Married To The Mad Vampire Lord novel Chapter 277

Chapter 277: The bargain he made_Part 2

He paused, then added softly, "And the first of those orders is..."

He reached out and gently touched her pale cheek. "You are to return to Aragonia for a visit, to assure your people that you are alive and well. I am to compel you to speak favorably of Nightbrook, to tell them how hospitable it has been to you, in order to prevent any war. If I fail to follow any of the conditions of the documents...I will be sent to the asylum, my wife to the slave establishment and everything that belongs to me burned down to ash."

Rohan had kept this burden to himself all this while, loathing the moment he would have to admit that he had signed her into danger just to save her in time.

The king had given a blood vow: as long as Rohan honored the terms of their agreement, his life would remain undisturbed, and no one would interfere with him or his wife. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

A blood vow from a vampire king was never meant to be broken, especially when it had been sealed before the Gaggers as witnesses. As loyal as those creatures were to the king, they held traditions and sacred responsibilities with unwavering seriousness.

They had also stood witness when Rohan placed his own blood mark on the document. In his desperation to save her, and to silence the demon whispering constantly in his head not to do it, he had signed it.

Had he dared to stay and fight those ancient beings, he doubted he would have made it in time. His wings would never have carried him fast enough to reach her. And if he had stayed to fight, he would have lost both his son and the woman he loved.

He had wanted to claim the throne to fulfill a silent promise he once made to Belle, back when she told him she never wanted to be part of the yearly hunting game. What was the use of holding that power if it came at the cost of losing her? Staying to fight, he would have lost her.

Now, however, he braced himself to hear her disappointment, to hear her call him useless for agreeing to something so cruel and putting their son’s life and hers in another form of danger. He expected her to be silently furious that he had bound her to such conditions and would now have to send her back home for several weeks.

But instead... she simply reached up and gently ran her fingers through his hair.

"What’s going to happen with Angel? Will the king... harm him if he finds out about him?" she asked softly, the worry in her voice unmistakable. That fear weighed heaviest on her heart. She had no reason to blame Rohan. He had done all he could to protect her, and it would be ungrateful of her to fault the desperate method he had been forced to use to reach her that day.

"I won’t let anything happen to him," he said firmly, giving his word, desperate to reassure her, desperate to make up for what he had put her through. "Angel will be safe in the castle. He won’t be introduced to anyone as ours."

"Does that mean I’ll be traveling to Aragonia alone?" Belle asked, unable to hide the dread creeping into her voice.

"We’re all going. Including Angel," Rohan replied. "I know you wouldn’t want your family finding out about him either, which is why I’ve made arrangements to change his hair color. Lady Clifton and Rav will pose as his parents for the duration of our stay there. That way, no one will link him to us. You’ll still be with him, and you can feed him in secret while we’re there."

Rohan saw how she paled even more at that. He had known she wouldn’t like this part of the plan, especially when their son was still so young and needed them both close, but he could tell something else was troubling her, something deeper. Her fingers nervously twisted together against his chest, and her eyes lowered, avoiding his gaze as though she was ashamed or guilty of something.

"There’s something you should know as well," she began quietly. "The people of Aragonia didn’t support our marriage because of the peace treaty. What they really wanted was to gain the power Bimmerville holds, so they could protect themselves and their people from vampires. I... I was..."

She struggled to say the words, that she was meant to be their spy, but before she could finish, she was stunned to see an amused smile touch Rohan’s lips.

"I know," he said gently. "You were sent to spy and report back to your people. I’ve known that for a while."

Belle’s eyes widened in astonishment. "You knew? How? Since when?" she exclaimed.

Rohan shrugged casually. "Apart from the fact that your parents were terrible at hiding their expressions during our wedding, and kept looking at you with eyes full of warning, you weren’t very good at hiding it either. And then that bastard, Merchant, blew everything up. He told me what you were sent for, all because he wanted to hurt you in return for how you hurt him. You broke his heart, so in his low-witted mind, he thought breaking yours would be fair. He didn’t care if it cost you your life."

He confessed this as he fumbled with the loose strings at the front of her bodice, his eyes flicking up to watch the emotions swirling in hers, disbelief, and a growing resentment for the man she once thought she loved. Rohan hated to admit it, but he quite liked that resentment, resentment for Merchant, but hated that it had to come from betrayal.

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