Doe's POV:

Today was one of the warmer days of this winter.

Warm enough to where I could keep my jacket unzipped and be completely fine.

Xander had taken us to the more eastern part of the city. The one that holds a variety of nature paths and parks, dotted with cart vendors every so often selling food or other goods.

He said he was leading me somewhere for lunch.

There weren't too many people that we crossed paths with, but when we did, the looks I got were the same ones that I was used to.

The ones that blatantly showed that I knew what I was.

It was a variety at least, ranging from pity to disgust, but each one made me feel the exact same.

Those looks had always slightly bothered me, but today it was just... different.

It made one of the topics of conversation from last night tug itself back to the front of my brain.

The one that I intentionally shoved back there since I didn't want to think about it.

And he said that it was only hypothetical.

But if it becomes something that isn't...

If he truly goes through with fabricating a citizenship for me and setting me up for a completely different way of living.

I wasn't too fond of the idea, to begin with, but I didn't know for sure what that dislike was coming from.

Whether it was just the fear of the unknown, nerves from such a change of pace, the haunting knowledge that Xander might just return back to stay with Nico, or something else.

Or even a mix of everything.

The fact that he hesitated once I asked him if he would leave to stay with his brother did help a small amount.

I was expecting that answer to come immediately to him and not to be in favor of me.

As just a thought, the offer sounded nice.

My own place, my life to build as I desired from scratch in a place that knew nothing about my past. A chance to start over.

It was undoubtedly something many people would love nothing more than to have, but that wasn't a way of living I knew how to do quite yet.

It wasn't an environment I had grown up to know, and I knew that he was aware of that.

And I didn't just want to "start over' after everything it took to finally get to this point.

Not like that anyway.

I didn't even know if I could given how with just a glance, these people knew my entire background.

I lightly rubbed the skin that had begun to tingle at the base of my neck. Directly where I knew for a fact a hickey laid covered beneath.

Which then sent my brain spiraling down that path, stirring up a twist in my stomach along with it.

There was so much I still wanted to figure out before anything else.

I still wanted to discover things in the life I was living now before moving on to a different one, and I wanted him here with me as I did.

Things were just easier when he was around.

Well, some things. Others just became a whole lot more complicated.

Given that now various other spots on my neck were now tingling.

Almost itching, and trying to fix that myself wasn't working.

God, did he infect me with his vampire saliva or something?

"Woah-" his voice broke out a heartbeat before his hand was on my waist, and I was pulled against him.

I stumbled into him, the only thing keeping me from falling completely being the arm that put me in this situation.

And, well, the side of his body that I was now up against.

Which really wasn't helping with my prior predicament.

I had realized what had happened just in time to see the very large dog barreling right past us on the path.

It was so close that I felt the rush of air from its passing, and definitely would have run directly into me.

Xander had his head turned to where the dog continued running off to, meanwhile, I was focusing more on the poor guy heaving as he also ran to catch up to it.

We both just kind of continued to watch for a few seconds, before looking at each other.

"That's what handling you feels like sometimes," I spoke factually.

And even through that, he got the joke hidden underneath, releasing me while letting out a soft chuckle.

"I can imagine. Although unfortunately for the dog, it doesn't have advanced speed like I do," He played along as we resumed our stroll.

I kept myself a step closer to him now, to where we would occasionally bump arms every other step or so.

"Anyway. What had you so deep in thought that you didn't notice it coming towards you?" he asked.

I didn't want to bring up a problem that wasn't there yet by telling him about my thoughts with the citizenship.

I would eventually, I just wanted to get things organized first, and now wasn't the time.

...and I wasn't sure I wanted to divulge into what else was keeping me distracted.

"What's your territory like?" I asked instead.

It was... partially what was on my mind.

He thought for a moment.

"It's fairly large, a lot bigger than this, but has around the same things. There are festivals at least once a month that everyone, vampire and human, take part in. There's an entire forest behind the castle that my family has kept protection over from being cut down, so it's teeming with wildlife. The shopping centers are nice and open, every human house has its own space. It's a hell of a lot better than here, that's for sure. The citizens there are actually happy." He elaborated, his voice growing dull towards the end.

Maybe then they wouldn't all give me those looks...

"What's with that voice?" I asked, more amused than anything at the odd sound of it.

That dry tone even now showed on his face with his hooded eyes and fixed brows, almost as if he was both annoyed and bored.

"Thinking about it just made me realize how tired I am of this place," he disclosed, throwing his head back as if the very air around us was draining the life out of him.

I'll admit, the show pulled an embarrassing little giggle from me.

I nudged his arm with my elbow, "Oh come on, it can't be that long now till you get invited back, right?"

He'd given me the general dates on which he'd receive an invitation letter back for either of his parent's birthdays.

And we were very close to it.

"You're right, but knowing Nico, he's not even going to open it the day he gets it."

"Why is Nico the only one that gets one," I questioned.

He apparently found my question funny.

"He's not. It's actually addressed to both of us, and my name is first for alphabetical sake. Lord Bronwyn just has trust issues when it comes to other royals and likes to swipe our mail to see who it's from before making one of us come and get it from him ourselves. He just tends to favor Nico for that since he's the true heir."

I pondered that for a moment.

"That feels... illegal."

He shrugged.

"Morally yes, but it's hard for it to be illegal when the person in charge of the territory does it."

...I guess.

Either way, the more I learn about the finer details about this place, and the family that runs it, I just keep getting more and more put off.

"I'm starting to think that I hate this place," I muttered.

"You definitely have more of a reason to than most," he replied, gently taking my wrist and guiding me closer to him again as two kids rolled by on their rollerblades.

"Sorry!" One of them yelled as they passed on wobbly legs, obviously struggling to control where she was going.

Xander just simply waved back with a kind smile before guiding me back to where I was.

I think he had made a habit of sticking to close-mouthed smiles while interacting with people in the city.

He didn't want to deal with them catching a glimpse of his fangs and freaking out.

Meanwhile, I was trying to use those fangs to help me not freak out.

My skin tingled harder, sending a full shiver down my spine

Ok... weird.

I sent my gaze down as he finished returning me to where I was prior, though when he released my hand this time, I grabbed it.

Sliding my fingers between his, I trapped him there, effectively making him tense in surprise.

"I might as well just stick to you at this point," I huffed.

Though, it did help settle down whatever was happening to me, strangely enough.

"I-I mean, if you want," Was his staggering reply.

I could have sworn I heard him purr for a second.

And why the hell was he still tense?

It took him a bit, but he chilled out, his thumb casually rubbing over mine.

Yeah... I don't think I want to lose this.

Even if I wouldn't by getting my own place... ugh, I don't know.

This was all just new and confusing with everything else that was already new and confusing. I couldn't figure all of this out at once.

My hold must have tightened because the rhythm of his thumb rubs got thrown off momentarily.

I really shouldn't be focusing on this now, not when today was supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable.

Forcing myself into that last one, I leaned my head to the side onto him as we furthered our way to our location.

His next purr lasted quite a bit longer, and was unmistakeable given that this one I could feel from where I was touching him.

I caught myself leaning further into it, debating just closing my eyes and letting him guide me there.

No... no that felt like a bit much.

Something like that could wait till we weren't in public.

Until then, though, this would work.