Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 90: In Each Other’s Arms

Chapter 90: In Each Other’s Arms

The gasps that circulated around the grand hall expressed the shocks and bewilderment of everyone present, and the once heavy air that weighed in the atmosphere now reeked with an oppressive silence.

Samantha’s pupils had dilated when she snapped her gaze at Ivan, wondering what he was doing by making such an inane announcement to his family, and when her green eyes moved to the hand that interlaced with hers so affectionately, he made sure everyone witnessed his intimate gesture, and that alone spiked Samantha’s heart when she felt all eyes land upon her frame.

"This girl?!" Claire raged out her disbelief as she pointed a finger at Samantha, "you can’t possibly stoop that low to marry a servant, right?" She questioned her brother, hoping it was one of his tricks, but of course, the last thing she expected was for him to pay her any attention, whilst she turned to look at her Mother, hoping she would do something to end this madness.

Queen Carina, who finally noticed the maiden standing beside Ivan didn’t need to study her twice before coming to the conclusion that she was a mere servant. Her gaze moved to their interlaced fingers as if she was yet to believe the incongruous declaration, and she scoffed repulsively before eyeing Ivan.

"Are you joking with me? What do you think you are doing?" Queen Carina questioned Ivan in a no-nonsense tone before shaking her head in denial, a soft laugh leaving her lips. "You must be joking, there’s no way you can marry a servant as it is against the rules, even if you decide to marry her, she’ll end up as your concubine, not a wife." Carina corrected her step-son who wasn’t the least affected by her unwanted opinion, rather, it went the other way round when she heard him say conclusively.

"I can marry whoever I wish to get married to, be it a princess, a laborer’s daughter, a farmer’s daughter, or a servant." He asserted, "she can only turn concubine if...I end up marrying a princess from another royalty, but there won’t be any need for that since I have no intention of following in my Father’s footsteps. I guess sticking my nose to books did come with its own advantage, whereas you, the mighty Queen Carina of EmptyHollow, aren’t even aware of what the proper rule states."

Ivan didn’t hesitate to bite back in a matter-of-fact tone, and he knew he had successfully struck a nerve when the smile on her lips dropped, instantly twisting into one of pure disdain. He could see her left eye twitch in restraint, like she had more to say to him but was clearly stopping herself from doing so. He knew there was more to her return than what meets the eye, and this decision he made, the one he didn’t have the time to process if it was right or wrong before implementing it, was merely to test her, and that confirmed his suspicion.

Meanwhile, everyone else was left aghast by the news, except for Tobias who somehow, had seen this coming.

Watching the two of them whose hands remained interlaced like true lovers only made Ivy feel slightly dizzy, and she could hear something inside of her snap painfully. Her heart ached, and she could barely contain the idea of Ivan liking another woman, but then how is that even possible? If it had been someone else, she wouldn’t have minded it much, but a servant? And most especially that girl?? Ivy refused to accept it, she wouldn’t.

"It can’t be her." Ivy mentally denied it as she shook her head.

The tension around everyone was starting to grow thicker by the minute, and Samantha, who felt wronged in all of this had opened her mouth to clear her name from this royalty mess, but then it happened again.

She couldn’t speak.

It felt like her lips had been sealed and glued together by the same unknown force, denying her her freedom of speech, whilst she glared at Ivan, knowing that it was his doing. When she made an attempt to free her hand, his grip tightened instead, refusing to let go, and Samantha couldn’t ask what his problem was.

Carina, who was still yet to believe Ivan’s announcement, turned her attention to the maiden who immediately lowered her head in a polite bow. The young maiden could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears when Carina’s gaze pierced through her frame, and she wished right now to fall into a quicksand and drown in its depth, as long as she disappeared from here.

"What is your name?" Carina had asked Samantha while approaching her with measured steps, her gaze whimsical, but before she could get close, Ivan had protectively pulled his little lamb behind him, and when Carina met his gaze, stunned by his audacity to interfere, she noticed something sinister flashed within them.

"I wouldn’t take another step closer if I were you." He warned, the shape of his irises were deviously contracting again, and this time around, Carina had noticed it.

"That is enough." Abdiel, who was starting to get sick of the argument, stepped forward to put an end to it, his authoritative voice resounding in the hall room and commanding the attention of everyone. Right now, he was supporting no one, neither was he happy with the abrupt decision Ivan had made, and he clearly declared.

