Chapter 456: Deceitful_Part 1
Back inside the room, Angel’s face was still sad as he rested his head on his mother’s chest, but she soon moved him away.
"Lay down on the bed. My chest hurts. Your head is becoming bigger than I remember it feels heavy." She clicked her tongue, rubbing her chest and giving him a hard look that made Angel move back, clutching his one-eyed stuffed rat toy, the one he had given her before he went to call Rav. It was his favorite toy because she had knitted it, stuffed it with wools, and sewn on buttons for the eyes, though one had gone missing, Angel still carried it around everywhere. Since he loved it so much, his mother had never taken it away from him.
"Sorry, Mama," Angel muttered, and she smiled at him and touched his hair. "It’s fine, but from now on, don’t lie on my chest. Learn to sleep on the pillow, that’s what they’re made for, son."
Her eyes fell on the toy he clutched, noticing how its once-grey color had faded, now smeared with grime. She reached out, intending to take it and toss it into the fireplace, she didn’t want anything dirty near her, when the boy’s head suddenly snapped toward the door.
"Papa!" Angel jumped down from the bed just as Rohan entered the chamber, pulling a doctor behind him into the room.
But Rohan stopped, his steps halting when he saw Belle wasn’t in any worse condition, like he had feared she would have fallen before he returned with the doctor. He had been worried on his way, and to make things worse, the damn doctor wasn’t at home, and Rohan had to go in search of him in town where he was treating a patient.
He had never sped this much with his wings until now, as he knew Belle was going through discomfort and was intensely cold. He didn’t want anything to happen to her or their baby before his return. Seeing her now, the tension in his chest eased, and a quiet relief washed over him when she brightened at the sight of him and smiled. He instinctively bent down and lifted Angel, who was hugging his legs, into his arms, his own grin tugging forward as if pulled by her bright expression.
"Hey, rascal," he gave his son a quick kiss on the cheek and then held him with his right arm, his body propped on his forearm as he turned his attention back to his wife, still grinning as he was happy to see her in good condition after that treacherous journey.
"You brought the doctor, but fortunately Angel made me feel better before you returned with his heat. I don’t need the doctor anymore," she assured as Rohan walked toward the bed, still carrying Angel whose head was now buried in his neck. He went to her and, sitting on the edge of the bed, he pulled her into his embrace, burying his nose in her hair.
"I thought you were having fever chills, and your condition might have worsened before I got the doctor here. How do you feel now?"
He pulled back to examine her face, noticing how pale she looked. His hand went to the back of her head, where his handkerchief was still tied to stop the bleeding. His fingers searched gently for any sign of fresh blood, and when he felt none, a quiet breath of relief slipped out of him.
"I feel fine. Apart from the tiredness, I think I will survive," she smiled softly, placing her hand over his as it supported her head.
Rohan instantly noticed her hand was cold, but he didn’t think much of it, she had been out in the cold for too long that her temperature must be taking time to warm up. He settled Angel on his thighs, and the boy rested his head against him while watching his mother closely.
"I still think the doctor should treat and clean the wound at the back of your head, just to make sure it doesn’t cause any damage or infection," Rohan insisted.
"There’s no need, really. I am fine. I just want to sleep right now. I’m exhausted to the bones." She yawned, her eyelids heavy with exhaustion, and Rohan bit back the insistence that the doctor should examine her. He would have if he sensed the wound was something big, but it wasn’t.
Seeing her looking better was reassuring enough, and she had not slept for three nights because of that journey. It was normal she would want to rest now and feel sleepy. With this baby, her energy got easily drained, and she had started to need sleep more often as they no longer feared her going into the other world.
He gave a nod, raising his hand to tuck the strands of hair at the front of her face behind her ear. "Alright, you should sleep, but I think you should eat something first."
Belle began to part her lips to refuse when Rav returned with her tea, stepping forward to hand it over with a respectful bow of his head. Rohan was the one to take the tea from the tray, his eyes narrowing at the fact that Rav was the one serving it when, at this time of day, he was normally busy with his own woman. He handed the tea to his wife as he turned to question Rav, but Belle tugged at his sleeve to gain his attention, and he gave her all of it immediately.
"Are you feeling unwell? Is the tea too cold?"
She shook her head. "No. I just want to say you can go to the royal castle before the king sends for someone to call you. I will eat and sleep, there’s nothing to fuss about. Me and the baby are perfectly fine." She told him softly as she sipped from the cold tea, grimacing internally at the blandness of pure tea without what she was used to taking it with, but she covered it up with a smile.
As much as Rohan wanted to stay and take care of her himself, he had things to do and had to leave in order not to miss anything that might be discussed behind his back in the royal castle, anything that might concern Belle being a hostage. Furthermore, being away from the royal castle for more than two days would only make the king send someone to call him, or the officials might come poking their noses into his castle to report the goings-on in the vampire towns, as he was the duke in charge.
Being in the royal castle had kept officials and magistrates from coming to his own castle for business; they took everything to where he was. If he didn’t go now, they might come looking for him at any time, and he couldn’t allow that to happen, knowing he had a son and a pregnant wife who shouldn’t be seen by them.
"Tell Rav to reach me if you feel unwell," he told her, searching her face to see if she was putting up a front just to assure him. But it didn’t look like it, and he couldn’t feel any connection from their mark, as it sometimes went blank. It was good to know the cold had not turned into a fever.
Rohan got up from the bed, bending down to carry their son. "Let your mother rest for now, Angel. You can stay with Evenly for the meantime or take a nap in your room, hmm?" He smoothed the boy’s hair but noticed Angel still looked sad. "Mama is fine, Max. You don’t have to pull a long face. Are you worried about her?" he asked, trying to cheer him up and assure him.
He had been trying his best not to neglect Angel in any way, not even in the smallest situations, as that could lead to creating another version of himself, someone who despised his father. He didn’t want to be like his own father, not in any way. He wanted to be there for his son and give him everything he never had. He wanted Angel’s childhood to be filled with more sunshine than darkness, to be everything his wasn’t.
He had almost ruined that months ago, but he wouldn’t allow himself to repeat that mistake again. So even though Angel’s face was merely sad now, Rohan spared some minutes from his urgency to hear him out and comfort him.
Angel’s eyes went to his mother and then back to his father, but he said nothing and only muttered, "Not worry, Papa. Mama and baby fine now." He was still upset at the realization that Rav was a servant and shouldn’t be called "uncle," when all this time he had known the man as his uncle, because that was how his papa had introduced them.
Meet your uncle Rav. Those were Papa’s words.
"Then why the sad face?" Rohan inquired calmly, and Angel stared at his mother, who was smiling at him so sweetly that it suddenly lifted his heart and made him smile a little.
"No sad," Angel replied brightly.