Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 87: The letter

He stood rigid, which was not so different from his usual, but something told the three souls down in the gardens that it was better to quickly wrap their conversation up.

"It’s been quite refreshing to visit the garden, but I think we should let Edgar do his job," Arabella suggested, letting a few gentle chuckles in between her words.

"Yes, we shouldn’t distract you for any longer," Ada smiled.

Under normal circumstances, Edgar would have protested and even insisted for them to remain, but those weren’t normal circumstances, "Well, thank you for coming by. It truly was nice of you," he nodded before adding, "I do hope to see you another time,"

"Of course. We’ll stop by again for sure,"

And with that, the two women turned around and left the young man where he stood. Silas watched as they neared the manor before disappearing inside.

Him and Edgar exchanged a few more glances but then the gardener turned to resume his work as though nothing had happened.

However, Silas knew there was more to it. The sudden shift in their heartbeats, the not so subtle micro expressions that stood out like sore thumbs on their faces, not to mention the quick pace at which Arabella and Ada separated from Edgar to regain the manor.

"Where... Where should we go from here, Miss?" there was hesitation in Ada’s voice.

"I am not sure, but how about the music room?" Arabella’s tone was just as frail as Ada’s, "I could play some other pieces than the one you’ve heard before. Would that be good?"

"Oh! Yes! That would be wonderful!"

It was with a lot more confidence that Ada gave her answer, and from there, only the clacking of their shoes against the marble flooring reached Silas’ ears before a new voice came to interrupt him.

"Pardon me, Master," a human butler stood behind the vampire, bowing a little, "A messenger has left this letter in our care,"

Standing straight, the butler presented him with a thin, white envelope clearly sealed with red wax.

Silas took it before asking any questions. Not that he had any to begin with, "Thank you," he said dryly.

The vampire’s attention immediately fell on the piece of paper between his fingers. The seal was stamped with a circular indentation, a large "S" shape laying at the very center of the outline.

Something twisted in him. In his depths. It was as though a foreign body breathed in him, writhing as it knew it didn’t belong.

Though he held himself together, allowing none of it to show on his demeanor and that, despite being completely alone since the butler had already taken his leave.

His eyes glued to the envelope, Silas could never forget which family decorated their seals with that letter if he tried to.

"S" for Sterling, no doubt.

That was quick, he thought. The first sun after the ball hadn’t even sat yet and they were already receiving correspondence from Lord Reubon. Assuming it was him, of Course. Then again, who else could it have been?

To read or not to read the letter was his dilemma, right then and there. Considering he was not the head of the family just yet, Silas believed his mother should do the honor. That was on one hand as on the other, if the letter contained an important message that required fast intervention, waiting until nightfall might not be the most ideal.

Tuning the letter around to examine its back confirmed his suspicions. It was, in fact, sent from the Sterling Manor.

Eventually, curiosity took over his senses entirely, leading his fingers to rip the seal open. Upon scouring the lines of black ink, the thing living amongst his guts squirmed harder, making it all the more difficult to keep his impartial outlook.

Through very eloquent words, the Lord Reubon Sterling announced that not only had he been granted permission to cross the border, but the man was also assigned an escort officially vetted by the council in order to meet my mother under the pretenses of an interesting business proposal as he so described it.

Judging by how fast his application had been treated, the vampire supposed the royal family intervened to speed up the process.

In the letter, he expressed the desire to travel to us in the flesh and requested that the rendez-vous not be later than this week.

Silas clutched the paper in one hand, studying every line and every letter on it all the while silently tossing the subject matter around in mind.

In the end, the decision was in no way his to make, but that did not stop it from bothering him.

Had it been up to him, he’d have hastened and sat down at his desk to write a letter of declination. As much tension as it may have caused, the peace of that one person he wished to protect would have been worth all.

For he knew too well, Persephone would see no issue in accepting the request. She would have probably even invited him as soon as possible.

In no way did he believe his mother would break her word and surrender Arabella over to him, but the thought of seeing her upset, the anxiety and fear it would yield in her eyes upon catching wind of it tore something in him.

He did his very best not to crumple the letter and instead folded it back to its original form before sliding it inside the envelope it came with.

Walking the hallways, Silas imagined how things would go, how events would unfold on the day of his visit.

Moreover, his biggest worry was that Reubon would somehow convince Arabella to travel back home with him.

After all of the effort she put in to escape him, and going strictly by the way the young woman was saddened to hear her father was distraught from Lord Dragomir, he’d still have no trouble manipulating her emotions to his advantage.

Reubon seemed the type to go above and beyond for what he wanted.