Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 575: Clemency

At the pace with which the carriage traveled, they only got past the border after an entire half a day on the road. Reaching home took another day.

The whole way there, Arabella barely said a few words and even upon crossing the threshold inside, she simply allowed Katherine and Grace to crush her against their chests. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Oh Lord! I thought... I don’t know what I thought but I know it wasn’t good!" Grace fumbled her words.

"How could you go there without me?" Katherine picked scolding over fawning, "I could have helped! I...," eventually, she too went out of words to align.

Arabella merely smiled, looking them straight in the eyes, "It’s alright now," her hands squeezed at the vampiress’, "We are back for good," she nodded, "Everyone is safe,"

Katherine looked behind the young woman, "Where is everyone else? I was informed that you had found Allegra. Where is she?"

"She’s found herself a man and forgotten all about you," all eyes snapped onto Morgana who had a vibrant smirk on, "I am sorry for ruining your moment, but I too must regain my home. A week is too long of a period to be gone without giving notice,"

With that she turned around to leave, but before reaching the door, Arabella’s voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Thank you for everything," after a second, she added, "We could never have done it without you,"

"Don’t mention it," the witch cast a short look behind the young woman before exiting.

The look was destined to reach Persephone who stood frozen by the stairs, her stance straight but frail.

She was quiet but that was not to be confused with calm and peace. The vampiress simply waited for her turn.

Silas approached his mother and stopped right in front of her without saying a word. He just gave her the time to study his features before finally wrapping her arms around his neck and allowing the first tears to fall.

Well, those were the first tears from Persephone that Arabella got to witness. The closest to vulnerability she had ever witnessed of her mother-in-law was the moment they shared in the room when reviewing her children’s pins after Allegra’s abduction.

Mother and son held each other like no one present in the foyer had seen them do, inhaling each other’s perfumes as if there was no tomorrow.

No one said a word until they broke the embrace off when they were ready to. Persephone neared Arabella and took her hands.

The young woman’ eyes refused to rise. Well, they tried but failed to withstand her gaze. There was so much on her chest and heart. The weight of so many unspoken words pressed her vision downward, never allowing her to hold her chin high once.

Persephone was having none of that and cupped her cheeks to force her eyes up, but even then, Arabella couldn’t look her in the eyes.

How could she ever? Was she touching her soiled body with those clean hands of hers? She shouldn’t have! The filth that lingered would have rubbed off on her.

By her fault, the woman nearly lost her last relative! Her only son!

Despite everything that was said, the gratitude that was expressed to her in words and actions... Still, something scraped at the back of her mind, earning her not a moment of rest.

"Welcome back, dear," Persephone spoke clearly.

"Thank you, mother," Arabella, on the other hand, only murmured before swiftly turning around and gesturing towards Arthur, "This Arthur, the long-lost brother that I have mentioned countless times. I... I hoped...," the words failed her.

"Yes, I have received the letter you’ve sent from the castle," Persephone looked straight at the unresponsive man, "We’ve got a room ready and waiting for him. Grace, if you would please guide him there, darling,"

"Yes, my Lady,"

Grace showed no hesitation and went to Arthur’s side to show him the way. Despite his mental state, he still managed to grasp her words and follow in her tracks without any objections.

Persephone seemingly waited until he was out of earshot before asking, "What is his situation like?"

Arabella’s eyes followed his figure until he disappeared beyond the second part of the stairs, "Silas’ blood cured him physically and I suspect it did help his mental as well, but it did not exactly revert him back to his initial state before... Whatever they put him through," she shook her head, "I am not even sure whether he was already like this when they found him,"

Persephone hummed at first, "Did he speak to you at all?"

"Not a word since I laid eyes on him," Arabella’s gaze ventured back towards the stairs again, "Like I said, he’s been doing a lot better after ingesting the blood. He is actually functional and responds to actions or simple requests, but not verbally,"

"I reckon, he simply needs time to readjust and digest what’s happened to him," her hands cupped Arabella’s cheeks once more, "Healing is one tough maze to navigate. Consider having some clemency for yourself as well. Go and rest," she looked back at her son, "We can talk about nothing and everything tomorrow. We have all the time in the world now,"

Silas lay a gentle hand on Arabella’s lower back which made her instinctively flinch away. He did not push and simply waited for her to move forward.

"My deepest condolences for your father, by the way,"

Persephone’s words made her stop in her tracks.

"I know you two never saw eye to eye but neither of you deserved that kind of closure,"

"Thank you," was all that Arabella whispered.

All the way after that, her gemstones remained glued to the marble flooring, but even that wasn’t enough to hide as the reflection of everything that surrounded them hit her right back in the face.

Well, that was until the first half of the stairs was behind her. There was that sudden urge that tugged at her head, calling for it to rise.

She did so and was greeted by the oh so great portrait of Emeric Eleazar, his watchful eye always piercing and thorough.

Arabella sought across the brushstrokes for a hint of disapproval or disgust in those golden irises that refused to let go of her...

There were none. Not the slightest trace of disdain lived in them. He looked every bit as the kind man that came to her help when she needed it the most.