet you, I’m basically Aurora’s big sister.”

  I tried to raise a finger in objection but she was kind of right so I decided to just nod along. I mean, if Alessia was my mom, then Aileen and Viktor definitely were my siblings.

  Viktor sat down the box of cake on the table and also went to Em’s dad to shake his hand. “And I am Viktor von Sachsen. Basically Aurora’s brother.”

  “And…” I made a circling motion with my hand.

  “And…?”

  I then pointed at my neck.

  “Ah… and I am also the reason why Aurora is a vampire. Sowas kann halt mal passieren…”

  “Oh, right. Aurora did tell us about that. She also threatened you with a baseball bat, didn’t she?”

  Viktor puffed his cheeks a little and looked at me. “You did tell them about that?”

  “I think the baseball bat is a very important part of our relationship. It would be amiss of me not to mention it.”

  Ilse chuckled. “Well, it is nice to finally meet the both of you in real life.”

  “Likewise, madam.” Aileen nodded friendly and then went over to Ilse to give her a kiss on the cheek.

  “And don’t worry, Helen will be here for dinner.” Em’s mom decided to add that comment, even though I’m sure she knew Aileen was completely aware of that fact. That little tease didn’t make Aileen break character though as she stayed rather cool-headed. If it were me I definitely would have blushed. Then again, I am a bit weak to Ilse’s teases…

  “Anyway.” Rosemary had waited for the room to quiet down again before speaking up. “Would anyone like some cake to go with their hot beverage? I would recommend not eating too much before the light lunch that is planned later on. We will keep the rest of the cake and serve it after dinner with some other snacks in case the need would arise.

  “I would definitely like a slice.” Ria raised her hand.

  “And so would I.” Karin did the same almost at the same time as her best friend.

  The rest of us followed soon after. As Viktor and Aileen had made the effort to go and get a new cake, we would at least want a bite of it. It definitely looked like very good cake, and it smelled very good too… Apple cake if my nose doesn’t deceive me.