Under the vampire Lord's protection
Chapter 221: Rattling news

Chapter 221: Rattling news

Silas and Persephone took to the gardens to discuss whatever it was she had to say. By all accounts, silas seemed the calmest, but his mother knew better.

"No harm will come to her," she spoke, staring ahead at the darkened rose hedges in the distance.

"If he gets a hold of her, those bars won’t do anything to stop him,"

"If he gets a hold of her, nothing will happen," she paused before adding, "He clearly didn’t come all the way here to hurt her,"

"Intentions rarely count when his strength surpasses hers a thousand times over," he too glared forward, tone as sharp and cold as per his usual.

"In any case, have you sent a message to Cynric about this yet?"

"No need," Silas looked up at the moon, "Something tells me he’ll come to collect his son before sunrise,"

The Lady pushed a long sigh, "You are probably right," after a short, quiet moment, she continued, "I saw the bite marks on her earlier,"

"It is just an experiment," he finally turned to face her figure, "May we skip idle chatter already?"

The vampiress took a deep breath before copying his action and pivoting his way. From the long sleeve of her dress, she pulled a folded sheet of paper and extended it towards him.

"We’ve received this communication from the syndicate right around sun set," she said.

Silas asked no further question as he knew the answers would be inked into that parchment.

And right he was at that.

Colored black, the words on the sheet thickened the blood in his veins, slowing it to a near null speed.

"I am not sure what their game plan is, but we know the goal," Lady Persephone admired the bright moon much like her son did moments before.

"It doesn’t say but will we have to provide the prince with shelter?" he asked, folding the letter back into its initial form.

"Again, I am unsure. Although I assume that is what he wants," she took the paper from him, held it between her hands and gazed down at it, "In any case, we have to start preparing for the next ceremony much earlier than usual. I’d like to count and cover more potential unexpected inconveniences this time around,"

"Have you met Prince Cedric before today?"

"I haven’t had that... Dishonor yet, no," she pressed on the word dishonor, "Though judging by what I’ve heard of him, it won’t be a pleasure,"

"Did Arabella speak ill of him?" Silas took a step forward and descended the stairs leading down the winding path between flower beds.

"Let us simply say, defying her father was not the only reason she fled home," by then, Persephone had followed in his tracks.

As bright as it was, the shine of the celestial body did not hold a candle to that of its daytime counterpart.

Indeed, sunlight made every color in the garden pop, leap to the eye. It jogged the rest of their senses better as well.

"Like you said, his goal might be clear but his plan to reach it remains shrouded in mystery still," his finger brushed one of the tall grass strands that stuck out, "But how do you reckon he will go about it?"

"I reckon the sheer sight of him will rattle her," Persephone stopped walking, "Other than that, I doubt he’ll try to snatch her by force again. You know... I bet he thinks he has something to tell her. Something that will...," she trailed off, a distant look on her.

"Something that will disturb her further," he half asked.

"Something that will convince her to return home with him,"

He allowed none of it to show on him, but those words dragged his stomach further down than Silas was willing to admit.

Asking wouldn’t amount to much since his mother was none the wiser as well, and so he kept tossing the question around in his mind.

What would be the thing that would convince Arabella to willingly surrender her freedom?

"I will get the usual preparations out of the way. That will give us time to ponder and foresee foreign elements on the way, but in the meantime, speak to Arabella," she looked him dead in the eyes, "The last thing she needs is to be blindsided by this,"

"I will tell her when the right time comes,"

"The sooner the better, son," she shook her head, "If anything, she’ll need more time to process his arrival than we do,"

"Understood," he was the first to break eye contact.

The next tribute auction promised to be stormy with the presence of the Prince of Lustris himself.

Not to mention, Reubon still lingered, null doubt bracing for his next move. Then again, perhaps the prince was his next move.

Nevertheless, his mother was right. No matter how rattled the news will make her, Arabella needed a heads up.

Memory served him the day she’d complained after being blindsided by the previous auction at the ball.

When he thought he was sheltering her from unnecessary harm but as it turned out, Silas did just the opposite of that.

Although, one thing was clear, there was no need in informing her about it that same night since they had their hands full with that wolf boy as it was.

Silas descended the dungeon steps, quick in his pace but stealthy.

Their voices echoed all around him and as such there was no need in projecting his hearing.

"I can’t! It hurts too much to do it! Please, don’t make me do it," the boy’s voice came strained as though choking on his own tears.

"I won’t make you do anything you don’t truly want to do," the feminine voice traveled after his, "But you said you wanted to take control. Wouldn’t it be great to show your father that you can do it? And perhaps he won’t be mad that you left without his permission. Here, take my hand if you are scared,"

"Do you think so? He won’t punish me if I do it," his tone brittle, he asked, full of hope.

"There is a high chance of that happening, yes,"