Chapter 344: The first blare
Silas stood facing a large mirror of his own on the opposing side of the manor from Arabella.
Staff wished to lower the probability of them bumping into each other to null.
Although Silas didn’t argue for her sake, he wanted to, at least, catch the tiniest glimpses of her.
For once, however, he did his best to keep his ears in check, fought and won against his urges to give her the privacy she deserved.
Instead, he focused all of that energy on his eyes which beheld... Well, him.
Silver shoulder stripes, silver inner collar, silver cuffs, belt and hem, the patterns decorating the snow-white jacket that perfectly wrapped his upper body were discrete, thin but precise, adding just enough life to his figure.
Sword ready to hang at his side, it sat near in a velvet box, staring back at him.
Right by it stood Liriel. As an older fairy, the sparkling born out of her wings had died down a bit. She admired the glow that Silas’s suit projected.
"Have they arrived?" he asked without turning around.
"My girls are keeping an eye out," she paused before adding, "Can’t you distinguish their voices among the guests?"
"I am trying not to," his diamonds split the light they received into its many spectral colors as he focused on the dagger pinned to his belt, "Whenever a crowd exceeds a certain number of people, it becomes uncomfortable to isolate a voice or two out of the bunch. Unless I really care to, that is,"
"And since she isn’t among them, you don’t particularly care," she half asked, a little smirk at the corner of her mouth.
Silas halted all movement to meet her gaze on the mirror and communicated his response through a non-verbal means.
But his irises quickly snapped onto the door seconds before a knock landed on it.
"Come in,"
Mr Carlton made his appearance inside then bowed before delivering his message, "The young fairies demand to be let inside, Master,"
"Let them in,"
For a split second, a strange expression flashed across Carlton’s face. A very fleeting moment during which his eyes widened before recovering their usual display of firmness. His heart spoke as well, spiking high in rate before dropping back to normal, "Right away, Master," he said before exiting.
"Your funeral," Liriel chuckled.
"Their shrieking already lives freely in my head, Liriel. It’s a bit too late to show concern for that,"
"Poor Carlton seemed to already be done with them," she scoffed.
Her sentence barely saw its end when a burst of shrill chitters and twitters detonated by the door and only grew bolder as the group of young fairies made their way towards their leader.
"Alright! Alright, girls! Please, my ears are too old for all of this noise," Liriel tried to calm them down.
Five of them settled near her while three happily zoomed in circles around Silas’ head. The vampire showed almost no reaction, focusing his attention onto Floriel who’d been trusted to carry information from the wedding hall.
"So, what do you have for us, dear?" Liriel asked.
"They are here, yes," she paused to breathe deeply, "Lord Dragomir arrived around ten minutes ago, accompanied by his right hand man as well as another man and just like you’d predicted," her eyes darted towards Silas, "The man has the same eyes as Arabella so, I assume he is the Reubon Sterling you warned us about,"
"How are they behaving?" the vampire stood fully rigid.
"Perfectly ordinarily," Ariel chimed in, "They gave us nothing to be suspicious about,"
"I mean, even their conversation was tame," Floriel brought the attention back onto herself.
"They were marveling at the decoration of the ballroom. Something about a place changing so much based on the decoration and atmosphere, which by the way, is impeccable! You’ve outdone yourselves for tonight! Everything looks just so wonderful and-" Ariel added.
"Focus!" Liriel steered her back on track, prompting Ariel to clear her throat before going quiet.
"Did they say anything about me or Arabella?" his diamonds were as sharp as the real deal.
"You, yes, but not Arabella," Floriel shook her head, "They were wondering who the lucky woman mentioned in the mysterious invitations is,"
"Oh, they are quite careful, aren’t they?" Liriel’s eyebrow rose.
"I am sure they have their theories," Silas turned to face the mirror again, ignoring the twittering fairies surrounding him.
His hands went up to adjust the already attuned collar around his neck.
"What about their auras? Have you noticed anything that shouldn’t be?"
"I do remember the aura of Lord Dragomir and his servant, but Sterling... This is the first time I laid eyes on him. I have nothing to compare tonight’s aura to, I am sorry," Floriel had her fingers under her chin, scratching it pensively.
"Has there been any shift in the staff’s aura since earlier?" Liriel asked.
"None," all the fairies surrounding her shook their heads.
That was when the first fanfare trumpets’ howl blared through the manor. A harmonious call, announcing the close start of the ceremony.
The beginning of a new Chapter of his and his bride’s lives on the cusp of unfolding, cementing its occurrence and declaring it was forever to stay.
Silas did not shiver or feel weak in the knees, but his chest prickled with sharp, untamable little shards that flashed across every cell in him like lightning bolts, striking at will and most definitely in an erratic manner.
"You can breathe, you know," Liriel half asked.
It wasn’t until then that the vampire realized he’d been holding back on everything, movements, breaths and every other thing his body displayed as proof of life.
"Thank you for the reminder," he declared dryly.
Chin high, shoulders up and at their full, broad display, Silas walked straight towards his sword with an erect posture but stopped to glare down at it for a few seconds.
In both hands, he picked then lifted it to his chest’s level before flipping it with utmost precision and care in order to slip it through the dedicated handle for it on his belt.