Chapter 143: A Broken String
Ivan had been aroused enough by her scent that he just wanted to pierce his fangs into the nape of her neck, to claim her, but when she repeated the same statement he thought they had settled earlier, his desire to have her blood vanished like the spark on a burnt piece of paper, and his crimson eyes, which sparkled like beautiful hoarfrost lost their warmth as he pulled back to meet her eyes that stayed defiant, unrelenting despite noticing his sour mood.
"We already talked about this, haven’t we? I gave you my word, little lamb, You’re not leaving." He said with finality, and when Samantha gazed at his face up-close, she hadn’t realized how bewitching he looked until now. Regardless of how she felt, or how he made her feel with the bittersweet butterflies, Samantha’s dogged expression remained undeterred.
"I want to leave." She asserted with no hesitation in her voice, and then her eyes turned pleading as if she had grown tired, whilst she made a gesture with her hands as she said. "This place, this Palace, this Kingdom, this isn’t for me. Staying here I’m constantly reminded of what I have faced over the years, and I don’t think I’m ready to suffer the same fate, not now that I know that Maurice is out there. He must hate me by now, having a sister who hasn’t made any fruitful attempts in finding him, but I have made my decision. I want to go somewhere far from here, a new place, anywhere but.... I don’t want to stay here anymore. I don’t–"
"Shhh... it’s okay." Ivan’s one hand moved to the back of her neck as he cradled it, gently pulling her face closer to his, but he didn’t kiss her. What he did was merely to rest his forehead against her own, the tip of his nose meeting her’s whilst he tried to calm her down. He just had to make her stop when he felt her voice was being cracked by incoming tears, and there was absolutely nothing that would break his heart more than to see her saddened, all because of his own selfish interest.
Her tone held her despair, yet he was still selfish to let her go. After witnessing what she did today at the throne room, for a second he didn’t recognize his little lamb who had built her courage to face the crowd and support him instead. They always said the Orb helps the other find their destined soulmate, but deep down, Ivan knew he didn’t need any Orb to tell him that this woman belonged to him, she was his, but then the woman he desperately wanted to stay by his side, the woman he wanted to make his Queen, wanted to leave.
For a few silent moments, they remained that way, with no one saying a word as if they knew they didn’t have to say it. When Ivan eventually opened his eyes to meet her emerald ones, he asked in a whisper that sounded slightly desperate, as if he was trying to hide what he felt, but could not.
"Is that what you really want? To go away from here?" There was absolutely nothing that was threatening about his gaze, he wasn’t even glaring at her like he normally would, and this considerate side of him, this gentle side of him that made her feel like she was special, was making her decision to leave even harder for her to take.
"Yes." She responded in a voice that matched his, and Ivan could feel his heart break into tiny pieces, as if the string that firmly held them together with hers was threatening to snap. He wasn’t the only one who felt this pain that nearly had him clutching his chest, she did too, but her stubbornness made her hide it quite well.
"Fine." He agreed, pulling away from Samantha whose pupils had widened at his acceptance. When he took two steps back from her, Samantha met his eyes that gleamed strangely, and his handsome face regained its poised profile as he turned away from his little lamb, quickly grabbing his mantle from a nearby stand and putting it on. "If leaving EmptyHollow is the only way you think you can regain your lost happiness, then I’m ready to assist you in finding a better place, somewhere that I can be sure of your safety. After the coronation is held, you’ll be free to return to your brother."
His tone as he spoke no longer carried warmth, and before Samantha could say anything else, or even thank him for agreeing to her request, he stepped out of the room. Closing the door behind him, Samantha’s body flinched in reaction due to how he had slammed the door shut, and she knew an angry Ivan when she saw one. Samantha had no wish to ruin his mood when he was meant to be happy, but this was a matter she felt she needed to discuss with him, and now.....