Chapter 351: We belong
"Are you feeling alright?"
Silas whispered softly into her ear. By then, he’d pulled her against himself until their bodies touched.
"Yes," still red in the face, Arabella lifted her forehead off his chest, "I am still feeling even better than alright," her beam was meek, but not worryingly so.
It was the kind of smile someone floating across rivers of pure bliss would offer.
"What did you think of your wedding, my Lady?" the vampire’s lips drew the faintest of sweet grins on him.
Sheepish so as to remain the least noticeable.
"I thought it was the most wonderful night of my life," she chuckled, her eyes not leaving his for a second.
"Well, it is the most wonderful... For now,"
It was incredible that her beet red face could turn even redder than it already had.
Those daring words prompted her to break eye contact only to stare down at his chest.
"Flustered already?" he teased, "If yes, then I don’t know how you’ll be able to handle what’s to come," he shook his head.
The young woman bit on her bottom lip as her fingers curled, digging into the fabric of his vest.
"My apologies," he leaned in closer to whisper again, "My goal isn’t to make you uncomfortable by any means. It’s just that... Now that you carry my name. I assumed I was allowed the freedom to share some of my bolder thoughts,"
"I am flustered," she shook her head profusely with a smile on, "But I am not uncomfortable,"
"I can always tell when your heart drums your chest, but I can’t tell with precision what causes it," Silas let go of her hips before taking one of her hands in order to make her twirl on her heels.
"Often times, there is little need to ask my heart as my face betrays me enough,"
"I can see it, but I am afraid to interpret it wrong so help me, what is your face telling me right this moment?"
Arabella found the courage to make eye contact with her husband once anew, "It says my cheeks are hurting because I can’t stop smiling,"
"I am not sure whether that is a good thing or if I should be concerned,"
The music swelled one last time before simmering down, ending in a quiet hum that hushed after a few seconds.
Silas cupped both of her cheeks between his hands as soon as his feet had stopped moving, then brought her forehead closer to his lips.
Despite the kiss lasting for a solid moment, Arabella thought it ended too quickly. She wished to feel the warmth of his lips for a lot longer than that.
"Here they come," Silas brought her out of the daze that had engulfed her.
Following his gaze, her eyes widened a tad upon noting the horde of fairies that zoomed their way, trailed behind by Ada, Abigail and Katherine.
"I will step away and give you a moment," he said.
However, right as their fingers were about to untwine, Arabella grasped his hand to get his attention, "Don’t leave, please" she pleaded, "Stay,"
Two ideas flashed across his mind at that moment, the first was wondering whether she simply wanted him around and the second believed his wife didn’t want to suffer the chirping and squeaking of the fairies alone.
Nevertheless, he stood by her side as she wrapped her hand around his arm.
"Oh! It was all wonderful!" Floriel beat everyone to the mark.
"It was magical!" Ariel came second.
"My deepest, most sincere congratulations to you, my Lord and Lady," Katherine curtsied, quickly followed by Ada who uttered something along that same line.
"Please, no need for all of that," Arabella waved off with one hand without looking at any of them.
Silas did not interject further upon thanking them for their kind words and after a few seconds of standing there, the girls kept on smiling awkwardly and began to stare between each other and then him as though waiting for something to happen.
"I will give you a moment if that is wh-"
"I’d like to dance a little more, can we?" she looked up at him with round, glistening eyes.
The kind to which he could turn nothing down. The vampire cleared his throat and nodded.
When the music traveled to their ears again, a man, who was none other than Victor, approached Katherine for a dance.
Another man came forward. One Arabella did not recognize. That one asked Ada’s hand for a dance.
As the dance floor filled with more people, Silas and Arabella turned to each other for their second round.
"What was that about?" he murmured as they moved together.
"What do you mean?" her eyes darted around, avoiding his gaze at all costs.
"Why didn’t you want to speak with them?"
"Oh! No! It’s not that at all!" she hastened to correct him, "It’s just that, I know you would have retreated somewhere far. Somewhere my human eyes and ears couldn’t perceive,"
Words rose but stuck to his throat. There was more behind her sayings, but the overall meaning was clear.
"Gatherings are simply not my favorite scenes,"
"I know," she nodded, "But tonight...," she trailed off before her expression shifted. A more solemn one took over, "For the longest time I believed I must always make space for others. I believed I should keep my thoughts to myself because others had more important things to say. I thought... I didn’t truly belong anywhere," she took a deep breath, "You and I are not perfectly the same but, I just wanted to say that we belong. You belong in this world just as much as everyone else does. You shouldn’t have to make yourself invisible for someone else’s comfort and especially not tonight,"
He listened, took it all in but remained silent. His eyes sank into hers and tried to dive even deeper.
"I am sorry if I said the wrong thing. I didn’t mean to hurt yo-"
Silas blocked her next words with another soft kiss on the lips.