Doe's POV:

I slowly made my way back to my room, biding my time through these empty hallways.

Still trying to fabricate a plan.

I'd realized quickly that planning things wasn't exactly a skill of mine.

I used to try to avoid it at all costs back in Bronwyn's territory due to the high possibility that it was going to fall through, but that wasn't a problem here.

The problem was my inexperience and unsure self as to how to start this.

The few books I've read didn't exactly provide a step-by-step guide, and I didn't feel like I could gauge more answers out of Khloe without digging myself into a deeper hole with this nonexistent book.

Should I tell him or ask him?

Tell him that I love him versus asking him is he loves me?

Hm...

I think I've seen more of the first, but it was always in a desperate sort of panic that the words were spoken.

That didn't feel like me.

There wasn't any sort of panic that came with loving him

Desperation? Maybe, but a different kind for sure.

Maybe less desperate and more of just an ever-lingering longing.

I let out a quiet sigh.

Maybe this is just one of those 'You'll figure it out in the heat of the moment' type things.

Xander is hard to predict, that's for sure, so maybe my planning will be as ineffective as times before.

The real question was when.

I wanted it to be soon without question.

The first idea that popped into my mind was the next day we spend out in the town.

We typically got enough privacy than for me to comfortably pull that off.

My walking stopped, head lifting a few inches at an unfamiliar sound.

Well, the sound itself wasn't unfamiliar I just wasn't used to hearing it in this setting.

The soft tune of a violin carried beautifully through the halls from where it was being played.

The real question was, where was it being played?

I put my previous thoughts on hold for the moment, seeing up my gait and following the music.

It took a few more turns before I found the correct room, eyes rounding as soon as I peeked through the open door.

Xander had been dabbling a bit with the new violin he got, I knew that, but I just then realized that I'd never seen him properly play until now.

The room was filled with a variety of musical devices, foam padding against the walls, a piano tucked into the corner, shelves and shelves of books and sheet music alive, stools and music stands like the one he had in his room.

Yet he wasn't using any of it, instead, he was standing in the middle of the room facing a tad bit away from me and playing something from memory.

That, or he was just making it up on the spot.

Either way, it sounded amazing.

He was playing major key from what I'd heard so far, yet he played most of the notes with a slow, melancholic pace.

Just to crank out like 20 consecutive notes perfectly and then return to the prior pace.

It was mesmerizing to look at in a way.

Seeing the skillful way in which he pushed and pulled the bow, and how each note just looked to come so easily to him.

The way his body lightly swayed in time with his music.

My heart danced in my chest, goosebumps just letting themselves right into my skin without asking me first.

I wasn't even going to try to lie to myself right now, he looked absolutely stunning right now.

The formal dress shirt and vest from the prior event with his family hugged his torso perfectly to accentuate the difference between his waist and shoulders, and the way he had his sleeves rolled up just past his elbow did something strange to my stomach.

He even tied half of his hair up, quite neatly might I add, just to have his eyes closed, feeling his way through the melody.

God he was perfect.

Wait-

My cheeks had to succumb to a blush caused again by my own damn self.

I hated that I couldn't even try to argue with myself on that point, especially not with the scene before me.

I snapped back to my senses the moment I realized the music was no longer playing, looking up to see his staring at me, looking surprised and a bit embarrassed with the realization that I was standing there.

Ah man, he must have finally caught a hint of my scent or something.

Well, now I felt kind of awkward for just standing here partially hidden behind the door and staring.

Play it cool.

"Sorry," I began, sidestepping and making my way in, "I didn't mean to ruin your concentration."

"I just wasn't expecting you to be done with lunch yet," He responded, the embarrassment prior now nowhere to be seen

Yeah, well, after what we were talking about, it was getting harder to hide that I was actively thinking about something and not sharing it with the rest.

He lowered his violin and the bow as I approached.

"Yeah, something came up. Plus you usually join me for lunch which makes it last longer." I pointed.

He knew I wasn't blaming him. I was well aware of the duties he has.

