Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 204: Gentle strokes

What was it that clutched a fistful of her guts and twisted them? Was it the words? She was a simple human... With nothing special to show.

They did not sting that bad when Arabella had first uttered them. Perhaps back then, the young woman’s attention was focused on the light swirling in his diamonds.

Not once did she sit down to wonder the true reasons that made her immune to the Mirari, but that, apparently, was not the case for him.

It was alright to be plain, to just exist, wasn’t it? It never bothered her before, so why should it then?

The sun hadn’t yet bid their side of the world goodbye, but it sure seemed ready to, moving closer to dipping behind the southern horizon line.

Its rays weakened significantly, earning their touch the weight of a cool breeze, lighter than the rich wind that came to tease the carefree hair on her head. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

There was an undefined kind of peace that glided with the breathable air around her. Tucked right against the foot of that same tree Silas and her discussed moments ago, Arabella fiddled with the hem of her gown, pensive... Despite that voice in mind that blared about there being nothing to ponder.

"I’d like you to call me by my name,"

In the same fashion it did before, his voice wrenched a new jolt out of her. Freezing cold, its edges had sharpened, threatening to cut her should she say the wrong thing back.

"Master Silas," she’d muttered that half question after recovering her wits.

As her terrible luck would have it, those words turned out to be the wrong response.

"No," he said dryly, a piercing glare on him, "Omit the first part," he added upon approaching and towering over her.

"I don’t understand," her craned neck ached as her eyes rose up at him and refused to blink lest they’d miss a pivotal clue as to his intentions.

"Yes, you do,"

She did. Although, the hardest part wasn’t understanding his request but instead, interpreting it in order to grasp the why behind it.

The irony of her situation was not lost on her, pining time and time again after Ada and Edgar to drop the miss when addressing her, only to be put in that same position. Tables did truly turn...

It was different, she told herself. She was no Lady and the Eleazar staff did not serve her and therefore needn’t bother with honorifics.

"Why?" her tongue voiced the question anyway, all the while the two of them never broke eye contact.

"Because I want to hear it,"

A fairly strong breeze blew between them, muting the rest of the world in her ears alone or so she believed.

The truth was, even Silas struggled to believe he’d done it, demanded it so casually.

For the first time since they’d locked eyes, Arabella averted her gaze away, further down where there was not the sliver of a chance of meeting his again.

"Stand up... Please,"

If his previous request took her by surprise, his most recent words dethroned everything else in terms of bewilderment.

Not ever before were his demands or invitations followed with a "please".

Was it the northern sea air that’d gotten into him? What clouded his judgement so? Even his voice had somewhat softened towards the end.

Nevertheless, she obeyed and pushed her weight back onto her feet to face him... Well, to still look up at him from her full height.

"Looking into your eyes never turned dull,"

The young woman’s heart no longer beat but whistled, many tunes of various ranges while her stomach rippled with the fluttering of invisible butterflies.

There was nothing for her to fear. Not at that moment.

Everything was alright and yet was not.

Gravity relinquished its rights over her weight, leaving her feet as the sole thread tethering her to the ground. Should the zephyr weaving between them have grown a little stronger, it’d have swept her off.

"Did you know, the blood that rises to your face when I look at you this way, complements the green of your eyes?"

That did not sound like a question and yet was very much phrased like one.

His hand, once again, rose for the backside of his fingers to caress her tender and burning cheek.

The high degree of sensitivity in that area of her body forced her eyes to blink and flutter uncontrollably.

"Do it, if just this once," he insisted.

In response, her own neck escaped her control and swayed lightly back and forth, yielding a nodding motion after the wise decision to move her... Compromised cheek out of his reach. Arabella feared her decision-making ability would be entirely thwarted should she allow that gentle stroking to continue, for the butterflies his action had resulted in flittered not only in her stomach but a little lower, in another part of her body as well.

"Silas," barely above a whisper it was, her vocal cords fighting against it almost as if the word was the single most blasphemous thing they’d ever uttered.

Her act did not bring about the end of the world as she believed but certainly provoked a reaction out of him.

His diamonds cleared. Not that anything dared cloak them, but they somehow seemed sharper as though fully rendering her reflection in them for the very first time.

It was one of those moments Arabella wished to hear the song his heart played without having to feel his chest

That moment was only interrupted by the whaling of the wind that grew continuously louder and more violent, slamming the windows of the house behind them.

It was with a lot of strength that it’d ripped her eyes away from his, but when they finally returned to them, Silas was no longer looking back at her.

The vampire’s attention was set north from whence the thickest clouds traveled.

"Strange," he said, "There were no predictions for a storm today," he had that grave air on him that urged the young woman to remain quiet.

By the time he turned her way again, his traits had mellowed, earning him that soft demeanor back, "I am afraid we are stuck here for the night,"

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