My Ice Prince - стр. 63
I was surprised at the haste, because we'd only been walking for an hour, but I kept silent: it must have been the plan.
We caught a taxi to the fancy restaurant where Markus met us, and I thought once again that he and my sister were the most beautiful couple in the world, and I remembered that Cedric was nothing like his brother. But my sister's insistence immediately echoed in my mind, and I decided to keep my mouth shut.
Markus and I hugged, and he led us inside the restaurant, but to my amazement, we passed a beautiful hall, went down a dark staircase somewhere, and ended up in the basement, where there was a small but swanky restaurant, and sat down at a table. There were only the three of us in the room.
A waiter appeared next to us. A vampire.
– Three glasses and a bottle of the freshest» Markus told him.
He brought three large wine glasses and a beautiful bottle labelled 'New England'. I had never been to a place like this before, but I understood perfectly: there was fresh blood in the bottle.
«Wow, a vampire restaurant that serves blood to guests is right under people's noses!» – I thought as I watched Markus pour the blood into glasses. I looked at him and wondered what had changed in him in just three months: his face was like carved stone, his eyes glittered coldly, and his voice was no longer as friendly as it had been in Prague. I shifted my gaze to Mariszka: she, too, was serious. To say that I felt out of place would be to say nothing.
Taking a glass of blood, I began to drink it in big gulps.
– When did you eat? – Mariszka looked at me intently.
– Yesterday, – I honestly answered, – why?
– You drink blood so greedily, as if you were starving.
«I drink so greedily to take my mind off your serious faces for a second!» – I thought grudgingly.
But I set my glass down on the table and shrugged.
– You're imagining things. Markus, tell her to watch her husband, not me. – I tried to make a joke, but Markus didn't even smile, and I felt unbearably awkward.
I wanted to get up and walk away, to leave them alone: I felt superfluous, though I'd never felt that way before, not even with all the Morgans. And now… It was so unfriendly and cold that I just wanted to run away.
– Well, young lady, tell me how you're doing. – Markus suddenly asked and took a sip of blood.
– I'm fine! Oxford is a wonderful city! I have a little house there and a blue bicycle» I started to say, staring down at my glass. – My life is insanely interesting! I don't really socialise with anyone, I just come to and from lectures. In general, I always thought Warsaw was the best city in the world, but now I'm in love with Oxford…
I talked and talked, but I couldn't help feeling awkward and unnecessary: this meeting was so different from what I had seen in my imagination that morning! What the hell made me come? Had I traded my lectures for this?
At last I stopped, having told all I could.
– I don't know what else to say. Anyway, I'm doing great. – I thought my tongue was going to fall off from talking so much.
– Well, I'm glad you're enjoying your studies, but to be honest, I was against you going to Oxford at first» Markus said, smiling tiredly.
– Why? – His confession startled me.
– Because you're so young and defenseless.