A Shade Darker ✔️

{Chapter Thirteen}

Breakfast With A Vampire

June 9th, 2017

Ashley

I wake with a groan, smelling bacon as the first of my senses begin to wake up for the morning. My mom always made bacon, always made toast and eggs to go with it. Occasionally a pancake or two.

The sudden surprise and shock enters me. I must've been back home! Jumping up off the bed, too big to be mine, I get a sudden rush to the head and grab the bed post for support as I fell down on one knee.

A light thump sounded on the floor, the next thing sounding off being a groan from me followed by a wind sound. You know, when the wind blows and the leaves dance merrily around the field. Their bright colored different clothes, orange, red, yellow, and pink.

I'm knocked out of a daydream of happiness as the smell of musk and bacon drifts farther into the room, following the stride of my husband.

He knelt on the floor next to me, eyebrows narrowed, a concerned look in his eyes. Emotion, it was there.

He put his hands on my shoulders, then let them slide to my arms where he squeezed lightly. The gesture seemed so intimate, yet so simple and normal. I pull away slightly as he asks me if I'm okay.

"Yes. I'm fine, just a little lightheaded" I slowly pull away from his grasp, his eyes seem disappointed.

I brush off my dress, hoping to get rid of any debris from last night or the floor. With that and standing up all the way, the rush to my head and the pounding increase. I trip over my own feet and the only thing to grasp onto now is him.

Stumbling forward, our chest meet first, my hands clutching his arms to keep me upright and my toes sprang with leaning forward the way I've started to fall. I don't miss the way his body stiffness at first, then relaxes under the pressure of my hands and chest.

Still, he stands as straight as a board like always, the only difference being a small touch on my elbow as if he had been prepared to catch me if I really would have fallen.

And what would that have been like?

Fearing that my position had been held for too long, and that I wanted to avoid contact with him, I release his arms and step back.

It was like a hot wool blanket had been dropped over me, my body hot and sticky with a sweat that ran down the back of my neck.

My stomach grumbles loudly and I fight the urge to smell my way to the kitchen and beg for food. First, I was going to apologize. I wouldn't have my husband thinking that I was weak, or purposely pushed myself on him as if asking him of something.

The pads of my toes touch the cool wood of the floor as I take another step back, my head still light and throbbing.

"I'm sorry. I seem to be...not myself this morning. A little unsteady on my feet" I explain, a smile accompanying my husband's lips as he looked at me from under his eyebrows.

His voice was a deep tone as he spoke with his chin slightly down, acknowledging the dresser next to me.

"That's highly understandable, my Queen. You did have your share of liquor last night" A scowl comes over me as I fight a scoff.

Right, the drink that had done it's job and made me forget everything of the night after a few desired glasses. I knew having drinks until I was no longer sober would likely have this outcome in the morning, but I needed an escape after Liz's deeply spoken words.

But what I didn't like about not remembering much of the night was the mystery behind it all. The mystery that left me thinking what had happened when my husband returned home, only to find me intoxicated.

And what did I say? Did I speak to him of my want of escaping here? Did I threaten him or do something to deserve any punishment? Whatever secrets that left my mouth, I did not know, and I almost prayed he would not repeat them to me.

But I had to ask.

"Yes, the liquor. I guess it did it's job we and made me forget most of the night..." Still a little unsteady on my feet, but able to manage, I grab my skirts and walk towards the door.

When I look over my shoulder, he turns and follows closely behind with a different look in his eye, almost the same as before. That look again. Was it sad? Disappointed?

I knew the look of disappointment in someone's eyes when I saw it, and though he was far different than most people I know, the look was still bluntly obvious.

What made him that way? What made the disappointment come alive in him? Was it something I did?

"Cheer up. It's a new day. Why do you look so sad all of a sudden ?" I lightly punch his shoulder, a gesture I figured once seeing the confusion and almost hurt on his face, was not one that he understood as a light joke.

Thankfully, he doesn't dwell on it.

"Sad? I think you're mistaken. I'm fine, I have nothing to be distraught about" So my husband was a liar, too.

Good to know.

With pursed lips, I stare at him, hoping it will make him crack under the pressure. My plan backfires when he laughs and finds the situation humorous.

"Is this some kind of game, my Queen? Why do you refuse to take your eyes off of me?" I roll my eyes at the mischievous smile growing on his lips.

He pulls out a chair from the table and rests his hands on the back, waiting for me to sit.

A maid walks in, hurrying to plate breakfast onto my plate and set it down where my husband stood waiting.

Maids, too? Right. I seemed to forget that detail.

I sigh, put my chin up in the air and grab my skirts again to walk forward. Playing royalty was almost fun. It felt like having an imaginary husband as a little kid, getting in your princess dress and waving your wand around.

My husband, however, takes my game too seriously. Because this is his life, this is what he knows. This is the only thing he knows.

Easily, I sit down in the chair that he had pulled out from me and look over my shoulder with a nod.

"Thank you" He smiles, squeezes my shoulder and walks around the table to the other side.

He takes a seat and just stares at me.

I raise an eyebrow.

"What? Can't keep your eyes off of me?" His cheeks turn a light shade of crimson and Liz's words echo through my mind, telling me to look past the monster and just...try.

Though, his look goes smug and his body a little less stiff.

"And what would be the problem with that? You are my wife, after all" I was his wife. Period. Nothing else.

And I didn't always enjoy it either, but sometime it was a little more easier to handle. Like when I've had a few drinks.

I nod and take a bite of the crisp bacon with a sigh.

"That I am. Just don't go getting any rambunctious thoughts"

"You mean inappropriate" I nod, smile.

"Precisely" My husband now looks almost serious as he looks down at his lap and sighs contentedly.

"Well, my Queen..." His eyes meet mine, serious but confident and truthful. "I'm afraid it's already a bit late for that"