Married to the Vampire Prince

Chapter Twenty

Silas

Luke and I stood side by side, overlooking the plains on the border with Rosworth. Our army was marching forward. I had decided it was time for us to counterattack instead of just sitting near our camp waiting for the enemies to keep coming to us. Meanwhile, Athalis was to launch a simultaneous attack of their own against the forces of Rosworth’s army closest to them.

I didn’t expect much difficulty today since our allies were joining us, but war was unpredictable. Anything could happen, I reminded myself.

“How’s Grace doing those days?” Luke asked me.

I blinked once, then twice, taken aback by the question. “We’re not talking,” I said after a pause.

“Do you still sleep together, though?” Luke flashed me a smile.

I shook my head. “No, we don’t.”

“Bummer. I hoped you guys would make up quickly, but it seems your issues are deeper than just a lover’s quarrel,” he said.

I lowered my head. “She called me a monster.”

Luke whistled. “That bad?”

“Yes,” I admitted. “And she’s right. I am one.”

Luke frowned. “Not this again. You’re not a monster, Silas. You fought to protect her. She got a little scared, but she will come around.”

I shook my head. “She hates me.”

“It will pass,” Luke sighed. “She’s young. There’s a lot she still doesn’t understand about the world yet. She’ll see things the way they really are soon enough.”

Silence fell between us. After a pause, I said, “I love her.”

Saying those words turned out to be easier than I had thought. They were the truth, after all. Still, admitting them brought pain into my heart. I once again remembered Grace’s frightened face after she had watched me kill so many vampires in her defense.

I didn’t want her to be afraid of me.

Luke looked at me, his expression serious. “All the more reason for you to be honest with Grace. Tell her more about yourself; the things you’ve only ever spoken about with me. Tell her about how broken you felt after the war, how long it took you to heal, how happy being around her makes you feel.”

“How can I burden her with all of that?” I waved my hand in dismissal.

Luke huffed. “Isn’t that what being in a real relationship is all about? Sharing honestly and openly together, trusting each other not to turn away when one of you is at their worst?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never been in love before,” I said. “I’ve never been married to a woman that I care for more than myself.”

“You won’t know if Grace’s opinion of you can change again until you tell her everything there is to know about yourself,” Luke said.

I stared out at the plains. The army continued to move. Life went on. I couldn’t remain stuck in this painful place, too worried to explore all my options. There had to be a way out of my current bleak situation with Grace. I should be able to make amends and repair what was broken somehow, right?

I had to have trust in Grace and in myself.

“Alright,” I nodded. “It’s going to be difficult to talk about all my baggage with her. But I will do it.”

Luke chuckled. “Nobody said relationships are easy.”

“You’re right. Still, I’m glad I chose her and that we’re married. I really want Grace in my life,” I said.

“Then let her into your heart for real. Show her your true self, not just glimpses of the good and bad.” Luke smiled.

“For someone who’s unmarried, you sure know a lot about relationships,” I gave him a look.

“My sisters talk to me a lot about their husbands,” Luke laughed out loud. “And I’ve been in relationships. No proper marriage just yet, though.”

“But what if Grace only ends up even more afraid of me after I confess everything to her?” Worry rose in my heart again.

“Then you will at least have the comfort of knowing that you have tried everything in your power to make things right,” Luke sobered up. “You don’t have to speak to her today or tomorrow; prepare your heart first for any possibility. But have faith in her too. She’s not evil. She’s just young and afraid.”

“And human,” I whispered.

“That too. She views the world differently than us. Probably. I’ve never been with a human, so I actually have no idea how they see us. I’ve heard stories, though. Some humans think vampires are excessively violent.”

“And I’ve proven to her that we are.”

“You did,” Luke said. “Your actions didn’t seem excessive to me, but to her they probably were. That’s just a matter of perspective, though. Grace is now a part of vampire society. With time, she will grow to understand us better. She can’t learn though unless you tell her things instead of avoiding her because you’re afraid.”

I paused. Yes, Luke was right. I was scared of further messing up my relationship with Grace, just like how Grace was afraid of me now.

How fitting.

“Your Highness,” a runner came our way.

I gave him my full attention. “What is it?”

“Enemies sighted. There are more of them than usual,” he added.

“Tell the army to get ready to fight,” I gave him the command.

Luke called on the other runners who were on standby, and they took off to relay my orders to the rest of our forces.

“I’m going to go command my flank, then,” Luke nodded at me and ran off as well.

What were our allies doing? How come there were more enemies than expected? Had a part of Rosworth’s forces not gone to where Athalis waited to ambush them after all?

I quickly found out that we were indeed fighting way too many enemies to handle. Despite Luke’s and Thomas’ efforts, our flanks couldn’t hold their ground. The main force, which I commanded, wasn’t faring much better either.

I called for my second-in-command and told him I would be going onto the battlefield myself. There was no other way of evening out the scales of war between our two armies unless I intervened.

Once among my troops, I threw myself into battle, even though I knew my actions would once again prove to Grace that I was indeed the monster others always accused me of being. This was war though – there was no time for hesitation or half-measures. I had to protect my country, my people… and Grace too, who was still in our camp.

As enemies armed with stakes threw themselves at me, I fought them off one by one. Yet fresh troops just kept coming and coming. I quickly lost count of how many lives I took. I didn’t even have headspace to be disgusted with myself. I just continued fighting.

One enemy suddenly got too close to me. He buried a stake in my body, missing my heart by only an inch.

I fell to the ground, feeling the oak wood poisoning me.

My soldiers who had been fighting alongside me quickly descended on my attacker. Two pairs of hands grabbed me, and I was carried from the battlefield through the wave of our forces.

“No, I must fight,” I managed to call out.

“You’re injured, your Highness,” someone protested. “We’re bringing you to safety.”

“Tell the army to fall back,” I commanded.

My sight clouded, shadows encroaching on my vision much like whenever I felt insanity start to come over me. The shadows formed people I knew from the Estone court. They bore malicious smirks on their faces.

“You’re useless,” one said.

“You can’t protect anybody,” said another.

“Your wife hates you,” one claimed.

They were all right. Everything they said was the truth.

Even so, I wanted to throw myself at them to silence them. I had no power to move my body, though.

“Grace,” I mumbled.

“We’ll call your wife to your side,” someone said.

The thought of having Grace close to me calmed me down. I drifted in and out of consciousness, darkness slowly consuming me. My chest seared; my whole body felt on fire. The poison from the stake was inside me, burning me, cooking me alive.

I just hoped I would survive this wound. There was so much I wanted to tell Grace; the truth about who I was and the fact that I loved her.