Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 115: Reubon Sterling

Dressed in all black, the six feet tall man faced the gardens. Arabella counted more gray hairs amidst the natural, midnight black ones covering his head since the very last time they’d seen each other.

Stance straight, Reubon breathed the clean air in and out so deeply, it became evident he relished what stood before him.

As tiny as they were, it seemed the clicking and clacking of her heels had alerted him to her presence the instant she’d crossed the threshold of the balcony doors. Without ever turning around to identify her he spoke up, "Such a beautiful place... I am sure you agree with me on that, at least," voice deep and steady, there wasn’t a speck of insecurity throughout his entire sentence.

"Yes, I do," hers on the other hand wavered.

"Are you happy?" he still looked away from her.

"I am content. Everyone here has been so nice to me I-"

"I meant, are you happy with what you have done?" he’d cut her off and finally turned around, revealing his own gemstone green eyes, "After everything your mother and I did for you," he dared bring her mother’s name, "Raised you, provided for you, loved you," his tone never once rose or fell.

His words cut deep, prompting her heart to work twice as fast in order to keep up with her body’s sudden rise in demand of air.

Whatever sort of love Reubon thought he harbored for his family, it certainly was of a special kind... Never demonstrated, not through his speech and even less so through his actions.

That was why Arabella believed it was rich of him to brag about raising her in that sort.

Her tongue sat in a knot while Reubon fired reproach after reproach in her direction, "How could you do such a thing to me? The last of your family!"

Her father took a step forward, but she immediately nullified it by taking one back. The man halted in place, eyes on her feet momentarily, eyebrows slightly furrowed, "You won’t even let me near you...," his eyes snapped upwards, "What could I possibly have done to deserve such a cold and cruel treatment from my own daughter?" he’d softened his voice the best he could and tilted his head slightly to the side, earning him an air of fragility.

"Won’t you come into my embrace?" he maintained the same tone, "After all this time?"

"It’s only been two weeks, father," Arabella’s vocal cords had finally decided to participate in the conversation, but her eyes could not withstand his gaze.

"Well, at the very least, you still address me as father," a small yet chill inducing chuckle escaped him, "I hear from the Lady you’ve been earning your keep by providing blood and entertaining," he put emphasis on the last two words, "Is that really all a noble woman such as you can amount to? I brought you up to be better than this, haven’t I?"

"You brought me up to be a different kind of entertainer," her tone flat, she still gaped at the tall trees behind him.

"Serving your kind, serving the royal family is an honor! You had the world at your fingertips and threw it all away to become a fairground beast," Reubon had lost some of his composure at those statements, grinding his teeth a bit as he spoke.

"I never owned that golden cage you put me in, it owned me," she muttered. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

"And I suppose you like the golden cage here better," he’d simmered down a tad.

"I was not forced into any cage here. The Lady has been nothing but kind since the day I arrived,"

Her hand shot up to grasp the pendant around her neck, an action that did not go unnoticed by Reubon. Although he did not make mention of it and instead steered the conversation onto different tracks.

"Right... Lady Persephone," he made the letters in her name pop, "She is a peculiar one, isn’t she? And she’s quite easy on the eyes too,"

Those words gave Arabella the strength she so lacked to lock eyes with him, a clear frown on her.

"Out of all the doors you could have knocked on, out of all the vampires you could have humiliated and dragged my name through the mud before, you had to go and pick the Eleazars, didn’t you?" he’d gone back to his flat tone.

"No, of course, you would have preferred it if I knocked on one of your business partners’ doors,"

A smirk that Arabella knew too well made its appearance on his face, "Where does all of this confidence come to you from?"

It was word for word, exactly what Silas had told her the night before when they... She internally shook her head to ward those thoughts off.

"Come now, you’ve had your fun, girl. The prince was upset but he is willing to forgive your stunt if you return with me today," Reubon extended a hand and waited for her to take it, "I am willing to overlook it all if you behave like the good girl I’ve always known you were and obey your father,"

What a load of fiction! She thought. Prince Cedric the third was known for his many flaws and not so much his qualities. Heavens knew forgiveness was never part of his vocabulary.

Should she have listened to her father, the prince would surely have taken her, but she’d have been lucky to see the light of day ever again after that.

The sheer imagination of the hell he’d have tossed and kept her in wrenched a shiver out of her.

"I am not going back," she shut her eyes and shook her head slowly.

"Your mother would be so disappointed in you," he looked down, pushing a sigh at the end of his sentence.

"Don’t you say that...," Arabella practically whispered, choking her tears down.

"She’d be rolling in her grave, and you know it!" he raised his voice, pointing a finger at her, "Hand me that pendant around your neck right this second! You do not deserve it! Give it here!"