Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 614: Not a coincidence

Morning brought the sun along for a new day.

By then, Silas was, as per his usual back home, out of bed, allowing Arabella to wake up at her own pace.

She got ready and descended in time to bid the guests that had spent the night goodbye. Among them, great aunt Gwen as well as Annaleese who nearly crushed the young woman between their arms while hugging.

"As sorry as I am to say this, I am afraid I must... I hate to think the demise of your father had to be the catalyst for a new dawn," Gwendoline did not smile at those words.

"I won’t hold it against you," Arabella held on to her until the last syllable was uttered.

"Write us whenever you feel like it. We will write back," Annaleese finally let go of the young woman’s hands.

"I won’t forget to," she shook her head.

With that, the great aunts made their way to the carriage awaiting them after one last hug around Arthur.

The man spared no one a word and simply watched as things unfolded.

When the last of the guests departed, Rubius turned to his granddaughter, "When will you be leaving us?"

Arabella exchanged a short glance with Silas before answering, "Tomorrow morning should be most ideal,"

The old man sighed, "I cannot help but think it is too soon, but well...,"

Her right thumb found her left palm and gently rubbed at it as if for comfort during that conversation, "I believe I’ve done everything that I had come to do here. There is nothing left for me in this place,"

"There will always be space for you here to call home, please remember that,"

"Thank you, grandfather," she did not meet his gaze at those words.

For once, Arthur did not wait for anyone to guide him away and marched of his own accord towards the stairs in the foyer, under everyone’s watchful eyes.

Although the instant he disappeared behind the second half of the stairs, and assuming he regained his room, Arabella followed suit.

Only to find that the man had settled facing one of the windows in his room.

The space that Reubon had dedicated to him had always been twice as big as his sister’s which was always noticed but never brought up.

That was because leading a life such as theirs, debating on who got the most space seemed futile if not utterly ridiculous.

The young woman dragged a chair of her own and plopped her behind upon it. At first the words wouldn’t come easily, just scratching at her throat.

Eventually though, she did manage to speak up, "After careful consideration, I’ve come to the heart aching conclusion that you will do better if you remain here," a short pause budded in between her words, "I am not sure it’s the right call but at this point, I am not really sure of anything anymore," 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Her gemstones swept the walls, only to be reminded that in Arthur’s room, Reubon had opted to hang various portraits, and depictions of hunters right next to their lucky catches instead of the extravagant architecture he chose for hers.

Come to think of it, she definitely preferred the paintings of houses to that of men parading the creatures they had murdered for nothing more than the sport of it.

"Grace kept hinting all night long that she wished to stay behind... With you here for a while at least, but we are concerned for her as I am sure you will understand," she took a moment to gulp, "Grace being a vampire puts her at a certain danger. Especially since you, the current Lord of these lands, are... Well, you know how things go in Lustris,"

Nothing... Aside from blinking periodically which had synchronized to his breathing rhythm... Not another sign of life was visible on him.

Arabella pushed another, louder sigh, "You know, when I first reached the Eleazar manor, I lamented that I hadn’t taken something else to remember mother by. I only had the pendant around my neck which I ironically lost now, so... Maybe it wasn’t that bad that I didn’t take something else. Otherwise, I would have probably lost that too," a bitter chuckle escaped her, "Still," her voice quieted down as her brows furrowed, "Now that I am here and got to see all of her possessions, I don’t want to touch or move a single thing from its place. It feels as though I would be disrupting the balance of this entire place...,"

The young woman sprung to her feet and aimed for the window, blocking some of the rays that reached Arthur, "In any case," she nodded, "Grandfather will handle things for a while until you are back on your feet and feel up for it. I will trust him to write me should anything arise and...," her voice quivered as sniffles began taking over, "Like I said before, I will always stand before or behind you. Wherever you need me to be, I will be,"

Those words had latched onto her throat and heart, lacerating every inch on their way out.

"Right!" she took a deep breath and straightened her stance, "I will leave you be for now! I’d like to go take a look at father’s library and map room. I used to sneak in there almost every day when no one was looking," her features forced a smile on as her teeth bit down on her bottom lip.

After a soft kiss upon her brother’s forehead, Arabella hastened towards the door to leave only... Something caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

"It rained that day," the voice was familiar and yet... So foreign... Hoarse as though struggling to come out.

Stiff as boards her muscles had turned, allowing her not the slightest motion. Not even to turn around and behold the speaker.

"I so wished to see your face one last time, but you had a veil fully covering it," the strain remained but Arthur had managed to push a little more against it.

"For mother the sky had cried, but not for father," after the shortest of pauses, he added, "I do not think it is a coincidence,"