Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 168: My Precious Jewel

Chapter 168: My Precious Jewel

Samantha bit down on her lower lip as she tried to stifle a moan, and he was making it so obvious that he was deliberately making her feel this way. He knew exactly what he was doing here, and he made no attempt to hide his intentions as he continued to watch her, enjoying every bit of her reaction to the feeling of his knees against her hot spot.

He knew he shouldn’t be doing this, there were a lot of things he shouldn’t be doing when it came to his little lamb, but... damn consequences! He was ready to endure everything and anything as long as he got to keep her by his side. When he figured she left without saying goodbye during the full blood moon, he knew at that moment that he wasn’t ready to depart from her, and when he found her unconscious on the drizzling rain, the urge to keep her under his protection took over, and he knew, he knew at that very spot that he wouldn’t be able to live without her.

So he planned this event, an event to make Maurice stay so he wouldn’t think of leaving with his sister. Since he promised his little lamb he wasn’t going to hurt her brother in any way, he had to come up with a different alternative, another idea that would compel her brother to stay in the Palace with his sister, and as expected, his carefully mastered plan worked. He didn’t orchestrate this event for anything other than to keep his little lamb by his side, and does he regret manipulating everyone else? Nope, not at all.

Samantha could feel warmth spread through her body when his fingers traced the contour of her skin down to her chin, as if relishing on the outline of her face so he would never forget it, and with a gentleness he had reserved only for her, he tilted it up so she could meet his eyes. As he leaned in, Samantha assumed he was going to kiss her again but to her surprise, he placed his forehead against her own, their nose almost touching due to his affectionate display, but his knee was still fixed between her legs. They remained that way for an unknown amount of time, their breaths mingling with each other as they savored the moment that couldn’t be expressed with words alone.

She didn’t only feel desired, she felt his passion embrace her like a warm blanket, so much so that her heart felt like it was no longer alone. She knew she wanted this, but why was she always lost for words whenever he asked her to say them? It didn’t feel right. It felt as though she was trying to avoid a calamity without having any knowledge of what the calamity could be.

"If you leave me, I will die." He confessed, and Samantha’s eyes snapped open at the rigidity of his words. She didn’t seem to have heard it right until he repeated. "If you dare to leave me again I will–" Samantha’s palm immediately covered his mouth, stopping him from finishing his abominable statement, and when he opened his eyes to meet her own, she shook her head, her gaze becoming glazed with emotion.

"You will live." She uttered, sounding firm and confident about that fact, and her gaze softened under his endearment. "You will bring this Kingdom to its glory with or without me. If you say such words to me again I’ll never forgive you for it." She promised, and to her surprise he kissed the palm she had used to cover his mouth.

She almost breathed out her relief when he dropped his knee from her throbbing core. She didn’t know how long they had stayed in that intimate position, but her own legs nearly gave way to the ground if he hadn’t held her up on time.

"Then stay with me." He dropped a tender kiss at the shell of her ear and whispered. "I don’t want this if you’re not going to be here with me."

"But I am here, aren’t I?" Samantha whispered back before shaking her head gently. "I’m.. I’m not going anywhere." She assured him, whilst trying to hide how tentative she sounded about it, and she watched the way his eyes sparkled with a different light. He pulled her into his arms, keeping her within his embrace as he felt some assurance in her word.

"I love you Samantha," he kissed the top of her hair, "and I won’t stop saying it till you say it back."

"You make it hard for me to recognize my name whenever you say it." She murmured as he pulled back to meet her puzzled expression, "it sounds...different."

"In a good or bad way?"

"Incredibly good! It’s like you dipped it in honey." She added, but then at the same time, she recalled the eerie voice that whispered words into her ear. Comparing both in her head, it sounded nothing like Ivan’s voice, but to avoid jumping into conclusion, she lifted her gaze to meet the eyes of Ivan. "Did you perhaps call me by my name before this? I mean before dragging me in here did you whisper my name to lure me?"

"Whisper your name...?" Ivan’s eyebrows creased in slight puzzlement before he shook his head at her question. "No, I didn’t. I was returning from the dungeon when I saw you heading down this path....is there something wrong?" A hint of concern flashed in his eyes as he inquired from Samantha who seemed more confused now that she had discovered that the whispers she heard didn’t come from Ivan.

But if it wasn’t Ivan, who keeps calling her name?

"I..." she lowered her gaze, "I keep hearing strange voices recently." She said, "It started when I woke up the next day after the full blood moon. I thought it was all in my head, or a side effect from my hormones but... the voices keep whispering things to me, I don’t–"

"Voices?" Ivan’s eyes narrowed in perplexity after listening to what his little lamb just revealed to him. "Are these voices audible? What do you hear?"

"Most of the time I hear my name, and other times I hear strange words like....you belong to me, do this, do that but it only lasts for a fleeting moment...I can’t remember everything."

"You belong to me?" A slight frown graced Ivan’s face upon hearing this word. Was someone pestering his little lamb using mind tricks? "It’s a good thing you told me about it before it got out of hand, come with me."

"Where are we going?" Samantha questioned the minute he held her wrist. When he stopped to look at her, his eyes fell on the strings in her dress which he had loosened. Releasing her hand, he reached for the strings and carefully tied them back.

"To see Lord Viktor." And he held her wrist again, taking her out of the corner.

----

Somewhere far from GreenHollow, a young man draped in his royal night garment, sat on a chair in his library chamber, confined in its darkness. With a snap of his fingers, the candles in his library were lit, illuminating the place to reveal its grandeur. Behind him he could hear soft footsteps approaching the table where he sat, and his already grim facade emanated oppressively within the space.

"I told you not to send her there, but look at the outcome." The feminine voice behind him uttered with displeasure. "Our people who go there do not make it out alive. If they’re not dead, they have a sudden change of heart which I believe to be abnormal since they shouldn’t be fond of the enemy. You’re here staring at this damn crystal when you should be concerned about our promise!"

"Promise?" The man’s lips curved into a sneer. On the oak table was a dark glowing crystal that shimmered with an ominous light, and the man’s intense gaze continued to linger on it as he said. "YOU were the one who made that promise, not me. I’m only concerned with getting back what is mine. My precious Jewel."

"Has she yielded to your call?"

The man’s lips twitched at the woman’s intrusive question. "That is none of your business. Why do you interrupt during my busy time?" His tone didn’t hide his irritation, but the woman behind him remained seemingly unaffected by it.

"Seems to me your plan on manipulating that girl is yet to begin, and you’re going to fail so soon?" She gestured at the crystal, watching the glow intensify as it signaled a warning. "If you get caught by those people, everything we’ve worked for will be ruined! Handle this mess before it crumbles us all!"

The man uttered nothing, but his fist clenched on the table, a neutral smile painting his cunning lips.