The Vacuous Heart of Blood

Author: MoonStarDutchess

Chapter 43: Meet King Pt 4

Disclaimer: Full Metal Alchemist and all its characters are the property of Hiromu Arakawa. No profit was made from this fanfiction. The only things that I do own are the OC's (if any). This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of original characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The author holds exclusive rights to the overall course of the plot. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.


Roy looked straight into the king's eyes, striving to his best ability to tell if the man was bluffing or not. He'd be an empty shell without her and it terrified him to lose her. He wouldn't risk her by calling Grumman's bluff. Though he might recover from the stupor of losing a bond mate, he wouldn't want to. He'd grown used to her presence near him; the little flashes in his mind when she was upset, amused or annoyed; he enjoyed laying in bed when she was asleep, turning on his breathing and enjoying her scent. She was his weakness and Grumman knew it despite all his efforts to hide it.

"How long until I become king?" His words evoked instant heartburn.

"First we'll have to let the family and public get used to the idea of you being the crowned prince, and as I said, I have unfinished business so it will be a long while. The exact time you'll get the throne will be left up to the situation brewing."

"Situation?"

"Yes, it's quite a conundrum. I shall let you in on it later since your intelligence will come in handy."

Roy nodded and looked away from the man's steely grey gaze. "Looks like I have no choice then."

"Don't word it with such negativity."

"Why wouldn't I? It is a negative. We even have to stay here in the castle."

"Of course, but you have free rein to go anywhere, unlike the rest of the family. You'll need to choose which wing of the castle you'll want as well."

Roy slouched. That hadn't been a question.

Grumman walked around the bar and, like when Roy was a child, patted his head and ruffled the dark hair. "Go tell your princess. I'll have to give her, her titles and tiara soon."

Riza was going to find a way to kill, or at least injure, him. She wasn't the tiara and diamond wearing type of woman. "And what about telling the others?"
"I wouldn't put you through that. I'll tell the Hughes' and the rest of the family myself, but you'll have to be there for the public announcement. Roy stood and trudged over to the door. "Chin up boy, chin up!"

If it wouldn't hurt Riza, he would've set himself on fire. Instead, he kept his thoughts on processing best way to tell Riza the news. He closed the door behind him and made his way back to his room. Everything that happened in the study was just as he feared. How could Grumman be so irresponsible as to give over the rule of a country to someone who didn't want it? Someone that couldn't do it. Other than his so-called gift, there were reasons his father didn't want him running the family businesses. He wasn't social. He couldn't lie to someone's face if they asked for the truth even if he knew the person really wanted a lie. He was too blunt, and bluntness was bad for business.

Christmas made it sound like he was going to inherit some part, but he knew he wasn't, and he didn't want any piece of the responsibility. His younger half-brother was everything his father wanted. He was someone that his father could mold like clay into whatever he needed. A little puppet. Roy would've pitied the boy if he hadn't been such a brat. If he didn't know better, he would've said the man knew about Grumman's plans and wanted to get in on a good thing. His father had no right to be here.

Or maybe the man just wanted to see Roy turn out to be a failure so he could gloat about Selim and how perfect he was. It was almost a certainty because when one was told they weren't good enough so many times for so long, they began to believe it.

He opened the door to the bedroom and walked inside. Riza was in bed, resting against two large pillows propped behind her. Her hair fell over her shoulders now, making him want to brush it back and kiss the shoulder it covered. When she looked up from the book in her grasp, he'd almost forgotten what he had to tell her. The plain human he met turned out to be the most beautiful person he knew. He locked the door and went over to her side of the bed to sit down. She put the book on the side table and gave him her full attention.

"I smell alcohol," she said, "and blood."

"Grumman and I had a little drink while we had our discussion."

She leaned forward, reached up, and ran her thumb across the thick stubble on his jaw. The action reminded him that he needed to shave. "Conversation didn't go well, did it?"

"How could you tell?"

"Your expression. What happened?"

"It was exactly what I feared would happen."

She dropped her hand. "I don't know what it is you feared, but I'm sorry."

He grabbed her hand and kissed it. "I'm the one that needs to be sorry." He opened his mouth to continue but the words died on his tongue as he realized she was the only one that ever wanted to listen to him. Truly listen. She was the only one who told him the truth without fear. She could throw him off balance within seconds; one moment she'd make him laugh, the next she'd make him want to strangle her. "I don't know how to tell you what I need to say." Being lost for words wasn't typical for him.

"Then open your mind up."

"This isn't the kind of thing you tell someone mentally."

"Roy," she said with a laugh, "you going to be the next king or something?"

Roy nearly fell forward and had to grab onto the bed. He shot to his feet, eyes wide. "How did you know? My mind was completely shut off."

She blinked at him a few times, her entire demeanor calm. Then, without any semblance of a warning, she darted forward, out of the bed. "I was kidding! You can't be serious!"

"Gah!" Roy grabbed both sides of his head, fisting his hands in his hair. "Don't joke about things like that."

"I wasn't…I — you—please tell me this is a joke. Maes is the next king. You told me he was."

Roy had never seen Riza in such a state of incredulousness and panic. "It was assumed but apparently never formally announced."

She paced the full length of the room, probably not realizing how quick she did it. She stopped in front of him. "We're married. That means I'll be…"

"Queen."

Riza paced the room and stopped in front of him again. "And Grumman has no issues with a once human being queen?"

"Since we're bonded, no. In fact, I've never seen the man so giddy. The people won't accept Gracia since Maes has no intention of bonding with her."

"So that's his reasoning?"

Roy groaned and flopped down on the bed. "I assume it's part of it."

"What's the second part?"

