Under the vampire Lord's protection
Chapter 228: Pure ecstasy and agony

Chapter 228: Pure ecstasy and agony

His usual route was as calm and clear as every early morning. Once his lungs were satiated, Silas walked back, an image of his own room in mind.

Along his path, questions pushed and tugged at each other. Among them, one that kindled a strange pang buried amidst his guts.

Would somebody be waiting for him by the door? Or inside? If so, then would that someone be Edna or...

The vampire stopped before getting ahead of himself. It was simply too soon for the Mirari to take effect on Arabella. It’d have taken her at least two days for its influence to reach its peak.

Still, while fully aware of that fact, his heart sank a little upon realizing that his room was utterly empty. No Arabella in sight.

With everything business related already handled, the vampire turned to the wood carving tools as a way to bide his time until the sun fully rose.

When projecting his hearing told him Arabella was finished with breakfast, he stood up and made his way to her room.

The smile on Ada was quite the bright one. The one on Arabella too was warm and sweet. Although that was until she laid eyes on him.

Something seemed to shift across her features. It was ever so subtle but to keen eyes such as his, nothing evaded.

"You seem well rested," those were his first words to the young woman right after the maid had exited the room.

"I am," one of her hands hovered over her heart.

She refused to meet his gaze entirely, leaving him with no other alternative but to demand a careful glimpse of her gemstones.

"Show me your eyes,"

Before complying, Arabella’s fingers curled around her mother’s pendant, earning her a few seconds of stalling.

Eventually however, she obeyed and exposed her irises bare.

It remained crisp and frail at that stage, just as he’d expected. But it was there, the thinnest of veils, barely dulling the vivid green that made her eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, his voice on the lower and smoother side.

"A bit... Strange," she muttered.

"How did you feel upon laying eyes on me when I walked through that door?" he reiterated.

"Very strange," that time around, her mutter was accompanied by slow nods.

"The good kind? Or the bad?"

"I...," she trailed off momentarily, finally breaking eye contact to stare to the side, into absolute nothingness, "I am not sure yet," her head shook from left to right.

"I can make that feeling go away if that’s your wish, but," he brought her full attention back onto him by softly brushing a strand of hair and tucking it behind her ear, "Would you be willing to tolerate it for one more day or two at least?"

Arabella did not seem thrilled at the idea as the smile on her had long since faded. Nevertheless, she nodded in acceptance.

"If you so choose to, at any time, you let me know and I’ll make it stop," Silas allowed both of his hands to cup her cheeks first, before venturing further down until half of them were on her jaws while the other halves rested on her neck. His fingers buried in her hair, "I won’t ask any questions,"

"Understood,"

At first, she kept still, but a few seconds in and the young woman already felt the need to escape his grasp.

Not because it was painful or repulsive, but out of fear...

Fear of the flutters among her guts, the flittering of her heart which threatened to float away and desert its functions.

Skin to skin contact between them was especially harder on that day.

She’d have wondered about the reason had Arabella not known of the Mirari and the consequences it brought around.

The friction of his palms and fingers against her own skin begat never before experienced tingles.

Like spastic shards, soft yet somehow sharp, some shot through her bloodstreams while others crawled right under her skin, delivering both pure ecstasy and utter agony in turn.

Very carefully, she freed herself of him and took a few steps back.

Silas cleared his throat before ending the uncomfortable silence between them, "Is there something in particular that you’d like to do today?"

"Yes," she immediately jumped to the answer, "I’d like to spend some time in the library. It’s only been a week or so, but it feels like ages since I sat foot in there," her beam returned, although distant, "I hope to find some new poems and create a catalogue for the next gathering,"

Arabella only realized she’d uttered the wrong thing upon noting the sudden switch in Silas’ expression.

Where his features were once mellow, they turned harsh.

"About the gatherings," he started, his voice colder, "I’ll have to speak with my mother concerning you," the interrogative look on her prompted him to elaborate, "I don’t want you to attend the gatherings as an entertainer from now on,"

The silence that hung between them after those words settled on Arabella’s shoulders, pressing her weight further towards the ground.

Before her mind ran with narratives of its own, Persephone’s claims regarding Silas blared within the bounds of her skull.

"He says what he means and means what he says"

So, he simply wanted her to quit being an entertainer, but why?

Was it because of what happened between them on the island? It had to be.

Still, within her lived that gnawing itch that consumed fiber by fiber. That shrill but tiny voice that berated her for ever accepting his advances and allowing things to just unfold.

It incessantly repeated that it was just a phase, that he’d grow bored of her once he’d gotten what he wanted from her.

He’d so easily find a new distraction and she’d be cast aside like nothing.

On the other side, a different voice murmured sweetly in her ear that he was the one. That she’d be the happiest in his arms and no one else’s.

It was all too strange, but that latter part at least could have been chalked up to the Mirari taking effect.

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