"This discussion will end here, everything else will be settled in the courtroom where the final decision will be made, and that will be tomorrow night since the councils of Vesunard will be coming over. There are other important matters to handle, and there are cases to be solved. Do not cause another uproar until then." His final statement was directly aimed at Carina, and then he returned his gaze to Ivan.

"Get changed and meet me in our usual place, you have some serious explaining to do. Everyone else can return to what they were doing before." He dismissed everyone.

Tobias was the first to dismiss himself, a slight smile curving his lips while Alistair followed behind, wondering how this happened. They had asked the servant to help Ivan pick a bride, but who knew she would end up being THE BRIDE????

"This is insane, did you know about this?" Alistair softly questioned his brother as they disappeared from the stairs.

When everyone left, Ivy could barely breathe when she saw Ivan take the servant upstairs till their figures were no longer in sight. She wasn’t supposed to feel like this, afterall she was the one who rejected his proposal for the same reason, but now... why is she feeling like she had made a mistake??

—----

"In three convincing sentences, I want you to tell me why you did all of that at the hall??!!" Returning to Ivan’s room, Samantha could barely contain her anger as she questioned the vampire Lord who paced back and forth, obviously disturbed. Samantha was too anxious, too afraid of what would happen after that, and she could only vent out her frustration on him.

"Why did you do it?!"

"I don’t know." Was all he could give as a response cause genuinely speaking, he really doesn’t know why he made that decision.

"You don’t know?!" Samantha’s eyes narrowed at his lame excuse, "you don’t freaking know why you announced to your family that I am going to be your bride?!"

"It just happened goddammit!" Ivan ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to get his mind to work. He stopped pacing and turned to look at the angry woman in front of him. "For once, I agree that you have every right to be upset, but I need you to stay calm, okay? They can’t make us get married the next day, and they’re not in approval of this fake union, I knew they wouldn’t be, I only used it to stall time."

"Time for what?" Samantha shook her head in refusal, "I don’t want to be a part of this, you’ll be doing us both good if you please pick someone else and leave me out of it."

"No."

"What? Why?!"

"I don’t know, stop asking me these questions and let me think! God! Spending time with you is already giving me anger issues." He pointed at her bed, "go, drink a glass of water, take a deep breath, sit down and leave me alone for ten minutes. Go!" He ordered, and Samantha, who could not bring herself to refuse his command, could only stomp her feet as she returned to her side of the bed.

Finally gaining the peace and silence he needed, Ivan moved to where his Chaise lounge was located and took a seat. He poured himself a goblet of his blood wine and drank it in one go, whilst Samantha watched him through angry narrowed eyes as he pondered to himself. Ivan had announced his little lamb as his bride because he knew no one would accept it, at least that was the only sensible reason he could think of concerning why he had chosen her.

He had used the excuse to buy himself more time so he could figure out what sort of evidence Carina had mentioned. No matter how hard Ivan thought of the possibilities, his mind couldn’t come up with any reasonable deposition that could possibly change his role of becoming King.

What were they planning?

"My ending is near." He could hear his little lamb whine to herself as she sat up against the bed. "Why wasn’t I given a good Lord like prince Tobias to serve? The one I ended up with always puts me in between a rock and a hard surface, I..."

"Quit whining and come here."

"Your ten minutes aren’t up yet."

"Little Lamb." The persistence in his tone made her stand up reluctantly from the bed, and she joined him on his Chaise lounge. He gestured for her to sit, which she eventually did, and then he requested.

"I’m going to need you to pretend to be my bride for a few weeks. I’m trying to uncover something contemptible, but in order to figure it out, I need a bride.... fake bride." He corrected, but when she didn’t respond and still looked slightly offended, Ivan was forced to swallow his pride, and then he uttered softly.

"I’m sorry, okay?" He accepted defeat since he urgently needed her help, "I’ve already apologized, and I mean it...so will you do it with me?"

"But we’re not getting married!" She made it clear to Ivan who nodded right away.

"No marriages, I promise!" He assured the woman who eventually nodded before looking at him as if she wanted to cry.

"I was afraid here and all you did was scold me." She complained while making a face.

’yeah, because you were yelling at me too!’ Ivan wanted to say, but looking at her face that appeared vulnerable again like she would start shedding tears any minute, he pulled her into his arms instead to console her, softly petting her head.

It was then Ivy decided to step into his room, only to find them in each other’s arms.