Olya sat near Naomi, her mind still wondering as to what was it that was so urgent. "I hope Lord Cain is fine…" she said. Or was it that her sister had some hidden disease?
"He is fine, Olya. He has gone to Upper North Jupan," Naomi replied. "And you know for what."
Olya jerked her head back, blinking her eyes. She took a ragged breath. "Yes, I know…"
Naomi's lips downturned. She cried, "He has gone to register that land in Lord Lazarus's name. And I wanted to talk to you about it."
Olya averted her gaze from her sister. Her eyes landed on her ankle. Her fingers were twitching and they moved as if in nervousness.
Naomi continued, "I know that you don't want to talk about it, Olya, but I wanted you to see the whole scheme that is going behind this."
"What scheme?" Olya shot back. Naomi was overthinking as usual. "There is no scheme. Lord Lazarus has asked for something and you should give it to him, considering that he would be my future husband."
"That's what!" Naomi said, slapping her thigh and she sat up suddenly. "He is going to be your husband but who will benefit from it? Do you even realize how naïve you are, Olya? Lord Lazarus is under the spell of Emma. That girl is too cunning. She is the one who has schemed. She is the one who must have goaded Lord Lazarus to register the land in his name."
"And why will she do that?" Olya said, hating every word that came out of Naomi's mouth.
Naomi straightened her back as the expression on her face changed to that of excitement. "Emma is a human and that means that she will wither away when she is old. She is not a vampire who lives for thousands of years. But Lord Lazarus is a vampire. He is going to outlive her."
"So?"
"So when she becomes old, what do you think will happen to her?" Naomi darted her gaze between Olya's eyes as if searching for an answer. When Olya remained quiet, she said, "When she becomes old, Lord Lazarus will lose interest in her. He is going to throw her out of the palace and go for his concubines. What is going to happen when she is thrown out?" Naomi touched Olya's hand. "Emma is ensuring that when she becomes old, she lives comfortably in a nice house. And when she saw that you come from a royal family and have a beautiful estate, she schemed. Then she pursued Lazarus to convince him to get the land in his name."
"What are you even saying?" Olya snapped.
"Listen to me patiently, Olya!" Naomi squeezed her hand. "As soon as the estate is in Lazarus's name, Emma is going to ask him to register it in her name. Now can you see what she is doing? Can you see through her plan?"
"Naomi, you are talking ridiculous!" Olya barked.
"Olya, you are too naïve to see through that cunning Emma. The king wants you to marry Lazarus and not her. So obviously she will end up becoming his concubine. And what happens to the concubines? They are used for pleasure and then thrown. Emma is a human. How long will she be used? She will be thrown sooner than she would realize. Her family would never take her back out of shame. That is why she is ensuring her future. Now can you understand what is going on?"
Olya got up from there in anger. Naomi pulled her hand and made her sit again. "Olya, sit down. You still have the time to stop this nonsense. If you don't want to lose that piece of estate, then you are going to stop Lazarus from usurping it. You will tell him to not take it. He is going to snatch it from you and give it to Emma." Her eyes became moist when she added, "Think of our father. He wanted that land for you and not for anyone else to have it."
Olya tipped her head up and took a deep breath in. She closed her eyes and when she opened them, her gaze went to her sister's ankle. She had crossed her legs and was sitting on her ankle quite comfortably. So Naomi made it all up just to call her over here. Olya ignored that part. For now. She said, "Naomi, you are wrong in so many places."
"I am wrong?" Naomi said in a high pitched voice. "Or is it you who is blind? You are so blinded by that bitch Emma that you don't see the reason your sister is trying to drill into your head!"
Olya chuckled. "Let me list a few things for you before I reason." She took her hand out and tapped her pinky finger. "First, Lord Lazarus and Emma are mates. If Emma dies, Lord Lazarus would follow her to the Fade."
"That is pure bullshit! Did his father follow his mother?" Naomi countered.
Olya ignored her words. She tapped her ring finger. "Secondly, why would Lord Lazarus leave Emma a human? He would convert her and make her live longer. Even she would want to live with him for as long as possible."
Naomi snapped her mouth shut before speaking against that argument.
Olya tapped her middle finger. "Thirdly, Lord Lazarus would give her all the wealth that she needs and then some more. He is quite rich. Why would Emma depend on something as measly as my estate when she can have her own beautiful place?" That actually meant that Naomi could go and fuck herself. Olya pointed her middle finger rather sharply at her.
"Why would Lord Lazarus give her money?" Naomi gave a weak argument.
Olya again ignored her words. She tapped her index finger. "Fourthly, Lord Lazarus has asked for that estate because that is his condition to marry me. Nothing else. That is perhaps all the dowry he is asking for."
"But it is an insane thing to ask!" Naomi retorted.
"Fifth," Olya said, tapping her thumb. "After marrying me, Lord Lazarus would be free to marry anyone. Who knows that he will marry Emma as well? It is not uncommon for the princes to have more than one wife."
Naomi stared at her little sister.
