Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 130: Leave !

Chapter 130: Leave !

By the time Samantha was done taking a warm bath and stepping out of the bathing chamber, Ivan, who waited for her as he stood at the foot of his bed, gestured for her to turn around so he could have a quick look at her back. To his relief, she no longer smelled of blood but instead, a very pleasant familiar scent of oily lavender that reminded him of his own scent.

Hesitantly, Samantha turned around for Ivan to see. Her lithe figure was adorned in a delicate cloth that was carefully tied at the back, slightly above her waist, and Ivan could see the prominent marks that had become more visible after the bath she had taken. If only he was given the power to take her pains away as much as he could cause it, but unfortunately he was not entitled to such.

"Come, I need to apply the ointment for you, and you must rest after that." He advised before letting out his hand for her to take, but when he noticed how she pursed her lips with her eyebrows creased into worry, he knew her tongue was itching to say something to him. Rather than giving in to her own purely wild thoughts, she accepted his outstretched hand and quietly let him lead her to her own mattress, as if she had no say.

Lying on her front while looking the other way that gave her a view of the glass window, she could feel the edge of her bed sink down as Ivan took his seat beside her. When he reapplied the same ointment he had used on her earlier on, his fingers brushing against the thin red welts that criss crossed her beautiful back, he could see her shoulders tense in reaction as she let out a soft hiss, as though she had not expected it to sting the way it just did.

"Hurts!"

"I know, but you have to bear it for your body’s sake." He persuaded her softly, sounding seemingly understanding as he has been in her position before, but when he lowered his finger so he could apply the ointment, he didn’t fail to catch her fears due to how her body trembled, her heart had picked up speed, and when he bent slightly to steal a peek at her face, he could see her eyes were already turning moist, and that forced him to stop applying it.

"Is there something you want us to talk about? Anything at all?" Ivan asked in a gentle tone that his little lamb was yet to familiarize herself with. Since she had her mind focused on the pain, Ivan knew he had to distract her attention from it, somehow, and he guessed the conversation idea worked cause his little lamb, who presently paid more attention to him, settled her upper body’s weight on her arm that rested on the surface of the bed, as if to comfort herself, and she asked inquisitively.

"How did you learn to treat wounds?"

"It would be a shame on me if I didn’t." Ivan paused for a moment, then he said. "There were times when my injuries had become too severe, or too deep, most especially on the battlefields, I had to run to all the ointments if I wanted to heal quicker, sooner..." as he indulged her in a conversation, he carefully proceeded to apply the ointment, and when she hissed out in pain, he stopped.

"My Grandmother attended to most of my wounds, more than my Mother ever did. From her I learnt how to make some of the ointments that I use presently, she taught me the waxing method for during crises, and many others." His lips twitched at the recollection, "after knowing I could awaken my vampiric powers, as they had taken more than usual to reveal themselves, I had to work hard, and in the process of catching up to my brothers rank, there were consequences, as well as benefits, and those consequences made me learn a thing or two about more beneficial remedies, depending on the type of wound that is inflicted."

"Does that explain why I always see you treating yourself?" Inquired Samantha, and when he hummed in response, she found the courage to ask, "What about the times when you hadn’t awakened your powers? I mean.... When your brothers did all of those terrible things to you, who saved you from that night when you were assaulted? You only told me about what they did, but someone did come to help you right?" Samantha’s tone held expectation, but another soft hiss slipped from her mouth when he applied the ointment on a fresher spot.

"No one did at first." Ivan answered her question, and there was a sad glimmer in his eyes. "When I saw Claire step into the orb room that night, there was a feeling of hope that resonated within me, making me foolishly believe she would help me from her brothers whose ulterior motives were to end my existence, but like everyone else, she just.... left, walking away and pretending she never saw or witnessed any of what her brothers did to me."

Ivan’s tone faltered at the end, and Samantha could understand why his feelings for them were brewed to hate.

They broke him.

"No one came?" Samantha felt like she knew the depressing answer to that question already, as it seemed Ivan really was invisible to his family in the past, but turns out she didn’t when she heard him say,

"Someone did, Tobias and Alistair were the ones who surprisingly saved me that awful night, and it wasn’t to my expectations." He revealed, and Samantha’s eyes widened slightly. "I don’t know how they figured out my whereabouts, but before I went into that coma, their faces were the last thing I saw. My relationship with my cousins is like the front piece of a single broom, it could break at any time, that is why I’m always cautious with you around them, but from what I’ve seen, they don’t have any intention of hurting you."

"Prince Tobias seems more harmless than Prince Alistair." A slight worry worked its way to her face upon realizing the kindness they have shown her so far. "They must know about my identity, don’t they? Everyone must know by now that I’m Mr Dufort’s daughter, and... you coming to get me from the capital’s Town square could place you in bigger trouble with the Four Lords. I am really concerned about why they haven’t stormed in here to drag me out there again... or should I take their passivity as some kind of warning–"

"Do you really not remember anything that happened?" Ivan finished applying the ointment and had kept it on the table beside her. Even though he asked, he already knew the answer since she was unconscious when the whole drama spiraled, and that is the very reason why the Palace had grown quiet, because even the servants were afraid to move about or make a noise.

"What happened?" Samantha turned her head to look at Ivan who let out a sigh. Whenever she gave him that look with her eyes forming a serious slit, he knew she wasn’t going to drop the matter until he told her exactly what had happened in the orb room. Letting his hand out for her to hold again, Ivan helped her sit up so she could face him, and he proceeded to finally tell her everything that had happened while she was unconscious, the vines taking Claire away, the plants coming to life in the orb room and the mystical appearance of chompers that threatened to eat them all– not to forget the important part was the fact that her emotions controlled the plants to act that way.

"I did what?"

Samantha, who had frozen in her position as she listened to the things Ivan calmly told her, could feel goosebumps rising upon her skin. It sounded like a blatant fallacy to her ears, one that didn’t make any appropriate sense to her, but then Ivan had no reason to lie to her, most especially about matters that concerned the missing orb.

"Did I really....?"

"You are gifted, but how? I cannot explain." He gestured for her to lay back on the bed, signaling the end of their discussion. "Do not plague your mind with these thoughts and get some rest. Your body system needs to be properly recharged, and it won’t happen if you keep worrying yourself now and then. I’ll stay till you fall asleep."

Draping her lower body with the blanket, Samantha knew there was no way he would respond to her questions anymore, whilst she had no choice but to do as he says.

When Samantha eventually fell asleep, Ivan stepped out of the room after confirming she was truly in a deep sleep. When he made it to the downstairs hallway that appeared empty of guards and servants, a figure draped in black fur coat was standing in the center of the room, and Ivan didn’t need him to turn around to know it was no one else but Draven.

"You’re no longer welcomed here." Ivan said to Lord Draven who barely showed any reaction. "When you’re done testing your limits, kindly leave."

"I will leave." Draven answered, turning around to look at him with shrewd eyes. "But not without the unique human."