Lunar Flare Book 2: Midnight Eclipse

Chapter 16

Ever since Maerwynn had realised that she could order Emil to play with her she had started doing so increasingly more often. He spent most of the time that her bodyguard was away helping to babysit her, usually being the one playing with her while Cassian and Balthasar sat nearby talking. But even once Beowulf and Thedrick returned, Maerwynn didn't seem keen to give up her new obedient playmate.

And so, Emil had basically become a part of their little group now, a somewhat playmate slash extra bodyguard. That was fine by him though, as it meant that he got the chance to spend a lot more time with Beowulf. And ever since that time in the dungeons, his hatred towards Thedrick had mellowed out a lot, so he didn't find himself nearly as annoyed by his presence as he thought he would. In fact, though he was loathe to admit it, he quite enjoyed the jester's company again.

Emil had assumed that Beowulf had a tough job, protecting the queen at all times with no breaks. But the noble found that it was actually very easy and laid back most of the time. Beowulf got to spend most of his days playing games with a child, which was actually quite... nice. Emil was rather grateful that he now got to get out of a lot of training and standing around on guard duty. No wonder Beowulf had never complained about his job.

Today the four of them were sitting in the outer garden of the castle, on a blanket spread out on the grass under a tree to shade the pale skinned vampires. The lawn around them was dotted with hundreds of daisies, which Emil was carefully and dutifully picking and handing over to Maerwynn. The queen was sitting in Beowulf's lap, carefully weaving the flowers and stems into a chain. Thedrick was laying on his back on the blanket, lazily strumming away on his lute.

Beowulf had his helmet off and was smiling happily as he watched the others with his bright blue eyes, which Emil rarely got the chance to see. Emil soon realised that Beowulf was watching him quite intently. The noble blushed and then quickly looked away, trying to focus on what he was doing to calm the heat in his cheeks.

"There!" Maerwynn's sudden announcement made Emil glance back over in their direction again. The little queen proudly held up a circle of linked daisies, and then motioned frantically to Beowulf. The big guy lowered his head down as far as possible towards her, and the queen reached up and set the flower crown down on top of Beowulf's golden hair. The knight straightened up again, smiling with contentment. Maerwynn started on her next chain, and Emil kept picking daisies to keep up with her material requirements.

"With chestnut curls and eyes of emerald green,

It's such a pity a boy so pretty is also so mean," Thedrick sang softly.

"Hey!" Emil shot back indignantly. "I'm sitting right here you know!"

Thedrick grinned at him with satisfaction, as if his goal had been to rile the noble up.

"He's got an inflated sense of self import from his noble bloodline,

Though I really can't deny that his blood tastes so divine!" Thedrick continued to tease.

"Cut that out!" Emil snapped at the jester, and he threw a daisy that he held at the vampire. The flower landed gently on Thedrick's clothes, and the jester dissolved into a fit of laughter, curling up around his lute.

"He's just teasing you Emil, that's sort of his job," Beowulf pointed out gently.

"Oh, can I have some stinky blood?" Maerwynn piped up, looking between the adults pleadingly.

Beowulf raised a questioning eyebrow at Emil, the noble shifting awkwardly where he sat. Emil glanced around, seeing there was no one else nearby, and then sighed. "Okay fine, if you make it quick," he caved, and started unbuttoning his top.