Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 146: Two contemplations

The day dragged along, moving at a painfully slow pace when all that tossed and turned in his mind was one single question; How could that one petal have escaped his attention?

Sure, he’d gotten rid of the roses that were sent to her room when he was under the influence of blood withdrawal, but having to explain it after the fact was yet another chore that Silas was unequipped to handle.

Moreover, how to deal with the fact that a sharp sting still twinged at his insides whenever his eyes and ears would observe Arabella in Edgar’s company? Irrationally so... Or not so irrational considering the many justifications that people around them found to label his behavior towards her.

Infatuation... They’d called it obsession or even fascination!

Had he ever been fascinated by a human before? Silas could not for the life of him remember, but he sure was riveted by her and her alone.

There were many points to pick from the list of reasons for that, however, the deeper he rummaged the more one and only causation stood out.

The way in which she’d refused to point a finger at Edna despite the clear hatred of the latter towards her when many others would have jumped at the opportunity to get even.

Nevertheless, evening finally came. Silas put every remanence of those thoughts to sleep along with the sun.

Most essentially when Katherine came into view. Not much of a coincidence, considering he sought her out.

In the kitchens she stood, twirling a teaspoon in a steaming cup of tea.

"Katherine,"

It was as though he’d caught her by surprise which in itself was surprising, coming from a vampire.

Katherine had turned around and curtsied immediately before him.

"Good evening, Master," she smiled.

"To you as well," his eyes remained on the tea.

"Arabella returned to the manor a little while ago and I thought some tea would do her good," her gaze flickered between him and the teacups on the counter.

"That is kind of you, Katherine," Silas’ tone did not change one bit throughout any sentence he’d uttered up until then.

"Thank you, Master. How may I serve you then? Why did you not ring your bell to summon staff instead of traveling all the way down here?" she smiled.

"I meant to speak with you,"

"Me?" the question came out seemingly before any thought had crossed her mind, "I mean, of course! How may I be of use?"

"I’d like to talk about what happened with you yesterday,"

At those words, Silas expected her to launch into apologies and attempted justifications, but what came from her had not even been on his list of assumptions.

"What happened yesterday," she half asked, eyebrows slightly furrowed, "Forgive me, Master, but I fail to understand," frёewebηovel.cѳm

"To be more specific, I am talking about the mix up that happened yesterday when you went to visit Arabella," he said.

"I... Yesterday?" she tilted her head, "I did not see Arabella yesterday at all,"

He caught himself before chastising her for outright lying as Arabella’s words on the matter blared in his ears.

Something along the lines of Katherine acting like nothing had happened the second time she’d returned to her room.

So, Silas held his tongue and instead walked forward, towards the teacups, "Which cup is hers?"

Still quite perplexed looking, Katherine pointed at the one on the left, "This one, Master,"

Without wasting another second, he picked it up and took a sip under her widened eyes.

"I...," it seemed the words failed her.

"You may go,"

It tasted like nothing but the ordinary tea that humans would ingest. It swirled green round and round the porcelain that contained it.

For a good moment, Katherine’s eyes kept on darting between the cups and Silas, but when the answers to her apparent internal conflict didn’t come, she picked the silver tray and curtsied one last time before exiting the kitchens.

Her face might as well have spelled "lunatic" in his regards, but she said nothing of it. Making a fool out of himself mattered very little if it meant acquiring clear answers.

As it turned out, Arabella had been right to be concerned; something was, indeed, wrong with Katherine.

And he’d have to dig deeper while monitoring her to get to the bottom of it.

As soon as he’d regained the hallways however, the butler Carlton walked his way before bowing, "Master, we’ve just now received word of confirmation from Lord Dragomir that he would be attending tomorrow’s outing,"

"Confirmation?" Silas’ eyebrow twitched.

"Yes, Master,"

"Correct me if I am wrong, Carlton, but Darick was not on the list of summoned,"

Silas glared at the butler as per his usual, but the man’s features never faltered, "You would be correct on that, Master,"

"Thank you for alerting me," the vampire walked past the man without another glance, "And one more thing, Carlton," he halted right as their backs were turned to each other.

"Yes, Master?"

"It is long past your shift hours. Leave work to whom it may concern,"

With that, Silas walked away with two contemplations in mind, battling for territory. On one hand stood Katherine’s situation and on the other, the recent news about Dragomir.

All around, he’d never been the straightforward guy for as long as he’d known him, never revealing his true intentions.

His sudden demand to join the party announced nothing good.

Once he’d entered his room, Silas made use of his summoning bell and the first to answer his call had been Lucinda, one of the vampire maids that worked for them.

"What are your orders, Master?" she bowed.

"I’d like you send Allegra over to me,"

Lucinda did not loaf around. It only took seconds for Allegra to be with Silas.

"I am afraid, I have yet another stealth job for you, Allegra," that was the first thing he uttered upon hearing her greetings.

"Whatever you need, Master," she bowed.

"Katherine. I want you to monitor her state and report back to me on anything that may seem suspicious,"

The confident expression on Allegra evaporated right the instant his words had reached her ears.