Married To The Mad Vampire Lord

Belle did not set eyes on her son for the rest of the day, and she fought the urge to go and look for him, to see if he was all right, even though she knew he was.

Rohan had been busy since this morning when they woke up. After he had given her the candy-like medicine to avoid pregnancy and had held her in his arms for a while in bed, talking softly with her, he had been informed by Rav that the councilmen were here to see him.

Rohan had looked reluctant to leave her side, groaning in displeasure and clearly unwilling to get out of bed. For a moment, it seemed like he wouldn't be going at all, until Rav came back a second time to inform him that the guests were already in the study and waiting.

Cursing the entire generations of the councilmen who had come to disturb his morning, he had pushed himself off the pillow, then turned to find her smiling in amusement at his reluctance to leave.

In the blink of an eye, he pounced on her and pinned his weight on her body. "Let me give you something to smile about," he murmured, and then he began to tickle her.

Belle had laughed uncontrollably, squealing and writhing as she tried to get away from his tickling hands

"Sorry, sorry, sorry! I'll stop, Rohan! Ahh!" she gasped between laughter, her eyes watering with tears before he finally stopped tickling her.

Then, with a sudden shift from playful to passionate, he had kissed her, hard, capturing her lips in a deep, consuming press. His mouth moved against hers with possessive hunger, molding and shaping until her moan slipped out against his lips.

"I hate to leave you, my love," he said against her kiss-swollen lips, brushing his thumb over them before pecking them again more gently, "but these bastards won't get off my back until they see me."

He rolled off the bed and walked into the space used for taking a bath behind a well-decorated wooden divider, where he took a quick cold bath. She had watched from the bed as he moved around, dressing and wiping his hair afterwards.

"Why are the councilmen here today?" Belle had asked out of curiosity.

He had shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "Rogue attacks, probably. Some vampires must have messed with the wrong person and ended up getting a visit from a rogue. Tsk, and being the Duke, they brought the report to me." He flashed her an innocent smile as his fingers moved swiftly over his shirt buttons.

She wanted to ask how he knew about the attacks, but she was too distracted watching him dress. He wore fitted black trousers and a black shirtsleeve, the fabric clinging just enough to hint at the muscle beneath. With unhurried ease, he folded the sleeves up to his elbows, exposing strong, tanned forearms dusted lightly with fine hair.

He didn't bother with a comb, just raked his fingers through his damp strands in a careless, masculine way that somehow made him look even more effortlessly striking. By the time she parted her lips to ask her question, he had finished dressing and came around the bed.

Leaning down, he brushed his warm lips against her forehead and whispered,

"I will see you later. Go eat breakfast, no need to wait for me."

Caressing her cheek gently with his thumb, he moved back and then left the room.

The moment the door closed softly behind him, Belle felt alone again, and the silence in the castle became deafening. The rain had stopped at dawn, but the atmosphere remained damp and cold. Apart from the softly burning fireplace, which emitted the occasional crackle, there was nothing else to hear.

Now standing before the window of the chamber, which happened to overlook Rohan's Dead Garden, she gazed at the long rows of apple trees. Many of the fruits lay rotten on the ground, their decaying scent carried faintly by the wind. The breeze here was so different from the gentle one at the cottage, colder and heavier, swaying the leaves of the trees in slow motions.

The sky was gray and gloomily dark, so much so that one might mistake the hour for evening rather than afternoon. There was no sign of the sun or even the faintest trace of its rays; the clouds hung thick and heavy, and the sight made her suddenly recall the warm sunlight of the mountain and the soft, sweet spring breeze.

It would have been so hard to get used to this all over again if not for the thought of tomorrow, which kept plunging deep into her mind.

Tomorrow held the biggest challenge. They would be going to Aragonia. To her family.

Her heart thudded. She did not want to get excited about this journey, but Lord help her, she was excited to meet her family and the few servants she had befriended back then.

As much as she did not want to delude herself with hope, she couldn't help but think that the time she had been away from them might have softened their hearts toward her. Perhaps they had missed her and would welcome her like a daughter, pulling her into their embrace as if nothing had ever gone wrong.

Belle hated getting her hopes up, but she couldn't help this one. She also couldn't believe how she was wishing for today to pass quickly, for tomorrow to arrive faster, yet at the same time, she was terrified.

What if nothing had changed?

She hadn't thought about them so much lately, but now that she would be returning to her homeland, the thoughts came rushing back. Even while eating breakfast that morning, she had been imagining countless possibilities, how they would receive her, if they had missed her, if they would speak to her kindly.

Her son would also meet his grandparents and his aunt. They would not know that he was her son, but they would meet him nonetheless, and that thought alone brought her a kind of excitement she did not want to feel.

She had loved her family despite all they had done, and all her life she had lived for their approval, working tirelessly to earn their trust. She didn't think she could ever completely stop loving them. Being away for more than a year had made the sharp memories fade; she could no longer recall as vividly why she shouldn't love them.

Don't get too ahead of yourself, Belle. Don't get too excited about this, she scolded herself, forcing the thought of the journey from her mind and trying to focus on something else. She didn't want to think about Aragonia, because every time she did, her stomach turned all queasy.

Ever since she had arrived at the castle last night, Belle had kept her hands away from the walls and floors. But now, unable to go out in search of her son, because he needed time to bond with Evenly, and unable to stop her mind from circling back to thoughts of Aragonia, she tentatively reached out and placed her hand against the wall beside the window.

Closing her eyes, she let her fingertips glide slowly over the cold surface, as though fishing for any memories the stone might hold, memories that could distract her from thoughts of her family.

At first, the walls were silent, offering nothing, blank, as though they had no memories to show her. But when she began to walk, keeping her fingers pressed lightly against the rough texture, faint flashes began to stir in her mind.

For some reason, Belle had expected to see memories of the people who had once lived here, moments from their lives before death claimed them. She had not expected to be assaulted immediately by the vivid, harrowing visions of their deaths instead.

She paled instantly when she saw the memories. Bloodbath—that was the only thing that came to her mind when she found bodies falling lifelessly to the ground like rag dolls, their souls drifting out of their bodies like smoke. Screams filled the air, making a cold shiver go down her spine.

'Monster! He's a monster!' a woman Belle recognized as the late queen yelled as she tried to run away from a dark figure slowly stalking her like a predator. She did not have to see his face to know who he was. Though he looked younger and thinner, Belle recognized her husband, who looked nothing like the man he had turned out to be now.

She wanted to pull her hand back, to spare herself the horror of seeing what would happen next, but something kept her palm pressed firmly against the wall.

The queen was running down the halls, leaping over the dead bodies strewn across the floor in a desperate attempt to escape the figure right on her heels. Her screams of terror echoed as she run, but her escape ended abruptly when she stepped into a pool of blood and lost her footing.