Married To The Mad Vampire Lord

"That's not nice, Angel. Taking something that isn't given to you by force, what if you had hurt her badly?" she scolded softly. But if the baby heard and knew she was referring to him, he did not even look at her. He only continued his mission to hurry her into opening his meal for him, looking impatient as he tugged at her dress.

Belle reached out and gently grabbed the wrist of the small hand pulling at the front of her dress, and he looked at her with pouted lips and solemn eyes that still shimmered from his crying before Rohan had gone to fetch him. How could one scold someone so innocent and small?

Belle knew it was useless trying to talk to him about controlling his vampire hunger when he was nothing but a three-month-old, just a few weeks more, who only looked older than his actual age. But no matter what, he was still a baby, just beginning to understand himself, and he wouldn't know how to control his hunger and powers. Just because he understood sometimes, it didn't mean he was old enough to understand good from bad. She let go of his little hand, and he immediately went back to tugging at her dress.

"How's Evenly doing?" she asked Rohan instead.

"She looks to be doing fine when I went to get Max. Sit down and feed him before he tears at your dress, Isa," Rohan said, noticing how his son's impatience was turning aggressive. He didn't blame the baby, he had been hungry for hours. Angel was still at a stage where he needed his mother, especially when he had no teeth to eat any meal. To Rohan, it felt like it was taking far too long for those teeth to come out, being someone who had been born with it himself.

Belle sighed in relief at hearing her friend was doing fine, and then she turned and went back to the bed she had been sitting on before Rohan came. She sat on the edge and turned the baby in her arms as Rohan also followed.

The room looked even smaller with him inside, and she watched as he lowered himself to sit behind her on the mattress. It gave a small creak that made him frown, though he said nothing.

He pulled down a bag with a sling from his shoulder, which she hadn't even noticed until now, and held it in his hand as he said. "I got some food, as no one touched their supper. I have given Lady Evenly and Rav theirs. I brought yours as well," he said as he opened the sacklike bag and brought out several wrapped-up food parcels, then set them down between them on the bed.

Even before he unwrapped them, Belle could already smell the delicious aroma of pies and ham, mixed with roasted potatoes. Her mouth watered, and her stomach gave a low growl at the smell of food. She shifted eagerly where she sat just like her son moved eagerly in her arms.

"You are such a knight in shining armor for bringing the food," she mused in relief, licking her lips as Angel fretted and rooted for her breast. She bared it to him and grimaced in pain at the first hearty tugs, causing Rohan, who had been smiling at her words while unwrapping the food for her, to glance down.

His gaze was pulled helplessly to her breast, where his son's little mouth had latched, and something stirred inside him. Rohan had always found it alluring and fascinating to watch his son feed from his wife; the sight always amazed him and he could watch it for hours and not get bored. He forced his eyes away.

"Is it still painful?" he asked, focusing on opening the food instead of the tempting vision before him. He remembered how she would sometimes grimace when he touched her there, and so he had tried to avoid it in order not to cause her pain.

"Just a little tender from not nursing him all day," she admitted, her cheeks warming as her stomach growled loudly again.

"You'd better eat," Rohan muttered, unwrapping the parcels one by one and laying out the pies, steaks, roasted potatoes, bread, cheese. And since she couldn't feed herself while nursing the baby at the same time, Rohan cut the juicy steaks, picked it up with the single fork, and took it toward her mouth.

She opened quickly and took it in, chewing hurriedly.

Rohan did not like how Lady Louisiana had commented on her body and even given her a meal meant for a toddler. How could a grown woman eat such a light meal after a full day of having nothing? He had forced his mouth not to speak or do anything to the woman and to remain quiet through the humiliation.

Isa was beautiful, the most beautiful woman to him, and her body was perfect just the way it was. He would never allow Lady Louisiana to interfere again with the confidence she had taken time to grow, nor let anyone try to break the acceptance she had finally found in herself, that she was, in truth, a beautiful woman with the kindest heart.

He had always believed that humans didn't have enough brain in their skulls, but the Dawsons had proven it to him in the most pathetic way. Only someone with no sense, no eyes would dare look at his Isa and call her anything but breathtaking, or speak of her slim, sculpted curves with contempt. To him, her body was art, every contour a masterpiece, and he would not forgive anyone who tried to make her doubt it.

