Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 182: From the heart

Not in the slightest did Lady Persephone seem surprised when Silas stood by the lounge room door.

"I prefer not to listen beyond closed doors so out of curiosity, just how horribly did it go?" she continued to sip on her tea in one hand while reading a book in the other.

Not once did the vampiress raise her gaze in his direction.

In reply, Silas merely walked past her figure then took the seat next to hers. When the silence went on for too long, Lady Persephone finally put both the teacup and the book down before turning his way.

"Speak up; what was it you said that made her curl into a ball and vow to cry all the tears in her body?" the Lady placed her hands flat together on her lap, earning her a graceful outlook.

For the first time in many, many years, Silas did not glare back at her as all of the sudden, the wood that constituted the arm of his chair became the most interesting thing in the world. He scratched at it over and over again with one single finger while avoiding his mother’s eyes at all costs.

"She did not curl... She ran and... Then cried,"

"Are we arguing semantics now?"

Those words finally convinced his diamonds to snap upwards, and at that sight, unlike her usual whenever Silas would give his signature glare, in that moment, Persephone’s features returned the warmest beam they’d displayed in centuries...

"Three hundred and twelve years old and you somehow still manage to look five," she chuckled, but not the customary kind of chuckles, a hearty one instead, "Now, that is a feat,"

The twitching of his eyebrow did not help his case, wrenching yet another chuckle from the heart out of his mother.

"You once took an entire battalion head on all on your own, came out of it unscathed and yet here you are...," by then, the chuckles had turned to full on giggles.

Silas tolerated none of it, and sprung to his feet, "This was a mistake. Forgive me for bothering you with this, mother,"

"Oh, come now! Don’t be touchy. It is not in your nature," once the fit of giggling had subsided, Persephone finally managed to speak, "Sit," she nodded towards the chair he left.

Her reaction and words did not leave him indifferent. In fact, it was very much the opposite, but it wasn’t just about how humiliating the experience was, it was also the first time he’d seen that much joy and life in his mother’s eyes since... Well, since his father’s demise.

It was all too odd, to say the least.

"Believe it or not, I know you more than you know yourself. Your demeanor alone announced the colors, but I still want to know the exact words you used to trigger such an extreme reaction from her," the Lady picked up her teacup and took a new sip.

"I simply sat down like you’d suggested. I did not know what to say so I asked if she wanted to see Edgar. He seemed to always know how to make her smile," Silas averted his gaze away at those words.

Another giggle escaped her before she caught herself upon seeing the look on his face, "Lord, have mercy! Didn’t you forbid Edgar from even approaching her room? What did you think she was going to gather from that?"

"That I wanted her to feel better...," nothing else came through. Silas muted his own voice, fearing the next thing that would come out of his mouth would be even more ridiculous than the previous.

The grin on her face kept on widening, but then, just as it’d appeared, it started fading gradually, "Considering, she is human, you will not wow her the same way you’d sweep one of our kind off her feet," Persephone was very calm, "You need to be very careful with your own words for they carry heavier consequences," she paused before quickly adding, "From her perspective at least,"

"I understand that,"

"Do you?" she raised an eyebrow, "If you anger a vampire woman enough, she may chase you down a lavender field and attempt to strangle you,"

That scenario for a potential outcome was a little too precise for his taste and Persephone seemed to pick up on that, "Your father and I did not meet under the most optimal circumstances. Don’t ask any questions about it," she cleared her throat, "But if you anger or frighten a human woman, she may never want to see you again because she does not have the power to hold her own in a fight against you, let alone best you,"

"I mean her no harm," he said.

"I know that," Persephone nodded, "but she may not know it," the nods turned to slow shaking from left to right, "As I said before, your words will mean a lot more to her because you own this place and like the rest of the people under this roof, she is at your mercy,"

"I don’t own this place,"

"Yet," the Lady made the syllable pop in her mouth, "And are we back to arguing semantics?"

The stern look on her prompted him to apologize, "Forgive me, mother. I don’t mean to be difficult," he paused momentarily before adding, "I simply do not know how to ease her mind," Silas went back to scratching at the wood of the chair.

"But you’ve done it before, don’t you remember? And many times, at that," she smiled.

When her son kept on staring at her blankly, her own eyes did that thing again that Silas had nearly never seen on her. She’d rolled her eyes at his denseness.

"You took her to the trophy room to reassure her about our intentions towards her. You were the first to ask how she’d managed to cross the border safely. You were the first to discover her passion for history. You gave her your late cousin’s dress as a consolation after her own was torn. Do I need to go on, Silas?" she’d uttered everything calmly but all too quickly, "I am not being precise in my suggestions because I trust you to say and do the right thing as I’ve witnessed it before. I know you are capable of it. It’d feel a lot more genuine when coming from the heart and not a mechanical action that I advised you to take,"

This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