I already knew that he spent time with me whenever he could, but also let me just spend time with my friends alone, both of which I appreciated tremendously.

"I know I know," I should be able to...," He paused to think for a moment, "Yeah I'm pretty sure I'm free all day tomorrow."

All day?

I could have him all day tomorrow?

"What the special occasion?"

"The bloodmoon," He replied casually.

"Tomorrow's the bloodmoon?" I repeated, shocked.

I couldn't believe it was that time already.

With the changing weather, I guess I should have been aware of it even as just a nagging thought in the back of my head.

Though the way he was going about it was... different.

"So... what does that mean for us?" I questioned.

I wasn't 100% sure how it worked for royals.

Layla supposedly had bad ones, but she was already messed up as it was.

Xander just simply shrugged.

"Not much, really. It varies from time to time, but if I feel any of the effects, they're usually minor. The royal blood kinda puts me on even ground when it comes to bloodmoons."

Heightened vampiric abilities and low effects on the bloodmoon? These royals were really getting the best of both worlds here.

"Plus with you around, It'll help keep that part of me calm." He added, "You have absolutely nothing to worry about."

Had anyone else heard those words they probably would have assumed he meant my blood, but I knew that wasn't the case.

"Okay," I sighed out, my gaze falling back down to the instrument in his hand.

The wood and strings that matched my guitar's.

"You sounded really good by the way," I began, "You should play it in our room more often so I don't have to track the noise and hunt you down to hear it properly."

He did promise to play for me a while back.

That embarrassment from earlier finally made its appearance again, this time in the form of his inability to take a compliment.

I laughed at the way he sputtered for a response, seeing the color come over his cheeks and having the hair he usually used to hide behind be tied away.

And it probably didn't help when I lifted myself up onto my toes to place a kiss over his cheek.

~~~

It was strange having it be the day of a bloodmoon and not having Xander be on edge the whole day.

It was what I came to expect just from every other time this had happened, but now he was treating this just like any other day.

We'd only woken up- or, stopped cuddling and got out of bed around two hours ago, ready to start the day that he was supposed to be completely free.

Just for plans to change the moment we stepped out of the room to grab some food.

Reducing that meal to a light snack for him since he was told there would be a family discussion over lunch today.

The lunch that was in about...2 and a half hours at the time.

Now, it was about thirty minutes from now, and he was walking me to the dining room again so I could meet up with Marcus and Khloe.

"Hey remember yesterday when you told me you'd have lunch with me today?"

He groaned guiltily, rubbing a hand down his face.

I'd already given him shit about this twice before today, which made him promise that tomorrow would for sure be the day.

"I swear they usually give me at least a 24 hours advance to these kinds of things," He defended.

He took the sudden change of plans very personally when the announcement was given to him, which I found completely endearing.

"I know I know," I eased, "I just think the coincidence was funny is all."

Maybe this will give me a chance to sneakily pull some more answers out of Khloe and Marcus.

Though, we were still kind of early. I don't think those two will be there for another fifteen minutes. Give or take.

I peeked behind me, looking over the surrounding area to make sure that we were currently alone before I snagged his hand and pulled him to a stop.

"We don't have to go there now, do we? I think we both have some time to kill before we have to be somewhere."

I was expecting to have him all to myself after all.

Though I can be flexible with such things with little complaint, that doesn't mean that I won't want to take advantage of the time I do have with him.

He squeezed my hand back, a knowing and mischievous narrowing of his eyes showing me that he was already on board.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" He inquired.

I matched his mischief, stepping in front of him and pressing my body into his.

The extra hard exhale through his nostrils, and the hands now on my waist proved that his mind was on the same path mine was.

Hix gaze was fixed on me before it darted from side to side.

"Not here," He whispered, his voice already taking over that gruff tone.

Shooting excitement up my spine.

I didn't think that just heading back to the room was the best option here.

Half of the fun of the idea I had was that it was in a new place.

Since we were already sort of on the same wavelength, I hoped he had that in mind too.

"You're the vampire," I started, "Take us somewhere private."