Chapter 247: Accepting facts
His eyes never left them once, glued to their connected hands as Arabella guided Remus back inside the manor.
Silas carried weight he wished to cast away. Not due to its heaviness but the fact it kept his hands from reaching to handle other, more important affairs.
He’d noticed the way she barely looked at him when he first entered the library. It wasn’t reminiscent of their first days together, but more like he had something on his face that was too embarrassing to point out or even mention.
He... Checked in one of the mirrors in their way. There was nothing on his face that shouldn’t have been there.
"Let me see your hands and nails," she’d taken Remus to the main lounge room.
"I live in the wilderness, so they won’t be clean," he shook his head while putting his hands on display for her.
"That isn’t what I want to see,"
One by one, she thoroughly checked his fingernails. Null doubt for any residual ripping or tearing.
"Did someone pull on them hard? Did your father try to do that? You can tell me, you know?" she’d blurted all those questions at once, hands and eyes still fondling his nails.
Remus titled his head, his tiny eyebrows knitting together which earned him the most adorable of perplexed looks.
Silas wrenched his eyes away after catching himself thinking in such a soft and mellow manner about the boy.
"Father yelled at me and said I had to train harder to become a wolf, but there was no pulling," Remus shook his head again, the look of confusion stuck to his features.
Arabella was so caring in the way she dealt with him. So kind... Perhaps a little too kind, Silas thought.
Laid beside the way she treated him on the other hand, her behavior only confirmed his theory.
It seemed the young woman had figured out how she truly felt without the Mirari pressing down her neck.
There was no way around it, and he had to accept the facts.
Arabella was polite, kind and held a strong sense of duty. That was the only reason she came to him the previous night.
Making peace with it was the only path... Or was it?
"Right! I was so excited to see you that I’ve completely forgotten my notes in the library," she leaped to her feet, "I will be right back!"
Silas stood in her and ushered towards the summoning bell that lay on the table, "We have them in every room for a reason," he said dryly.
There was a not so subtle shift in her demeanor. Her face did not entirely fall per se, but its light was sure dimmed significantly.
"Would you... Ring it then, please?" she asked sheepishly.
"Why me?"
"I just feel as though it isn’t right for me to summon someone. It is-"
Seeing her struggle to align her words he put an end to it, "I won’t do it. It is high time you got used to these things,"
With that, Silas turned around and left the room.
Arabella stood rooted in her spot, mouth agape and heart sinking in her chest.
Had it already begun?
Did he finally start realizing that there was nothing special about her after that experiment of his turned out successful?
The man had even refused to meet her eyes from the moment they saw each other that morning.
She resigned to acceptance. After all, it was inevitable. He had long millenia ahead of him and she was nothing but a withering rose.
"Is everything alright, Arabella?" the little voice came from behind her.
She spun around and wiped at a tear that threatened to fall, "Yes, of course! Everything is alright, why would you think otherwise?" all the while, her hand reached past him and picked the summoning bell by the handle.
"You smell weird," he said simply, twiddling his fingers while his eyes followed her figure around.
"Do I?" she froze and pinched at the fabric of her sleeve to smell it, "I did take a bath this morning,"
"No, I don’t mean it like that," he elaborated, stepping closer to her, "You smell sad,"
It was safe to say that elaboration did not help her understand.
"How does one smell sad?" she grimaced.
Remus merely shrugged, "It smells unpleasant and sour, but from the inside,"
"Oh... That’s... uh...," she just stared back at him with no words to respond, "No, I feel fine. Please don’t worry about me,"
It took her a second to ring that bell and a minute before a maid answered the calling. The young-looking woman was one Arabella hadn’t yet had the pleasure of meeting.
"Yes?" the maid chirped, holding a straight stance.
Arabella shifted in her spot for a bit, "Would you go by the library and ask Ada to hand you my notes for today’s meeting. She will know which ones they are," she stuttered a few times throughout her sentence.
"Yes. That will be done,"
The bow that the maid executed in her regard made Arabella cringe on the inside. The stings that crawled under her skin at the mere thought dispersed when a warm and gentle touch took hold of her hand.
"I don’t like seeing you like this," Remus stood beside her.
"Like what?" she tilted her head.
"Sad,"
"I am not sad, Remus" she shook her head and put forward the best smile her features had mustered, "I am just feeling a bit tired, that is all,"
"You need to sit and eat a lot of meat," he nodded profusely.
"Do I now?" she chuckled and did not resist as he guided her towards one of the chairs in the room.
"Meat just makes everything better!" his eyes lit up, "It makes you healthy and strong,"
"Well then," her beam grew warmer, "I’ll make sure to ask for more of it in my diet," she nodded.
The same maid that had answered the summoning returned with a small stack of papers in hand.
Arabella relieved her from their weight and thanked her very kindly.