Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 207: More than one mystery

Considering the emotional weight of that island and house they sat in, Arabella believed there was more than lack of tact on his part whenever he’d voiced his concerns or ideas so clumsily.

"What do you mean voluntarily?" he insisted.

"I am sorry, I shouldn’t have said that," she shook her head.

"We just had this conversation," he started, "I’d like you to be comfortable enough to speak your mind, especially around me,"

"Would that be wise?"

"And why wouldn’t it be?" that entire time, he never let go of her.

"Perhaps our ranks in society would have mattered less if I was a vampire, but I am not,"

"That matters very little to me," he said.

"I realize that," she marked a pause during which her fists clenched, "But our whole dynamic relied on the fact that you were seeking answers as to what made me special, about the reasons the Mirari did not affect me only to discover that you were curing me from it all along. Our entire interactions were based on this foundation of me doing my best to remain in line and you... Trying to figure my secret out and now, you’ve finally unraveled the truth. Things will be different,"

"Things can be just as we wish them to be," his arms bound her to him harder as though fearing she’d slip through his fingers if he didn’t hold on tightly enough.

"Not for someone like me or... Ada,"

"Do you see Ada as an equal to you?" he asked.

"Of course, I do," her fists gripped the skirt of her gown with more strength, "I have nothing she doesn’t have or that she can’t accomplish,"

"You know, you were right about what you said a minute ago," Silas did something that froze her blood in their veins very momentarily before mellowing every muscle in her body. He, for the first time, let out a hearty chuckle, "Although I never lied when I said I wanted to relieve you of any stress, I always said the wrong thing... And I kept making that mistake because I didn’t understand. I couldn’t understand,"

Arabella had the inkling the answer already lay in her hands, but she asked regardless, "What couldn’t you understand?"

"Your close tie with Katherine and Ada that grew sturdier with each day that passed in such a short period of time," with his thumb he stroked her covered arm and yet, she still managed to feel him through the thick layers of fabric that enveloped her, "I knew you were likeable and kind, but still couldn’t fathom this...,"

When he failed to find the word, Arabella finished his sentence for him, "Friendship?" she suggested.

"Nothing but family ties, pure camaraderie or rivalry ever tied me to every single person I’d crossed paths with. Any connection with a deeper meaning than courtesy with people other than my own parents was a riddle I never even thought would intrigue me,"

"Are you saying you’ve never had any friends? Not ever?" her pitch had risen a tad, but her voice remained meek.

"I am saying exactly that,"

"I... Don’t think I’ve ever had any real friends aside from my mother and brother before coming to Umbraria. At first, I’d considered the maids that worked for my father as friends, but I was quickly reminded of the disparity that would lead our lives down different paths. It was hard to accept, but me and them belonged to different worlds no matter how strongly I refused to see it, and that was also how I understood that facts needn’t my approval,"

"No, they don’t, but the rules built on those same facts can always be bent," one of his hands rose up to cast an unruly strand of her hair behind her ears.

The gentleness of his action convinced her to shut her eyes and have faith that everything will be just alright.

"But a level of flexibility would be required for bending,"

"That can be managed," he slowly nodded against her head, "Tell me, you who lived a life somewhat similar to mine in that regard, what do you seek in a friend?"

"I never knew what it was, but I immediately recognized it when I saw it... In Ada," she whispered her name, "She too was apprehensive around me at first, but with her, I had something I didn’t have back in Lustris,"

"What was it?"

"Here I am truly her equal, even though I’ve had to say it countless times until she understood it. She still calls me Miss, but it has become an inside joke more than a formality," the smile on her face was palpable through her voice alone.

"Do you like spending time with her?" he asked.

"Yes, I do,"

"Do you trust her?" another question.

Again, she nodded, "Yes, I do,"

"Are you happy to see her face and her smile every day?"

"Of course," she chirped in a subdued squeak.

"Then I believe, I also recognized what you see in her,"

"Yes, she is wonderful,"

"I meant I recognized it in you," he corrected.

The faint gasp that had escaped her control at that moment told it all.

"I’d been wondering why I felt the need to seek you out through the manor, the need to see and hear you speak or laugh,"

Silas did not expect her to say a thing as her body had hardened once anew which he foresaw after uttering such words.

"It is not simply the mystery of your immunity to the Mirari that kept your image in my thoughts even if it may have started as that,"

Right then, the same hand that tamed her hair, rose again, only that time it went around her throat first before caressing its way up to her jaws.

In her eyes, time completely stopped, freezing every part of her body in place.

He wasn’t rough by any means, all that the vampire wanted was to crane her neck and make her look him in the eyes.

To offer him that upside down glance he so longed for and desired.

"But... There is something else with you. It’s something I wanted to do for a good while now,"

Without breathing another word, he lifted himself up just enough to bend closer, over her face and lock his lips with hers.

This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om