Married To The Mad Vampire Lord novel Chapter 337

Chapter 337: Suspicious

Breakfast that morning in the Dawson house was eaten in silence. Nobody said a word, as they were all deep in thought, some weighed down with worry and others with fear.

Eve didn’t touch her food; instead, she only played with it, pushing it around her plate with the silverware while glaring at her elder sister, who for the first time had been allowed to sit with them and eat. Yet she couldn’t utter a single word. Her voice was locked by fear of the mad vampire after what he had done to her the night before, especially after the way the witch had nearly killed her today by twisting and shoving her!

Meanwhile, Rohan only drank his blood and didn’t touch anything else. His expression remained blank, unreadable, though his fingers tapped rhythmically and silently against the table in a gesture of impatience, as though he was forcing himself to stay seated when he would rather not be there at all.

Belle, too, could barely eat. Her appetite was gone as her eyes kept drifting in quiet concern toward Rohan, and then to the baby, who had seemed to find something far more interesting across the hall.

Angel was staring, not at his cup of blood or his parents, but at Lady Louisiana and duke Griffin, with narrowed, unblinking eyes that made the couple shift uneasily and move in their seats as though trying to escape the intensity of his gaze. To make it worse, Angel had twisted about in Evenly’s lap so that he faced them directly and leaning his adorable body on the table with his chubby hand supporting his chin, his little brows furrowing together in an expression of displeased interest, as if silently condemning them.

If there was something the baby was good at, it was studying people and judging them from their mere heartbeats, and the moment he chose to dislike someone, his eyes bore that dislike.

His unwavering attention fixed upon the the couple had, however, managed to draw the duchess’s sharp green eyes away from Belle. Until then she had been studying her eldest daughter silently with a steady look of suspicion, as though she was trying to figure out something in her.

But now, with the strange and unsettling vampire child staring straight at her, she dared not let her gaze rest on Belle any longer. The boy was creeping her out. Hadn’t she already told these vampires to take the baby away from her family? Lady Louisiana thought in distress, trying not to show her discomfort. There was something about the boy’s face, something awfully familiar and yet strangely not, that unsettled her to her very core.

It was Duke Griffin who finally broke the heavy silence. Clearing his throat, he addressed their guests. "I hope you are enjoying your stay in our house and in our land?"

The question was directed at the vampires, but they merely grunted in reply, offering no real response, and only stared at him as though waiting for him to continue what he wanted to say. Duke Griffin forced to hide his discomfort behind a smile, and pressed on with his duty.

"Our king has extended an invitation to you to attend our annual ball at the palace in two days time. As you are our guests, you are free to go out and purchase whatever you might need at my expense, and also to see the land if you wish. Carriages will be prepared for you whenever you decide to go."

He had expected to see a spark of enthusiasm in their eyes, some interest at least, but apart from the red-haired vampire whose gaze brightened, the two men only looked at him with flat stares. It was all the duke could do not to let his disgust and distress show too clearly.

Duke Griffin blinked at her, uncomprehending. Whatever she meant, he was sure it must be something he had overlooked. He gave her a look that silently urged her to explain herself.

Lady Louisiana let out a sharp sigh of exasperation. "Her body, Griffin. She looks like someone who has just given birth, or someone in early pregnancy!" she exclaimed. She could not believe she was the only one to see it, though she was hardly surprised.

Her husband was a man with little to no knowledge of such matters. But she could not ignore it any longer. She had studied the girl carefully, and at first she had assumed the change in her figure was merely from a slight gain in weight, but this morning, when she had entered Belle’s room and observed her more closely, the signs had been plain.

The duke stared at his wife as though she had lost her mind, then let out a humorless laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. "Have you been taking those sleeping pills again, the ones that make you talk nonsense even when you’re awake, Louisiana?" he asked dryly. That could be the only explanation for her words, because it made no sense to him.

That girl might be showing signs of rebellion, yes, but she was not foolish enough to give birth to a child for those creatures. She knew better than to take such a dangerous step. No girl from Aragonia with her senses intact would ever allow herself to bear a child for their kind, not unless she was prepared to bid her life goodbye. Isabelle, he believed, had better sense than that.

Lady Louisiana fought to rein in her temper at her husband’s words. "I have discarded those pills after knowing what they do to me, but I am certain of what I tell you. I have birthed two children and gone through the phase, and I know how my body is when breastfeeding. I know what I am saying, my Lord. That girl is either pregnant and hiding it with corsets, or...she has given birth recently and is hiding the child."