The Tyrant's Pet

The next morning…

Aries sat down around the dining table while Abel dragged the chair for her. Her eyes glossed over the faces sitting around the long dining area, furrowing her brows at the grim expression plastered on their faces. She cast Abel a curious look, but the latter shrugged indifferently.

"Did something happen last night?" she asked as soon as she sat down, realizing she wouldn't get some answers unless she ask. "You don't look too well."

"It was nothing, Aries." Lilou was the only person around who didn't share the same grim expression. There was Fabian too, but he rarely take off that irritating smile on his face. "Don't mind them too much."

"Shameless." Conan snorted to himself, darting his eyes from Lilou and Aries before setting his eyes on Abel. "Pwe!"

Abel raised his brows, blinking. "What did I do now, dearest?"

"Oh, come on. Don't pretend you weren't listening to him throw a huge fit last night." This time, Samael rolled his eyes. "If I know, you were purposely doing whatever sinful acts you were doing just so you can annoy every single one of us."

"Don't count me in, uncle. I don't mind," Claude chimed in, enjoying his morning tea. He then shifted his youthful eyes, which shimmered with vitality. "I hoped you two had a good time last night."

"Pardon?" Aries furrowed her brows at Claude's remarks, but then she caught Abel's figure from the corner of her eyes. When Aries turned her head in her husband's direction, all she saw was the mischievous grin plastered on Abel.

The moment she caught that triumphant grin, her entire being froze. Her eyes went blank, realizing what Claude meant by that. They heard them… or probably got a whiff of their passionate and bloody lovemaking.

Aries was new to this type of night passion, and if she was going to be honest, their session last night was phenomenal. It was different with all their emotions heightened, appreciating the beauty of pain and pleasure all at once. But now that she thought about it, vampires had a keen sense of scent, especially for blood.

Just a drop of Abel's blood was enough to fill the chambers more effectively than scented candles. How could she not realize that they were now living with people who were also vampires? And thus, they could smell not just Abel's blood, but also hers.

Strangely enough, knowing they had been sniffing her scent last night felt too intimate and daring. The slight embarrassment that was now crawling under her skin felt like she walked around naked last night while intoxicated.

Aries hung her head low as her face instantly turned red.

"Haha! Don't worry!" Claude chuckled, seeing Aries shrink in her seat. "It's not like we were that interested. Aside from His Highness, I'm already numb at this point."

"Damn it…" Samael frowned, leaning back against his chair. "... I'm starting to question whether or not my children even see me as their father. How can they just lock their mother in their room all night?"

Lilou rolled her eyes while chuckling weakly, shaking her head. Her children weren't present as they already had breakfast and were now playing with Rufus.

"I already brought the young mistress her snacks while she watches her brother train with Sir Knight," Fabian reported quietly as he served Lilou her tea.

"Thank you, Fabian." Lilou smiled in satisfaction, picking up her cup of tea while Fabian served the rest.

"Darling, don't be embarrassed. Conan is just envious that our marriage hopped to another level and his lonely soul couldn't take it." Abel grinned from ear to ear, enjoying the deepening frown dominating Conan's face. "Also, that is only normal between married couples. Am I right, Samael?"

"Yes, yes, whatever." Samael waved dismissively, cocking his head to his wife sitting beside him. "My love, I wanted to show you the work I've been working on. Do you have a minute to see it?"

Lilou cast him a side-eye for a moment. "After breakfast."

"Great." He clapped triumphantly, and his terrible mood instantly disappeared without a trace.

"What a strange morning…" Abel crooned from his seat, ignoring Fabian as the latter served him a bitter coffee riched with poison. His eyes scanned the dining table.

The only people around were Samael on the left of the host seat where the quiet Mathilda was sitting. From Samael's left was his wife, Lilou, and then Claude, two vacant seats apart from her, then Conan. Across from them was Abel and then Aries. The rest like the children and Fabian's brother, Rufus, were nowhere in sight.

"Now that I think about it, didn't my two brother-in-law return last night?" asked Abel, noticing that Dexter and Isaiah had been missing since yesterday morning. As far as he remembered, they went to the House Leviticus to visit London, Isaiah's cousin and also the person Dexter was stuck with for the past two years because of Aries.

Abel's question forced Aries to raise her head, realizing she hadn't seen Dexter since waking up. She didn't think much about Isaiah, as she didn't know he was also here. But did Abel just say two brothers-in-law?

"Mathilda, should I teach your husband a lesson once he returned? How can he go away and leave his wife all alone?" he continued, eyes falling on Tilly while Fabian was serving her food.

Tilly slowly raised her eyes at her brother, blinking. Her lips parted, but she ended up shutting her lips into a thin line.

"What do you mean, brother-in-law?" Aries blurted out with deep lines in between her brows.

Abel cocked his head to the side while his eyes returned to his wife. "Right… you haven't heard yet."

"Tilly got married… somehow," explained Lilou, only to get interrupted by Conan's action. The latter slammed his fist against the table, making Aries flinch in surprise.

"That damn Isaiah…" grumbled Conan through his gritted teeth. "... I'll kill him when I see him. How dare he get married before me?!"

Aries's head was filled with question marks before her eyes dilated, looking back at Lilou. The latter nodded in agreement.

"Yes. Her husband is His Grace." Lilou shrugged, but instead of gossiping about how it got to that point, she changed the subject. "Before we all get side-tracked by your short attention span, why don't we talk about our family's dilemma?"