Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 537: night skulls

The rest, even her fate in Atticus’ arms was obscured upon coming to the conclusion that Ada was finally in the castle.

Only the night before did Floriel fly there to probe things around. They reacted quite fast. Then again, she must’ve reported on the condition Arabella was in which may have led them to precipitate things.

Before she knew it, the General had taken her into one of the many bedrooms under that roof.

What was to come was more than obvious and needed no explanation so, the young woman opted to be the good obedient machine they wanted her to be and just blocked all the rest out for the sake of her sanity.

Atticus did not put her back on the floor but on the bed instead. Instinctively, her fingers curled around the red cape bundling her as she tucked her feet beneath her ass on the cushy mattress.

He said nothing while taking the armor parts off his body, leaving nothing but the thinner, fabric layers under it.

The man then settled on the bed beside her still quivering figure and just... Stared...

She didn’t dare look him in the eyes, but his gaze was heavy and meticulous, studying every inch of every feature that made her.

His hand went up, causing her to shut her eyes and flinch yet again, though when landing on her cheek, no pain came along for it was no strike.

On the contrary, even through the roughness of his skin, his touch was quite soft and patient, caressing the bruises that stamped her face.

A few small sparks shot beneath her flesh, coursing her veins due to the high sensitivity of the area, but nothing worse than that.

"According to his highness, you crossed the border and received help to reach the Eleazar manor," he spoke all the while still stroking her cheek with the back of his hand, "But the timeline in his recounting of the story didn’t add up. There were always little changes he made here and there when retelling it. So, I’d rather ask you directly; did you truly reach the Eleazars’ the same day you left Lustris?"

That was so out of the blue that her mind turned blank. To add to that, knowing that not providing an immediate response might be grounds for more punishment caused her stomach to twist and churn air faster.

the tears on her face hadn’t yet dried up and stood no chance to as new ones flowed until the man spoke again, softening his timbre further, "You are in no trouble. Answer at your own pace,"

He told no lie and truly waited until her tongue moved willingly.

"I did reach the manor on the same day I left. After about seven or eight hours of running," she kept her eyes on her hands which rested together upon her lap.

"Care to explain how?" he finally stopped caressing her cheek, "The official route should take at least an entire day on the back of a good mount,"

The young woman clamped up... He did not know the full story. They were made aware about the tunnels but of course, Cedric wouldn’t give the details out. That part seemed so benign to her after three months in Umbraria that Arabella had forgotten the way it sounded in Lustris for a woman to possess such knowledge.

"You used the underground tunnels, didn’t you?" when she took too long to answer he bridged the gaps himself, "It was you that marked their location on that map," he half asked.

For once, she forced her head up and down to nod in response, lest he’d get bored of answering his own questions.

Every motion he made, triggered a new physical withdrawal from her, digging her nails so tightly into her own hand to suppress the desire to leap off that bed and run as far away as it was possible.

"I won’t hurt you," he stopped mid turn to speak.

He wouldn’t hurt her as long as she behaved the way he wanted her to, right?

His hand dipped into the small velour pouch that had been clinging to his belt before reemerging with something in it. Something small and brown, reminiscent of a tree nut.

Atticus opened his hand and presented the round, little thing on his palm, "Could you tell me what this is?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Upon closer inspection, Arabella concluded it was most definitely a nut, but the kind she only had the privilege of reading about and experiencing in Umbraria exclusively. Her eyes widened, gawking at the perfectly circular fruit, paying very little attention to her wandering hand which rose without permission until it nearly grasped the small bud.

She immediately froze and asked, "May I?"

"Take it," he said calmly.

The young woman needn’t be told twice and carefully picked it between her fingers at first before pressing it against her palm for a sense of the leathery feeling it owned.

After marveling at it for a few seconds, Arabella’s jaws moved on their own, "Humans tend to say that nature made no perfect shapes and thus anything that did not follow that rule had to be cast aside even if it grew on trees. Such was the case of night skulls; nuts so hard, our kind required a special tool to apply great force just to crack their shells and reach their soft, very nutritious hearts. Back when Solis Aevum still counted as one stretch of land, many humans still refused to consume them despite the great benefits it was proven to harbor for one’s health, but... After the war, all night skull trees were either uprooted from the ground or burned down in Lustris,"

A warm and tender hand came under chin as she continued to pet the fruit as if it’d come to life. Atticus, without applying a painful amount of pressure, managed to raise her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"I want you to keep looking at me the same way you look at this little thing in your hand,"

Those words rattled her and accomplished the absolute opposite thing he wished to witness.