The Forced Marriage With The Vampire King

Chapter Eighteen : Natural Sound

Playlist :
Linkin Park : Leave out all the rest

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Henry sat on the couch, his head leant back, eyes closed and his mind surely not at ease. It was around seven of morning and he was still in the castle. He didn't feel like leaving. For how long would he be avoiding her? He thought. He had to face her someday. Even if that would not be a very pretty thing to for her to witness.

Rose has to accept him, sometime in life. She can't runaway from him always. She was bound to him and he couldn't ever release her and he would not. He was greedy, he knew and even if the devil himself ordered him to let her free, he wouldn't.

Rose was meant to be his. Only his, he had broken her but he should be the one to fix her and make her love him. Every time he saw her since marriage, it was like a delicate glass doll forced upon doing things. Her blue eyes that once sparkled now glassy and lifeless.

The way she used to come to him whenever she found him weary about his work. That sweet, innocent and eloquent voice she had, mixed with strong compassion and admiration for him now turned into sobs and sad, muffled prayers. Her happiness was like a dream that he doubted he ever had. Henry had seen her smile but it was not a mirthful one rather a masked one hiding her pain and loneliness from him. He wanted to see the beautiful smile she had when he met her at the ball. Adorable, charming and sweet.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and his breathe hitched, bringing him out of his trance. He stared down at his chest bringing a hand there. His eyes widened as he felt something.

The shallow beat.

His breathing turned heavy. Henry felt a heartbeat. A real, a natural sound of his body that he never had for almost five hundred years. A certain memory flashed in his mind.

...

"Mother, tell me is it true what the nanny said?"

"What did she say son?" She asked politely.

"She narrated me a story and when I asked her the meaning of the word love, she said that I will understand when a beautiful doll like fairy comes in my life to take care of me. But don't I already have one? Tell me mother, aren't you that fairy?" The five year old child with brown doe eyes and chubby cheeks said.

The mother smiled at her child's innocence and made him sit on her lap. She shook her head and said, "That fairy will come to you when you grow up. Until you are small, I will take care of you." Her voice slightly trembled at the last words. The child stared at her with a confused look, tilting his head slightly. She kissed his forehead and gave him a tight hug.

...

He let out a disappointed sigh and closed his eyes.

He remained immobile for a while when the door opened without a caution. Henry's head snapped at the intruder who was a very panic stricken Mr. Aldrick.

"Sire, Her Highness... she... " He said panting.

"She what?" Henry snapped.

"S-She ran out of the palace to the forest. The guards tried to stop her but she escap-" Before Mr. Aldrick could complete, Henry ran out of his study down the stairs, out of the castle towards the forest. The weather was partially cloudy but now it turned hazy as he followed her scent. She wasn't far away. He took a sharp turn to right when he saw her running, but with a pace much slower. Henry didn't bother to call her name this time, so with his vampire speed he got right behind her and pulled her to him by wrapping arms around her waist, careful enough not to hurt her in the process.