Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 145: One petal

Silas had suggested they take the conversation to his room where more comfort would find them.

Arabella complied, followed him and then sat on the lounge chair when he offered.

"Speak then," Silas went straight for the window.

"It is about Katherine," she feared the words to express her thoughts wouldn’t align.

After all, how to broach and explain the occurrence without coming off as presumptuous or judgmental?

The young woman continued to alternate between fiddling with her fingers and clenching her pendant for ease.

That was until he urged her to elaborate further, "Will you come out with it?"

She kept her eyes on the many little sculptures lying around the room, at various points and levels, different heights, shapes and widths, "Yesterday, when she came to my room, she brought tea with her but...," she trailed off momentarily, starting to feel as though the entire thing was ridiculous, "When I took a sip, I realized it wasn’t a drink meant for a human," her ears reddened first before the rest of her face.

Arabella had her back to him and yet managed to sense his gaze which burned holes into her frame from where he stood.

Although, the vampire said nothing and waited patiently for the rest to come.

"There was a... Considerable amount of blood added to it and when I asked, she got extremely confused, saying it was how Lady Persephone took her tea," she stared ahead at a specific wooden piece where the shadow of his figure was cast, thus confirming that he had indeed turned around to glare her way.

"Did you swallow it?" was all he asked.

At those words, her head snapped along with her eyes in his direction, "The tea? No, I couldn’t. I expelled it at once,"

"That is solved then. It was a simple mix up. These things happen,"

There was something in his tone that Arabella couldn’t exactly pin down to one emotion.

"That wasn’t all!" she hastened to add, noting that he’d started walking over to the door, "I was the first to reassure her that it was nothing but a mix up, but she got a bit defensive and refused to believe it was as simple as that. She kept repeating that she’d been the one to make the tea. She left shortly after that, telling me it was late and that I should go to sleep, but then she... She came back with another tray and two teacups like nothing had happened and she went on to act as though it was the first time we had met at all that evening," Arabella had risen to her feet and dished everything almost in one breath as if it was the only way to make sense of things or keep his attention too.

"She acted as though nothing had happened," Silas half asked.

With his firm demeanor, however, the young woman had no way of interpreting his words, continuing to feel silly for taking the matter too seriously.

"I understand it may sound ridiculous and perhaps it is so, but I simply worried that was all. She seemed genuinely confused and hurt. I truly don’t wish to make a fuss out of this but-"

And just like that, her voice died down at once when he spoke up, "You did the right thing by coming to me,"

Contrary to what she’d first thought, the words validating her reaction weren’t so comforting... It only bred new concerns in her.

"Wh... Is she in any trouble? I...," every syllable clung to her throat, refusing to come out.

"It is too soon to tell. But in the case she is, you did the right thing by sharing the incident with me. I will have to look into it further in order to speak with certainty,"

Her shoulders slumped as more of her weight sank back into the lounge chair. In essence, the down cast look on her forced him to break the silence trying to settle between them.

"Don’t worry yourself with that. I will handle it. Prepare to head for the riding arena since tomorrow there won’t be any training. You’ll need to rest during the day before the outing,"

"Understood," she nodded.

There wasn’t any possible way for her not to worry. Katherine had been by her side since day one from her arrival.

Ignoring the potential trouble and harm that would come to her was no easy task, if not impossible altogether.

Her eyes lingered for a moment on the floor, and right as Arabella had been about to push herself off the chair, something caught her attention.

It lay among the sculptures, barely visible from her position, but the slightest shift in angle highlighted the rays of sun that ricocheted against its surface.

Small and immaculately white, the little rose petal stared back at her from its resting place. It spoke to her, drew her along into a trance so deep, she hadn’t even realized her legs had moved.

Arabella stood up and made her way towards it, picked it up and brought it the nearest possible to her eyes for studying.

How could a single petal end its journey in Silas’ room, among his artwork?

Silas had silently watched the whole thing unfold. Mere seconds that felt like hours.

He expected a reaction that never came. Instead, after some eyebrow furrowing, her demeanor had shifted yet again into a subdued one that did not match the wild beating of her heart.

Eventually, Arabella allowed her arm down but kept the rose petal between her fingers and turned to him.

"I believe I have taken enough of your time," she curtsied, "I should go find Ada and leave for the arena. Thank you for agreeing to listen," the last words in her sentence came as a mutter.

Again, Silas said nothing and merely stepped aside to allow her passage. The vampire remained rooted to his position even after she’d exited the room and shut the door behind herself.

Eyes on the very spot where the petal once lay, he barely blinked, focusing the wave of heat that had overcome him into his clenched fists.