"He has this crazy idea that I would be a better king than Maes. That I'm more suited to the role."

When she didn't reply after a minute, he turned to see if she was still in the room. She has a thoughtful look on her face. "What?"

"He's right. You would."

Roy sat up. "You aren't supposed to agree with him."

"I'm not going to lie to you. It's me as a queen that might louse you up. When it comes to charm, I have zilch."

Roy disagreed. Maybe she didn't have the charm in regards to human society but vampires that weren't his family would eat it up once they got to know her. He did.

She sat down on the bed. "But you're just his nephew right? Doesn't Maes have a right to it by law since he's the grandson?"

"That's not how it works with us." He kicked off his shoes. "Why couldn't I keep my mouth shut? I made a stupid statement one day when we were playing chess. I said the day I get married was the day I'd take the throne."

Riza looked away from him, her jaws puffed up and her lips straining against a smile. He heard a small giggle and turned his head toward her. "What are you laughing at?"

"Even though this is a serious situation, it's funny that he remembered and is holding you to it."

He jerked his tie loose and threw it across the room. "There is nothing amusing about it. The man is practically running my life, and yours. You're going to be queen, remember."

A sick satisfaction traveled over him when her laughter stopped and her eyes widened as big as they were with her initial surprise of his news. She moved to straddle his lap. "I can't be a queen. I didn't even want to be in the society."

Why'd she have to sit like that? He thought as he tried to avoid thinking about what she could do in her current position. "Well tough luck. If I'm king, you're queen."

"Hey, if we move quick maybe we can…"

"We can't run. You know that. Really, I'm surprised you even thought of it."

"Don't even try to tell me you didn't think about running on the way here."

She knows me too well. "That's why I said we can't run. There are guards everywhere and Grumman could find a grain of oat in a field of hay if he put effort into it."

Riza got off him and the bed, and sat down on the chair in front of the dresser. She rested her head on her arms. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it away. He moved toward the bed but stopped when she spoke. "Why did you save me when I was human?"

He sat up."I told you."

"Was interest all it really all it was?"

"I don't know." Frustration vented through his voice. And it was truth. He knew, yet he wasn't sure that he knew what it was, so that meant he didn't know.

"Yes you do. So do I. But we don't know for sure."

"If I could get a headache from thinking, I'd have one."

"Me too."

She turned in her seat, stood and walked over to him. He watched her hips sway against the silk sleeping dress she wore. He'd have to thank Armstrong for choosing it as bed clothing for her and order her half a dozen more. "I just wondered if you'd actually say it."

He knew what it was, but it was more of a human thing. He put his arms around her waist. He could say it, but it didn't feel right since he was unsure of what the word really meant. Vampires rarely used such words, or showed any such feeling. He'd have to ask a bonded vampire about it if he ever met one. "I can't do this," he said, finally.

Riza crawled upon the bed and lay back. "I'm not forcing you to say it. I'd be a hypocrite if I tried."

"I'm talking about being king," Roy said but he was relieved she wasn't going to press the issue of his feelings.

"It seems you don't have a choice. But I believe you can do it and do it well. Maes is too kind."

Roy looked around at her. She hadn't hesitated and showed no doubt in her voice when she spoke. He grinned. "Are you saying I'm not kind? After all I did for you?" He gave her a little wink to let her know he was joking.

"You aren't kind," she said. "You're self-serving, out for your own interests. If I didn't interest you then you wouldn't have saved me and you know it." She gave him a small smile. "I'm like that too and I've only just realized it since I came here and encountered everyone. The two of us, if we have no interest in things, we don't get involved. Some see it as selfish, we see it as—"

"Self-preservation," Roy finished for her. "You're right."

"You had the advantage of running away from being pressured into something against what you wanted. I didn't," she said.

That was true. Women certainly had it harder than men did since they couldn't get jobs, they couldn't even walk outside alone in bigger cities where the jobs were. The ones that had any type of freedom were in brothels, and that was a different and dangerous type of freedom.

"Everything we did, inconvenienced someone else, yet they complained that we were selfish. They ignored the fact that it was selfish of them to expect us to bend over backwards and be unhappy for their sake." Selfishness was a thin line; one side had to be unselfish so the other side could be selfish. Unless there was a compromise. In Riza and his case, no compromise proposals were made on the opposite side nor would they listen to any. Selfishness was the only way to be sure they didn't live a miserable existence.

"Even now, that's happening to you."

"I'm nervous and upset about being king, but I'm not unhappy." He lay back on the bed and then moved over her, putting one hand on each side of her body. "I don't think I've been unhappy since meeting you." He couldn't word it any better. Even though he'd nearly died, worried to death about her, and had to give up a way of life he knew for more than a hundred years, he'd been happier since he met her than he ever had. It was an unforeseen realization but one he welcomed and that lightened the burden he felt on his shoulders.

Riza reached up and put an arm around his neck, and smiled.

"I . . . um. . ." She'd said she wasn't forcing him to say anything about his feelings. He'd been relieved, so why did he feel like he had to say something in regards to the issue. "I need you."

She stared up at him, her face betraying nothing of what she was feeling. He'd opened up as much as he could and waited for her to do, or say, anything to acknowledge his words were enough.

Then she leaned up and kissed him. He didn't return the kiss at first, and when he was about to respond, she pulled away and said, "I'm here for whatever you need. I'll do my best."

He knew she meant it. He had someone. He wasn't alone in this world with no one to understand him. He took her hand with one of his and placed it on the bed beside her head. He bent and kissed her, letting his other hand drift down the side of her body as her hand reached up to grasp his shoulder and dig her nails into it.

He'd show her everything he couldn't speak.