Chapter 322: Just a calm night
There were other places she wished to visit, but her feet and legs threatened to give up on her weight so... She relented and went to the room.
Silas hadn’t yet returned which did not surprise her in the slightest.
With everything going on around them, there was bound to be much that held him back.
She did her best to keep her mind busy, ran herself a warm bath and soaked in it. The quiet that mingled with the low murmurs of water was sort of eerie, but it thankfully did not last.
Footsteps made their way closer to the bathroom until the door creaked open. Not all the way, barely a quarter of it.
"Are you alright in there?" Silas voice came through.
Bits and pieces of him were visible, but not his face as he chose not to peek inside while enquiring.
"Yes, I am alright,"
She sounded calm considering it was the first bath ever taken in his room and without any prior warnings.
Though as much as it worried him, the vampire made no mention of it.
He took the reply and shut the door, going back to his canvas until she joined him out there.
Upon turning around, Silas was a bit taken back.
The sight of her loose, wet hair was new, but the nightgown she donned added to that effect.
So fair on her skin, it only covered the important bits.
"I hope you don’t mind I ran myself a bath here without asking," she said before quickly adding, "I made sure to clean after myself,"
He turned all the way around to face her and extended an inviting hand at her. She took it without any hesitation and allowed her body to be pulled in.
"Don’t apologize for that," Silas phrased it as an order, but his tone had nothing indicative of that.
So soft and warm it was, it almost made her forget her rest.
He made space for her to stand between his legs as he held on to her hands like there was no tomorrow.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, doing his best to keep his eyes on her face and not trickle down to her thinly covered body.
"As fine as I can be after what we just found out," she looked up at him, "How are you feeling? I mean, you knew her for longer than I have and she used to be your provider," she grimaced a tad at that last word.
"We were never that close," he admitted, "Believe me, I tried to like her more than I did. In fact, I always try to like the people I am introduced to even when it looks like I couldn’t care any less, but with her... It was hard,"
"She did not make it easy on people to like her," a faint chuckle escaped her, "She was not good at pretending either. She sure had her strengths, but... acting was never truly her strongest suit,"
"She wasn’t the brightest either,"
"We are speaking ill of the dead," she breathed.
His eyes fluttered shut momentarily as her warm breath brushed against his face.
"No, I am not proud of it, but I do have to think about this," he gently pulled her even closer, "Since mother seems to think Edna was not working alone,"
"I’d love to say she’s right, but I am still unaware of all the ins and outs of scheming in Umbraria," she nodded.
"Were you an expert at it back in Lustris?" he asked with an obvious little smirk pushing through his serious demeanor.
"Not even close," she chuckled, but soon recovered a dimmer outlook, "Who does the Lady suspect?"
"Lord Dragomir and... Your father,"
"Of course," she took a deep breath.
Silas gave no warnings before turning her around and seating her on his lap. He took no time to bury his face in her neck and just breathe her essence in.
She made no complaints and, on the contrary, tilted her head to further give him access to her.
"This is quite literally the worst time to say such a thing, but I am going to anyway; I want you,"
"I second your words," she nodded very carefully, "It is one of the worst times to say something like this," the smile on her was bright and warm, nonetheless.
"I am sorry, I can’t help it," his hands went around her waist and stomach, just exploring her without direct skin to skin contact.
"What happens after this? I mean, how do we handle today’s situation?" she asked while leaning back even more against him.
Silas inhaled deeply before exhaling, "You were always suspicious of Edna and yet never said a thing about it,"
"I did not want to cause her any unnecessary trouble, especially since my suspicions of her were biased due to the way she treated me," she admitted.
"I understand, but it may have spared her such a gruesome ending," he brushed her hair over her shoulder, all to one side.
"That was my fault,"
"No, that was not what I meant," he gave her a little squeeze before continuing, "Mother has a plan, which I am not very sure I am on board with,"
"What is it?" she looked up at him.
Silas simply had to take a moment in order to absorb the upside down look she gave him.
"She wants to hold a funeral and invite most of our acquaintances, especially Dragomir and your father, only to reveal that the deceased isn’t you. Since we hold the belief that Edna worked for them, we suspect she was the one feeding them information from inside the manor and we are hoping she transferred the news of your demise to them before she was apprehended,"
"I... Am not sure I like this plan either,"
"Well, on the bright side, we do not have to decide on it right this moment,"
He hugged her even closer to himself and breathed her in. They sat in each other’ arms that way until Arabella crossed over to the land of the dreaming.