Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 583: Take the hand

As promised and despite the knot that squeezed around her guts tightly, Arabella stopped in front of the door to the room that was once hers. The same one that harbored her brother, Arthur behind it on that day.

She knocked the first time then stood in place, knowing full well that the probability of receiving a verbal permission to enter was quite unlikely.

After her second knock, she waited a few seconds then very carefully turned the knob and gently pushed the door open.

Unsurprisingly, Arthur hadn’t moved at all from his sitting spot. In fact, nothing seemed to have shifted at all since her visit earlier that morning.

Arabella slowly moved closer to the man after shutting the door behind herself. She dragged the same chair that had served her that morning to his side before settling down.

"I was told you ate your dinner so, that is good," she nodded to her own words, eyes flickering between his blank face and the window in front of them, "I do hope the food was to your liking. Although, I doubt you would have any complaints after tasting the cooking under this roof. It is simply to die for," her smile was not as bright as her heart wanted it to be.

The young woman did not come into the room with high hopes or expectations. Arthur hadn’t said a word to her since she first saw him after so many years had slipped by. The likelihood of him just snapping out of it and going back to the young boy she once knew was next to null.

The twisting and writhing at her core never stopped. On the contrary, it only got worse as the chair beneath her grew colder with every second that ran by.

When the urge to scream his name and start shaking him by the shoulders consumed her whole, Arabella took a deep breath and dug her nails down her own thighs, grasping at the last straws of control in her.

"You know, I’d wish for nothing but to hear about your adventures after... Your departure from home," her lips pulled a simper that did not reach her teary eyes, "I bet they are the most interesting! You practiced your archery, didn’t you? I am sure you did," she nodded to her own words again.

Holding a conversation on her own turned out to be a lot harder than she initially believed. What was even more discouraging was the fact that nothing in Arthur moved. Nothing aside from his chest which rose and fell as he breathed.

"I can’t wait to see your progress with a bow and an arrow. You were always so good at it that even father grew jealous of your innate talent for it,"

Nothing. Not a peep... Not even a blink. His eyes only did so periodically, between intervals so precise one could believe they were calculated.

Well, it was very easy for her to think they were. Her mind was not in that great of a place either.

"Many of the human guards here use long range weaponry. I am sure they would have a bow and arrows to spare for-" her voice went mute.

No one stopped her from finishing her sentence. Nothing other than her twining vocal cords clamped her throat down.

As if the words she had been speaking were the silliest and needed to be stopped.

After another deep breath, Arabella pushed a long and heavy sigh, calling for her tears to dry up before escaping.

"All of the property in Father’s name is now yours," her smile vanished completely, "the king has agreed to leave the property that Grandfather left in my name under my care too," she paused only momentarily, "I do not know what lies in the future for us. Perhaps you will get better... Perhaps not. I simply want you to know that whatever happens, I will always stand behind or in front of you. Wherever it is you wish me to stand. You have my undying and more importantly, unconditional support,"

Arthur simply breathed in and out as if nobody at all sat next to him.

Silence followed and cemented its presence until the sublime blend of musks ascending through the open window reminded her of the gardens below.

Arabella once more, took in the deepest of breaths and hummed while keeping her eyes shut, "Have you seen the white rose hedges at all?" she smiled, "Do you remember them being mama’s favorite flowers?"

After a few seconds of quiet, she continued, "My mother-in-law was so kind as to grant the sweet gardener permission to plant them. All I did was mention once that mama loved white roses and he remembered," the young woman leaned a little forward on her chair, peering above the windowsill and down at the darkened heaven on the ground, "There was a time I sat like that by this same window, motionless and aimless. I had truly come to believe that I had no purpose in this world... In my own life. As it turned out, all I needed was a helping hand to be extended my way,"

Finally, she turned towards her brother without the rest of her body shaking. Her eyes remained fixated on his own even though he spared not a glance at her.

"Let my hand be the one you take, Arthur," she took a moment to breathe again, "I had no power before, but that life is no more mine as it is yours. As harsh as the circumstances may be, you are now free to live... To go or to stay. No one will dare lecture you on how to hold yourself or how to behave or punish you for failing their expectations,"

It was with those words that Arabella left him to be in the company of his own thoughts.

She had said enough, given him enough to brood over. That was if her voice managed to reach him at all... Wherever his mind was.