Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 599: Reasonable

"Oh...,"

Yes... Oh!

That was the only response deemed valid by, seemingly, both women.

Silas had heard it all, didn’t he? The entire conversation between them.

"I followed your voices and... The scent of agony," his diamonds went past them and straight for the herbs and potions on the table.

Was that a joke he made?

Yes, of course. Silas had made jokes before. Why wouldn’t he be able to make jokes?

"Right! I am supposed to meet Abigail in the music room. I reckon she is waiting for me and... I shall see you later," red in the face and without another word, Ada curtsied before scurrying out of her own room.

Arabella’s tears still hadn’t dried. Her hands went over and over, wiping at her eyes and cheeks, but well, it only worked on making her skin red and sensitive.

She leaped to her feet as he stepped inside, his glare still on. The vampire made his way past her and towards the table.

His hand wrapped around that same glass that Ada had used to test the young woman’s blood.

Upon lifting it up to eye level, he swirled it the same she had only minutes but still said nothing at all.

In the span of that short minute, silence had grown a physical body and wrapped itself around her throat, stifling every breath she took or released.

Everything turned sickening, even the sound of her own heart which thumped in her ears.

There they were, confronted yet again with another situation where her husband stood in front of her, only finding out about something she should have told him about way before that moment.

The thud of the glass touching the table snapped her out of her daze as Arabella spun around to speak, "I-"

But her mouth hung open, seeing the way Silas had raised his hands as though showing he meant no harm.

"I understand it now," he broke the silence, and she waited for him to elaborate, "I understand how unfair I have been towards you,"

Those words cleared nothing at all. Though, the furrowed eyebrows on her must’ve given him a hint since he carried on from there.

"I expected you to leap towards me whenever you had something come up. Something that worried you. I seem to always neglect the fact that you need to consult with your own thoughts and perhaps even confide in someone else. Someone like a close friend," he sighed, finally allowing his arms to fall, "I say it was unfair because I am only now realizing that I do the same thing I chastised you for doing. I take the time to consider an issue from many angles before bringing it to your attention. I sometimes even made decisions regarding you without consulting you and said I did it out of love and concern,"

Despite the ache plaguing her heart, her tongue still managed to move, "I am sorry," was all that she was able to utter.

"You owe me no apology," he shook his head, "Like I said, I understand that there will always be things you will want to hold onto or discuss with someone else before coming to me. When said in these terms, it sounds unreasonable, but it transcends words so, believe me when I say it, you did nothing wrong,"

She waited for no invitation and threw herself in his arms, clutching at his vest as if it was dear life.

Never mind stopping the tears, she turned the water flow up instead of down and allowed it to spill out.

It took Silas less than a second to reciprocate the hug, squeezing with much less strength than she did lest he’d shatter her bones.

Two heartbeats blared in her ears. Both quick and desperate for rest. Silas was so good at pretending to be calm... She wasn’t.

She was a total mess.

When her face finally lifted off his vest, the spot had been marked by a nearly round, wet stain from the river of salty water she had just unleashed.

His hands went over her cheeks, allowing his thumbs to brush the tears under her eyes.

But then his head tilted slightly to the side as a faint grin appeared on him, "Although, had you told me about your concerns, I would have immediately put them to rest. You are not with child," he gently held her face and looked straight into her eyes, "I am no expert in human female biology but, you should start bleeding somewhen in the coming days if not tomorrow,"

"How can you tell, exactly? Is it through smell?"

"More or less," he nodded, "I wasn’t sure the first time it happened, and I never cared to before you, but I am getting the hang of it, and I am learning as to how to determine whether something is wrong in your body or otherwise. For now, I can tell you, you are perfectly healthy,"

Her face fell a little again, "It wasn’t about convenience. I just... Couldn’t bring myself to ask the question. Not to you," she shook her head profusely.

"Like I said," Silas once more, brought her towards his chest, "I understand it now, however,"

That made her look up at him with wide eyes.

"If I can make one request of you right now," his demeanor turned sharp, "I’d ask if we could please leave this room. I can no longer hold my tears with the constant assault these herbs are inflicting upon my senses,"

"Oh dear!" a laugh actually escaped her control, "Yes, of course. Let us leave this room,"

"Don’t tell Ada I said that," Silas followed as she ran first towards the door.

"I promise I won’t," her laughter did not stop.

Silas spent the rest of the day in her company, reading a book of his own as she worked on the dictionary she had promised Cynric.

As Arabella inscribed those lines and markings on the paper, her eyes would from time to time rise towards her husband.

Sometimes they’d catch him in a deep state of focus but in other times, their gazes would lock with each other.