Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 572: Mending bridges

The meeting room wasn’t nearly as cold as the last time Arabella had been dragged inside.

Then again, her body was no longer exposed and at the mercy of the highs and lows of the temperature around it.

Though her memories of that room weren’t kind... The beating, the degradation that those filthy pigs had subjected her to...

How many baths would it take to cleanse herself of their dirt? How many nights before the nightmares relented?

"I demand blood," Cynric’s rough voice called her back to reality. The wolfman glared the king down from his standing position as though hoping his eyeballs alone would suffice to melt the man’s face.

"You have shed enough of it I believe," king Cedric the second refused to entertain the idea.

"We have not taken a single soul since our arrival, not even this morning in the rear court. Not even after everything that has been done to us! We-" Allegra’s voice arose, carrying passion through every syllable.

"And I will be forever grateful for the patience and clemency you have shown my people even when defending yourselves. However, all of it has happened on Lustrisian soil and therefore shall be dealt with following our ruling,"

It was Arabella that sat at their center, facing the king, finally properly dressed and cleaned.

Silas sat by her side, but her eyes were strictly on the older man. She barely blinked while glaring at him.

"We saved you from your own flesh and blood and all you will probably do is give your ingrate son a slap on the wrist, won’t you?" Allegra spoke again.

"How dare you? You-" The king’s advisor who stood to his side started but the king himself silenced him with one wave of the hand.

"Fair enough. We will leave," the meeting room went utterly silent when Arabella uttered those words, "But, yes, considering we saved your life as well as humanity from certain doom, I do have a list of requests that I am sure a king should encounter no problem fulfilling. Worry not,"

The man inhaled deeply but only exhaled lightly, "Well, let me hear them first,"

"First, my father will be given a proper burial as the Lord he once was and not as the traitor your son framed him as," she allowed no one to chime in and continued, "Second, all the property in his name will be transferred to his son, Arthur Sterling whereas the property that my grandfather left in my name will remain mine, even though I will still reside in Umbraria,"

A gentle hand gave her shoulder a squeeze. One glance upwards revealed its owner as Ada, smiling feebly at her.

"That sounds reasonable enough, but I doubt that will be all, or am I mistaken?"

Arabella twiddled the beige fabric of her new dress between her fingers, "The pleasure girls... If they so choose, they go free without any repercussions. Those with children should receive the uncontested right to see them whenever they feel like it as well as proper care and respectable living conditions for those who decide to remain under your protection,"

"Anything else?" the king’s brow rose, but his lips still painted the smirk he had on all along.

"Well, I do have a lot to say about the ways things are handled in the castle, in the entire country even, but that would be considered gross interference, null doubt," she looked him dead in the eyes at those words.

The advisor bent down, bringing his mouth to the king’s ear and murmuring something that the humans in the room weren’t blessed with the hearing gift necessary to discern.

"Very well, then," the king sighed after hearing what his advisor had to say, "If that will be all, you are free to leave if you wish to do so right away. I have ordered the preparation of horses and carriages for your departure,"

Arabella waited not a second longer and stood up. The others turned to leave the room with her, but Silas held her hand firmly, stopping her in her tracks.

His attention, however, was not on her but on the king, "Does your highness have anything against longevity?" he asked with a straight face, but his eyes flickered very momentarily towards Morgana.

The knots that had begun to unfasten among her guts tightened at once, threatening to drag everything else down to her heels. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Nothing," Cedric the second retorted with a chuckle, "Who would have anything against such a brilliant gift? If you are so willing to offer it, of course,"

"I’d say gross interference would be too much to describe the... Advice my wife is so graciously ready to give," Silas looked back at her, clearly fighting his will to smile.

The entire council behind the king erupted, some muttering while others full on spoke over each other.

For the entirety of the week she had been forced to spend there, not a single advisor, not a single council member hovered behind the prince the way they did with his father.

Although despite the frowns and the crumpled faces they all, without an exception, put on display, none of them dared speak directly against Silas.

Lord knew where and what the prince had put them through during his short stay on the throne.

"I am sure we can come to an arrangement that will suit everyone," the king nodded, "It has been centuries since the great war and I believe, it is time to put some practices behind us... Bury some hatchets here and there,"

The door to the meeting room burst open for one of the high Generals, General Roald to make his entrance, "Your highness, I am afraid the first wave of soldiers that had been sent towards Umbraria has been taken down and captured. It seems, the enemy has anticipated the attack," his voice went quieter the longer his sentence continued.

For a blink in time, The General’s eyes happened to lock with Arabella’s, and both immediately had the same reflex of looking away.

The king barely spared him a glance and instead focused on Silas, "On a second thought, I would appreciate it if you headed home on this very day and... Send us back what does not belong on your land," after a short sigh he added, turning to his advisor, "Send a royal missive out for a formal meeting with the Umbrarian council. We ought to mend the bridges my own disgrace of a spawn has burned,"