Married To The Mad Vampire Lord

"What is it?" she asked.

Rohan did not speak immediately. He studied her face, listening to the rhythm of her heart, and from its uneasy beat, he knew she had an idea of what he was about to say. As much as he dreaded this moment, he realized he could no longer bear to keep her in the dark, not even for another second. He needed to get it off his chest, to say what he had done and get it over with.

Cupping the side of her neck with one hand and using the other to gently caress her arm, Rohan began, "Do you remember the time I left you in Bimmerville?"

Belle could only nod. How could she possibly forget that awful moment, the pain of watching him walk away after bidding her farewell? It was one of the memories she hated the most.

"I went to Nightbrook with the intention to kill the king," he told her, even though he already knew Kuhn had done it. "While I was there, I met the demon who sired me."

Belle hadn't expected that part of the news. She gasped in surprised disbelief. "You met your father?" she exclaimed before she could stop herself.

But she instantly noticed the shift in his expression, his eyes darkened, and his face hardened like steel.

"Father?" he scoffed coldly. "I would rather believe I was made from filth than acknowledge that being as my father, Isa."

His voice held a chill that made her shiver. From his reaction alone, Belle could tell that his encounter hadn't been pleasant. Not wanting to stir his fury further, she slowly reached up and brushed her fingers along his cheek, then traced the angry lines across his forehead with the back of her hand, hoping to soothe him.

"Tell me what went wrong, my love," she whispered coaxingly. "How did the meeting go?"

To her relief, the hardness in his face began to melt, and his grip around her tightened as though he needed her closeness to ground himself. Then, in a low voice, he began to tell her everything, from how the demon had invaded his mind, to how he had tried to manipulate him into believing he felt no real love for Belle, that he wasn't seeking the throne out of devotion to her, but because of his thirst for power and he could get the powers in the demon world if he agreed to follow him.

Belle didn't believe she was capable of her own true anger, not the kind that burned her from within, but in that moment, she felt it. Fury swelled in her chest like a storm. That creature had tried to pull her husband away from her. Worse still, he had watched Rohan suffer all those years and had never lifted a finger to help him. Only now, when he had something to gain, did he choose to show his face. The thought made her blood boil.

Rohan went on, dry humor laced through his voice. "He thought me a fool. I spent years in that asylum, completely unable to find my way out. There was a time I spoke to the darkness, knowing the demon who sired me was born from that same darkness, I pleaded with him to help me escape that place."

His jaw clenched, and Belle could see how deeply the memory dug into him. For someone like Rohan to plead for an escape, she could only imagine the depth of his despair and hate when he was ignored and left in that madhouse.

"He never came," he said flatly. "He never fucking appeared. I was left to rot in that madhouse, forced to listen to lunatics scream into my ears, drugged with medicines that shattered my mind, and punished with water so hot it felt like fire licking at my skin. And this bastard, this thing, now believes I'd just let all that go because he came claiming he's been 'watching over me' all these years?"

His voice dropped lower, colder.

"Even if he had come to beg for my forgiveness, Isa, I still wouldn't accept him, not as a father, not as family. But he didn't even come for that. He came with the intention to separate us."

As he spoke, his fingers fisted tightly around her waist. Belle felt the pressure bite into her skin, but she understood it was unconscious, a desperate effort to rein in the fury threatening to overtake him. It hurt, but she didn't flinch or draw away. Instead, she continued to gently caress his cheek, his jaw, and the side of his neck, her touch soft and steady, anchoring him with love while he gave voice to his pain and anger.

"He put me in a tight spot, right when I could have killed the king and finally become a free man on my own terms. But instead, he made me helpless enough to agree to something I never would have accepted... if it hadn't been about your life."

His eyes finally turned to meet hers.

"Isa, I didn't mean to agree, but I had no choice. I needed to get back to you before it was too late. That day, when I heard men were after you, I had two options: either agree to the king's terms, or go with the demon, who offered to help save you if I took Angel after his birth and returned with him."

Belle couldn't believe she was beginning to hate someone she had never even met, but she felt the same consuming bitterness toward Rohan's father as she once did toward the late queen. That man wanted to snatch a child from his mother, and a husband from his wife. Not only that, he had gone as far as to conspire with his son's enemies just to back Rohan into desperation.

All this while, Belle had tried to give the demon who sired Rohan the benefit of the doubt. She'd told herself perhaps he was gone, dead, or maybe he didn't even know about his son. But now, it turned out he had been lurking in the shadows all along, watching and waiting for his son to have a child of his own... and only then did he choose to act.

Why would he do such a thing when he could have won his son over by helping him years ago, back when he was abandoned? She couldn't fathom how some parents could be so cruel. Now that she was a mother, Belle could never imagine her own son being in danger or hurt, let alone choosing to do nothing about it...

Belle had no idea what exactly Rohan had agreed to that day in order to reach her, but she didn't let herself fear it, not even when his expression looked so grave. Instead, she gave him a gentle smile, silently urging him to go on and tell her, even though her heart prayed it wasn't something terrible.

Rohan closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

"I made a bargain with the king," he said quietly. "I signed a document stating that I will never attempt to claim the throne. My position will remain that of a Duke, forever, and I shall take my position seriously. The agreement also states that I must obey every instruction given by the king and never harm a single soul who is related to him. And... that my wife will never bear any of my offspring, and from now on, she is to follow every order and command issued by the king."

He paused, then added softly, "And the first of those orders is..."