Chapter 317: Involved
Arabella’s eyes were on the doctor, but her mind clearly floated elsewhere.
There lived something unspoken in them that she kept everyone else, including Silas out of reach. That was how he knew it wasn’t the matter at hand that preoccupied her, but something else.
"Nothing is out of the ordinary here," doctor Zarveth inspected her ears one last time before stepping back, "You are an all healthy, young human woman," he reaffirmed.
"What do the test results on her blood say?" Silas chimed in from the side, his full attention on her where she sat.
Doctor Damiana stood from her desk with a sheet of paper in hand, "Nothing out of the ordinary, still," she extended it his way, "Her blood exhibits all of the characteristics human blood is expected to show, and all healthy at that,"
The smile those words yielded on Arabella was feeble whereas Silas maintained his impenetrable demeanor in front of the doctors.
His diamonds scoured the result sheet for anything they might have missed, any inconsistency or secret, but found nothing worth noting.
Arabella pushed herself off the examination table for her feet to land back on the floor, "Your turn," she glanced up at Silas who tilted his head at her in response.
"His turn for what?" doctor Damiana looked between the two of them.
"For nothing,"
"He lost consciousness recently,’"
The two of them practically spoke at once, but Arabella made sure to articulate louder than him in order to be heard.
"Is that true?" Zarveth focused on him.
Silas shut his eyes and took a deep breath in before reopening them again. By then, Arabella’s gemstones flickered between multiple objects in the room, basically anything that wasn’t him.
She did her very best to act innocent, but acting was never her forte...
"It is nothing to worry about," Silas responded while still glaring at Arabella.
"Please," Damiana neared him, "We won’t take much of your time. The tests will not be invasive either,"
Eventually, he relented and allowed them to do their job but made sure to sharpen his glares every time his and Arabella’s eyes locked together meanwhile.
The doctors sent them away with the promise of providing results as fast as possible.
Neither of them broke the stifling silence through the hallway as Arabella continued to focus on anything that wasn’t alive on their path.
When Silas had finally had enough, he capitulated, "It’s alright," he started, "I am not mad,"
She finally looked straight at him with hopeful eyes that squinted skeptically moments later.
"I am speaking the truth," he assured.
"I am sorry," the young woman turned to the floor, "I just knew you’d never make it a priority if we’d gotten out of there without addressing it,"
"And I must admit, you were right," a smile tugged at the corner of his lips, but he fought back. They were still in the hallways where anyone could come by after all.
"How was your time in the gardens?" he asked.
"It was quite alright," her hand went for her brooch, "I am sorry I didn’t come find you. I really needed some fresh air," there wasn’t any sort of strong expression on her, but there was none of the lightness and usual smiling either which ticked him a bit.
"Did something happen?"
One part of her brain wished to inquire about Edna’s arrest, but the other part had another question in reserve.
In light of everything that had happened and the way he’d reacted with Katherine, Arabella leaned towards the second question.
"I was wondering when the next selection of tributes will arrive," she murmured.
"That should happen in about a week from now, why?"
The young woman cleared her throat, "If it is alright with you, I’d like to be more involved in the matter," her eyes wouldn’t meet his.
"I do not mind, but are you sure you are ready for it? You may not like what you see,"
A tame and somewhat bitter chuckle escaped her, "Oh... I know I will absolutely hate what I will see but... It is something I want to confront," she made a short pause before adding, "There is something I need to see with my own eyes, just to make sure,"
"That is fair," he sighed, "But may I ask why?"
She went through the threshold of the door to their room as he opened it and waited for her to go inside.
Arabella went straight for the lounge chair and admired the large canvas pressed against the desk, "When I was abducted, there was a man among my abductors, his name was Vali," she breathed in, "I think I’ve mentioned him before,"
Silas said nothing and merely waited for the rest to come.
And come it did, "The way he looked at me was just... Different," she shook her head, "There was no malice, no hatred. It was simply as though he, whole heartedly, believed he was doing right by me. He said he wished to send me home to my family, where I belonged,"
To his own surprise, Silas realized her words got him more worked up than they seemingly did to her.
The vampire caught himself concealing his clenched fists. Not that she’d have noticed as Arabella was far away or somewhere too deep in her mind to note his reaction.
"What I don’t understand is why do you bring him up now?"
"The point I am trying to make is; things may not be as simple as they seem. Vali genuinely believed he was doing me and my family a favor. He truly believed he was doing the right thing,"
"I still fail to grasp how that is relevant to anything right now,"
"Edgar told me he was sent to Umbraria as a tribute," she stated dryly.
"That is correct," Silas nodded.
"I am assuming that all tributes come with a chart," she half asked.
"Indeed," one eyebrow raised, he couldn’t wait to get to the bottom of her thoughts.
"Do you, by any chance, remember what Edgar’s chart said about him? About the reason he was apprehended back in Lustris, I mean,"