Despite being married to her for a while now, he could never have enough of her. The first thing he did after leaving the Marquis was go and find a night eating place to buy food, because he knew how much she needed it after not eating anything since the afternoon, and because no one would ever again starve his wife under the excuse of discipline.

"You shouldn't let them treat you like that," Rohan remarked calmly after Belle finished her meal. He handed her water in the gourd he had brought in the bag and brought it down when she drank enough.

Belle licked her lips to clean the remnants of her meal as she looked up at Rohan, now standing before her, her brows drawing together. "What else can I do? I have to let everything pass just like I did in the past..."

Rohan's lips pulled upward. "And why?" he questioned, making her frown deepen.

"Why? Because I don't want them suspecting that our marriage—"

"Exactly. Your change in character has nothing to do with our marriage. People change, and they don't have to have a happy marriage for that, Isa. The Dawsons have nothing to control you with. You don't need their roof to survive. You don't need parents like that. Sometimes one has to set boundaries, you know, like that little spoiled idiot wearing something I had personally gotten for my wife. Tsk." His eyes glinted as his voice dropped lower. "You are not a doormat, my love. Don't let them turn you into one. I don't like to see my woman being forced to wear rags when she has gold." He told her, leaning down to stroke her hair.

Belle blushed and became thoughtful at his words. She had thought of many ways to get back her things from Eve, but several times she dropped the idea because she feared what her parents might think. But thinking about it now, she realized that if she set some boundaries, she would have nothing to lose for as long as they still believed she was working as a spy.

It seemed she had silently taken all the insults because, deep down, she still believed they had full control over her life and that she depended on them. Coming to the house had reinforced that old belief, but thinking about it now, she realized she had absolutely nothing at all to lose by setting boundaries.

If she was forced to wear another one of her old dresses, she might end up injuring herself from how uncomfortable it was. Deciding to do something about it tomorrow, she dismissed the thought and then said,

"They gave me a parchment to write the report, and I can't seem to think about what to write." She gestured toward the parchment lying on the nightstand, and Rohan turned to it and bent to pick it up, noticing the drops of dark ink that had dried upon it.

"Hmm, do you want me to write it for you?" Rohan glanced at her with a crooked smile as he picked up the ink from the stand.

Belle looked doubtful for a moment, not knowing what Rohan might end up reporting, but then she trusted him more than anyone and knew whatever he would write wouldn't hurt them. She gave him a nod. "If you want to."

"I want to. I'll write it before you finish nursing Angel, so I can take him back." He turned and went to sit at the other side of the bed and began to write with the parchment laid on his lap.

The room was silent, the only sound coming from the baby, who had grown so hungry that he wouldn't let go. His tiny hands gripped tightly to her chemise. She looked down and saw his eyes closed in contentment as he sucked, which brought a small, tender smile to her face.

"Take as much as you want, my Angel," she whispered softly to him, stroking his fine hair with gentle fingers.

Now that she had eaten and her baby was finally feeding to ease the heaviness, and with Rohan's presence near, Belle felt the day's exhaustion consuming her. She had not slept for two nights now because she carried a fear in the back of her mind that she would live the life of that Isabelle Dawson in her sleep. But at this point, she doubted she would be able to fight that sleep any longer.

She yawned sleepily and then turned, lying down on her side, tucking the baby beside her, watching her husband's broad back as he wrote away on the parchment she would be reporting to the king on the day of the event that was said to take place in a few days from now.

She was starting to doze off, or had even fallen asleep at some point, when the gentle warmth of a hand brushed her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open, heavy with drowsiness, and she found Rohan lying beside them on the narrow bed, propped on his bent elbow, looking down at her with quiet intensity.

"You're done writing it?" she asked in a tired whisper, and he gave a slow nod.

"You can read it tomorrow and see what I wrote down," he told her.

"Do you... have to go now?" Belle whispered, her eyes opening wider. She was so used to sharing a room and a bed with him that the thought of sleeping alone unsettled her. What If she fell into the land of the dead or the life of that Isabelle, who would wake her up?