CHAPTER 468: SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Arabella’s heart pounded her chest. Not necessarily out of fear but the acceleration of her movement made it hard to regulate her breathing. She, who never was a very physically active woman.

Leaping out of the bath and storming forward the way she did earned her the blood rush burning her lungs.

Silas glared at the deeds for a considerable amount of time, but something was amiss in his gaze.

The way he had cleared his throat to speak did not help with that impression either.

When a good minute had passed, the cold started gnawing at her wet skin, very sheepishly at first before growing unbearable.

That was when the full realization that she was completely exposed struck. Hastily, her hand extended for her fingers to curl around the fabric of the bathrobe.

In a flash, Arabella threw it around and over her shoulders for protection.

The oddest thing was that only a few seconds prior, she had not a care in the world that every part of her was laid bare on display. Even though her husband was the sole spectator...

Still, the cold had more of a hand in the sudden dwindling of confidence that lived in her for that short moment.

"Rubius signed them all to you," he half asked, his diamonds refusing to leave the papers, "What’s the catch?"

"So far, none," she too cleared her throat, slowly rubbing her hands up and down her arms, "I am still debating whether you were right or not. His endgame remains a mystery to me," she shook her head.

"Perhaps he’s being sincere this time around," he suggested.

Her eyebrow never rose so quickly up her forehead, "Why now? Why wait all these years? Not to mention, I still don’t know what he was doing for the past decade,"

"I guess, the only thing you will know for now is where he was hiding,"

With his finger, Silas drew her attention towards the address of the house her grandfather had left for her.

"They are leaving tomorrow which is a lot sooner and much better than I hoped for," her eyes rested on the address.

He took a deep breath, folded the papers back to their initial shape before turning to face his wife and running his hands along her arms over her own.

"What about Dragomir?" she whispered, her eyes once more up and deep into his, "Did he say or do anything out of norm in my absence?"

"Besides to myself, he didn’t talk to anyone else much. I suppose he did care for Allegra after all. If that is what troubles him, of course,"

She inhaled and shut her eyes momentarily, "I still suspect his involvement but...," her voice trailed off.

"But what?" he moved a few strands of hair away from her face before cupping it in his palm.

"I am not very sure how to explain it... His attitude does lead me to believe that he is more affected than he wants us to know but at the same time it indicates that he doesn’t have more insight into her disappearance than we do,"

"Speaking of that," Silas straightened further in his spot, "Why did you ask him about his phrasing during the ball? I keep going back to that scene and fail at reaching an answer,"

"I don’t know," she shrugged, "Something in the way he strung his words together irked me,"

He remained quiet and waited for the rest to come. And come it did.

"He asked twice, seemingly the same question except... There was a key difference," her eyes narrowed as her elocution slowed, "The first time, he asked whether there were any news and the second, he asked if we had received," Arabella put more weight on that last word, "Any news about Allegra,"

"What sort of news are you thinking of?" his thumb continued on gently rubbing back and forth on her cheek, "Because if you mean a ransom then why would the abductors communicate with him instead of us?"

"I mulled the thought over and...," her head tilted slightly, further leaning into his hand, "The only thing I could come up with is the possibility that someone else suspects Dragomir and Allegra of being in cahoots with each other or perhaps it could be someone that suspects their relationship to go deeper than they let on at the entertainer’s gatherings. Dragomir does tend to prefer younger women, it seems,"

"You’ve noticed that too," it sounded like a question that did not require an actual answer.

However, in response, Arabella moved closer to him while maintaining eye contact, "I mean why else would he go for a bubbly personality such as Anastasia who is practically half his age? Unless she was an exception," she grinned.

"From what I know of the guy, it was no exception," Silas shook his head, "It wouldn’t surprise me to learn he’s fallen for Allegra,"

Rubbing against her abdomen and her hips, the bulge between his legs became impossible to ignore. It had to be the reckless way in which she’d gotten out of the bath completely naked that awakened his... Second brain.

Although red in the face, Arabella stood in place grinning up at him until he cleared his throat.

Silas did not like being taken by surprise, did he?

"Let us go to bed," the vampire turned her around with care in order to guide her out of the bathroom, "The sun is soon to grace us but perhaps you can salvage some hours of sleep,"

In the room, Silas made his way towards the table and placed the deeds upon its surface, "What will you do with these?" he asked.

She bit down on her bottom lip, her attention split between his back and the small silver dagger laying on the vanity desk right next to her brooch.

Turning around to block his view, the young woman picked the weapon, unsheathed it then spoke while admiring the blade, "Never mind that for the time being," her voice had fallen in range into a much sultrier one, "Right now, I’d like to silence everything else and feel something different,"

"Something like what?"

The horror that settled in his eyes as he understood what she had been about to do once both faced each other did not sway her.

Silas did not react fast enough to stop her. In one motion, Arabella slashed her own palm open, freeing the blood coursing her vessels.