Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 177: From drowning

Silas waited with bated breath for the next moon to rise. The sun hadn’t yet said goodbye to their side of the world for more than thirty minutes when he stood in front of Persephone’s door.

Given the permission to enter after a gentle knock, the first image his gaze landed upon was Persephone’s hand lady, tying the ribbon that served as a belt behind the Lady’s back.

"In the name of Lord Ambrogio’s words, young man, give a woman a moment to breathe," his mother spoke calmly without a single glance his way.

The day hadn’t yielded much change or progress when it came to Arabella’s state. Very similarly to the day before, the young woman categorically refused to leave her room. Not that he tried to force her or give her a direct order to, for Silas knew better than to do that. Barely putting any food in her mouth, she’d leveraged the fact that Ada wasn’t as firm as Katherine or Allegra to take as many baths as possible.

Silas was the patient kind, but his patience only extended so far when the safety of someone he... Cared for hung on the line, be it physical or mental.

"Apologies, mother. I can come back at another time if that’ll suit you better," he lied.

"Sit," there was no hesitation in her tone as Persephone turned to face him, "You may take your leave for now," her eyes drifted towards her hand lady very momentarily before returning onto Silas.

The servant abided by the correct manners when excusing herself before exiting the room, leaving the two of them to carry on with the silent staring contest they’d engaged in.

For a good while, nothing was said between them. Each seemingly expecting the other to go first.

When Silas’ diamonds had had enough of falling deeper into the void-like black eyes of his mother, he cleared his throat and volunteered the first words, "I’ve come seeking your guidance,"

"You are not a stranger to seeking my guidance so why the unease?"

Not the blood that linked them alone, but her keen eye too made it to the list of reasons Silas sought direction from her. In fact, that was the sole motivation that brought him to her door.

Indeed, to anyone else’s eye, Silas was just the same as his usual; firm and collected, but she easily saw through his façade for Persephone raised him from infancy.

"Oh! I see. This is about her," a radiant smile that did not engage all of her facial features appeared.

"It is not mere fascination I feel for her," he said dryly.

Silas had done it... Said it out loud for the very first time before someone else, but somewhat more for his own ears to hear.

"I know it isn’t," she offered one slow nod, "Otherwise I wouldn’t have tried so hard to keep you apart,"

"You didn’t try all that hard, mother," his diamonds flickered towards the open balcony window.

"Like I said, I know when to recognize my defeat,"

Instead of commenting on her latest words, Silas cut through to the chase, "She hasn’t left her room in two days now, barely speaking to anyone and she keeps on... Bathing as well,"

"Well, how else is she going to get all of that filth off of her skin?" Persephone chuckled, just the lightest of chuckles.

"It’s been more than two days now. How many baths does it take to clean one’s body from some dirt?"

"She’ll keep doing it for as long as the nightmares persist," all traces of amusement vanished from Persephone’s face, her traits harsh and frozen in place, "It isn’t and has never been about physical cleanliness. That is why her battle is already lost, and she knows it," his mother marked a pause during which her eyes bore into his, "I don’t have reassuring news for you, Arabella will waste away if no one extends their hand to hoist her out of this,"

He showed none of it but deep down, many pangs took gripfulls of his entrails and twisted them as though they were nothing.

"What sort of hand will do?" his diamonds fell onto his own hands, observing every curve and line on them.

"Certainly not physical ones," she quickly added.

"Well, then what can be done?"

"Use your words," she said simply.

In response, Silas glared at her as if Persephone had spoken a language he’d never even heard of before.

And in that moment, Persephone showed an expression her son believed to have never seen on her too; she rolled her eyes at him.

It wasn’t much, but the little twitch in his eyebrow displayed just how taken aback he was by it.

"Ada and Katherine have tried to reason with her, I have tried bu-"

Persephone cut him off at once, "Do you remember how I was after we lost your father?" she cast her eyes down which emphasized the weight of her words.

After seconds of quietude that felt like hours, Silas finally answered, "Inconsolable,"

"As high as the number of my kills was during the war, no matter how gory, bloody and ferocious the battlegrounds I’d gone through were, nothing and I mean nothing rivaled the moment I received word of his demise," with every syllable, her eyes ventured further into a distant land only she was able to access, "Do you remember what happened after that?"

"You’d fallen ill and remained bedridden for years,"

"And that despite understanding we were in a war and that death danced around all of us with open and inviting arms," she shook her head, "It didn’t matter in the slightest for reason does unfortunately not hold the answer to all. Do you understand where I am going with this?"

"I won’t lie to you," was all that he said.

"Do you remember what brought me out of it? What truly saved me?" she tilted her head ever so slightly, "It wasn’t the news of revenge against the man who’d taken my love away from me. It wasn’t the news that the war was over. It was you, Silas. You saved me from drowning,"

This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