Married To The Mad Vampire Lord

Rohan had expected to come in and find his wife in a haggard state after everything she had gone through, the exhaustion of releasing a life she had carried inside her for months. But he had not expected what he was met with.

His steps faltered as he slowly walked forward, his eyes taking in the sight of his wife lying on the bed. She was breathing, and her heart was beating, but every inch of her skin was flushed red, as though hidden flames were burning beneath the surface, scorching her from within. Her skin shifted from an angry red to patches of scorched black, flickering like fire, but she made no sound. She lay there in complete silence, seemingly asleep.

Until now, he had only glimpsed these scorched black marks in scattered patches on her body, but this time, they were spreading, nearly consuming every part of her skin he could see.

Rohan fought back his panic as he studied the changes overtaking her. Her beautiful hair was there one moment, then gone the next, burnt away before his eyes. The acrid scent of burning flesh filled the room.

Unable to watch any longer, or stay calm enough to wait and see what might happen next, he tucked the baby securely in one arm and used the other to shake her awake, harder than he meant to. But the fear of losing her still held him in a vice, and he couldn't control the force of the shake.

Belle's eyes flew open instantly, the hazel shifting to black, then back to hazel again, and then they found him where he was beside her on the bed.

"Were you having a nightmare, love?" he asked, his voice carefully controlled into a calmness he didn't feel, trying not to frighten her with what he had just witnessed. Her skin had returned to normal, though it now looked paler than usual. She looked haggard and utterly exhausted now that she was awake.

"No… I was slumbering. Why? Was I speaking in my sleep?" she asked weakly, her voice soft and strained. She blinked repeatedly, trying to fight off the sleep that still pulled at her like a spell. She had felt herself drifting into a deep, mindless slumber when Rohan's sudden shake had jolted her awake.

Her reply made a little frown settled between Rohan's brows. Then what had caused the terrifying sight that had greeted him when he first entered? He wondered to himself. Looking at her now, it almost seemed as if he had imagined it. The strange flickering of her skin, the blackened scorch marks, gone. Even the acrid scent of burning flesh had vanished the moment she opened her eyes.

Rohan forced himself to stay composed. He offered her a small smile, cradling the baby gently.

"No, love. Look who's back, and all cleaned up."

She opened her eyes enough to see that he was holding their son. He was standing there with the baby in his arms, his shirt damp in spots, the sleeves rolled to the elbow, his hair messy, and a soft smile on his lips.

"Oh," she breathed, smiling and holding out an arm. "Can I...see him up closer?"

"Sure. Here he is. And more presentable." He placed the bundle in her arms and watched her tuck the blanket away from the baby's chin for a better look at his face.

Rohan pushed aside the image he had first seen when he walked into the room to focus on this very moment, where his wife was meeting their son for the first time after his birth. She smiled down at the baby, tears swelling in her eyes as she rubbed a pale knuckle against the round cheek of the infant.

"He's so adorable, with those big eyes. Oh Lord, he has your eyes, and he's smiling at me..." she said, a sob rising to her throat as she gazed down at the bundle of adorableness cradled in her arms. "Rohan, come closer."

She reached out and gently pulled him to sit at the edge of the bed so he could look down at the smiling baby.

"I think he has your nose, love," Rohan said softly, studying his son's face.

"Oh, he's so lovely. I can't believe he's ours," she whispered, her voice choked with emotion.

Within Rohan, a wellspring of feeling surged, love for the woman, a tender welcome for the child, and in some quiet corner of his soul, the aching lament of a man who would always wonder if his own mother had ever held him like this. Had she smiled at him with such sweetness, traced his features with a fingertip, kissed his forehead with the reverence he now saw in Belle's touch? The thought tightened his throat as he watched, overwhelmed.

Definitely not. He had no memories of her ever holding him since the moment he was born. He had been cast aside even before he knew he was unwanted.

He leaned forward and folded aside the opposite edge of the soft receiving blanket to take a better look at his son. He had never been loved by either of his parents. But he would make up for it, he would make up for all of it, by watching Belle lavish this precious one with the love he had never known.

"I never thought a day would come when I'd hold one of mine... He's so small, Rohan. What shall we name him?" Belle managed to compose her emotions enough to turn to her husband, who was watching them with dark, shimmering eyes. If she hadn't known him better, she would've believed he was fighting back tears.

But it was Rohan. He never—

Belle's tired eyes widened as a fat bead of a tear rolled down his lashes and slipped down his cheek, followed closely by another, and then another, until, almost as if he couldn't bear for her to see, he turned his head sharply and wiped his eyes with the heels of his palms.

"Fuck. Something got into my eyes," he muttered, already rising to busy himself cleaning up the space.

But Belle reached out, her fingers curling around his wrist, and gently pulled him back down to sit beside her. He obeyed, but kept his head turned, refusing to look at her no matter how much she tried to coax him.

"Rohan..." she whispered his name, trying to push past the lump in her throat, trying to smile for him.

He looked so ashamed of his emotions.

She had seen him cry once, just once, when he first woke up after getting his heart back. But that had felt like a lifetime ago.

"It's all right to shed tears," she said softly, brushing her fingers along the side of his cheek and down his neck. "You don't have to be ashamed of it. Look at me... please."

Still, he didn't. His jaw clenched. His throat worked as he fought his emotions.

"I've watched you suffer, Rohan," she continued gently. "I've seen you break and survive. If your eyes well up because you love something this much... then I think that's the strongest I've ever seen you."

Her voice shook at the end, and her own eyes glistened.

Rohan finally turned his head, only slightly, but enough for her to see the storm in his eyes, red-rimmed and heavy. He blinked, the tension in his face beginning to crumble.

"Just a year ago, Isa, I never thought I would be here, with a wife and a son," he confessed, voice low and rough. "Or that I'd deserve to have my own family and love so damn much it hurt to breathe, it pained and terrified me to have a fleeting thought of something going wrong. My heart... it's heavy, my throat won't stop closing, my eyes sting..." More tears rolled down his cheeks like a dam had been broken inside him without his control. He cursed and shut his eyes.

Belle leaned closer, pressing her forehead to his, their baby softly gurgling between them.

"You do, my love," she whispered. "You do, Rohan. More than anyone I know. You deserve us, and we will never be apart. I promise you that..."

Belle saw as he collected himself, and she felt his hand slide behind her head, pressing his forehead to hers. And then he asked her a sudden question she had never thought he would ever ask.

"Do I love you?" he whispered, looking at her with hope and question in his dark eyes. "Do I love you, Isa?" he repeated desperately now.

Belle felt her heart bang in her chest. "Do you?" she whispered back.

Rohan stared at her without a word for a long minute before he parted his lips and said, "When I was flying back from Nightbrook to come back to you, when I thought I would be too late, I knew I'd rather kill myself if I lost you. There would be nothing inside me, my life would be over, just a hole where you used to be."

"Exactly how I would have felt if anything were to happen to you, Rohan..." Belle said softly.

He cupped his hands around her face. "I don't remember how I lived before you. I don't remember a single thing that kept me alive and wanting to continue, Isa. Ever since you came into my life, you gave me life, reasons, hope... but along with that, you gave me fear. I'm afraid of this ending. I'm afraid I will wake up someday and find you gone, everything being an illusion. I never, ever want to lose you. Never."

"You won't..." Belle let her tears roll down her own lashes. "You won't lose me."