Chapter 405: Where Astral is hiding_Part 3
Rohan went to check on his son in Evenly’s room, and seeing that the boy was asleep and had eaten, he left the room without staying there a second longer. As much as he was wounded and caught up in so many things, he didn’t want to neglect his son enough to give the demon king an opportunity to creep into his young mind and manipulate him.
Evenly had wanted to ask the duke what was wrong with Belle before he left her chamber but bit it back and instead ended up asking, "Will Gwen be coming back tomorrow from the palace?"
Rohan stopped at the door at the question. "No." He would not welcome someone who had stayed in the palace for more than a month back into his home. When they were traveling, they couldn’t take the maid vampiress with them, and she had gone to work at the palace until their return on the king’s permission. But Rohan wouldn’t risk having her back, for he knew there might be a chance of her loyalty being bought by the king to spy on his family.
He had trusted her to work in his castle before but loyalty and trust could be easily bought with the right amount. Just like in Claire and Isabelle’s friendship. He wouldn’t risk his family’s wellbeing.
"I will assign new workers once I get in the right mind for it. Until then, I hope you can assist Rav in taking care of the castle." Saying that, Rohan left, as he wasn’t in the mood to talk more.
He went around the castle, opening doors one by one, searching for Kuhn, checking all the places he knew the creature liked to be. Rohan finally found him in the dead garden, sitting atop one of the biggest apple trees with the twilight sky as a backdrop, where faint streaks of lightning occasionally flashed.
Noticing Rohan, Kuhn meticulously came down from the tree and began to walk up, closing the distance between them to meet Rohan halfway.
’You back,’ Kuhn remarked as he came to stand in front of Rohan, whose face was as hard as steel as he glared at him.
"Yes," Rohan replied curtly before going straight to the point of why he had come to look for the creature. "I will not beat around the bush with you, Kuhn. I want you to tell me, was Astral responsible for taking the soul of a girl named Isabelle many years ago?" he demanded, looking into the creature’s glowing eyes beneath its hood.
Lightning struck again in the sky, followed by a distant rumble of thunder.
Kuhn didn’t speak and instead stared at Rohan for a long minute, as though he was deep in thought, before saying, ’No. Astral never take soul of any one Isabelle. I follow Astral to take soul to feed. Astral not take any Isabelle.’
"Then tell me, do you know any reaper other than Astral who has messed with the rules of the dead, who gave a dead person the power to separate their soul into individual spirits and let them roam the land of the living?"
Rohan had thought it might be Astral because of the way Belle could see Kuhn. Only a person who had been given the ability by a reaper could see their pet. If Isabelle’s sprite was inside his wife and was the reason she could see Kuhn and other things of the dead, then he had believed Astral was behind it.
But now that Kuhn, who followed his master everywhere, didn’t recall any past Isabelle, Rohan’s theory took another turn.
’Don’t know about other reapers. I only know my master.’
Rohan dragged his fingers through his hair in frustration, pacing before turning back to Kuhn, the black in his eyes consuming the white. His voice laced with contained fury as he spoke, "Then will you fucking tell me where Astral is hiding? If he didn’t take Isabelle, he should at least know who did!" Rohan’s voice glowed with irritation.
Kuhn shook his head side to side. ’Don’t know. Astral not tell me. Even if tell me, I can’t tell you. My master hiding to protect many things, and you, because master broke the laws and rules for you and many people. If master come back, the elders will punish master and you, and everyone who supposed to be dead but have been saved by master will eventually die without a way to live again, without even a soul. Master can’t come out.’
Rohan’s hands, which had been gripping his hair tightly, slowly fell to his sides as he let Kuhn’s words sink in. Neither Kuhn nor Astral had ever told him this. "You mean his punishment will affect everyone he has saved from dying?"
Kuhn nodded his head. ’Yes. That why you cannot go and try to find Astral or you will lose your life if you found master. I am keep with you because master want me to protect you and you to protect me from falling in other reapers’ hands. If I fall in their hands... elders will use powers to see inside me and know where my master is.’
Rohan was at a loss, not only for words but for what to do now that everything had taken this turn. He had come here to force Kuhn to speak and tell him how to find his master so he could save his wife from Isabelle’s rage and emotions. But it turned out Kuhn would never give away any information against his master.
And even if he could... was Rohan truly willing to risk his own life when there might still be another way to remove Isabelle from Belle? The thought of losing her again, of dying before saving her and protecting she and their son from the king of Nightbrook, was unthinkable.
Rohan left the garden and went back into the castle, his frustration mounted to the level of furiousness.
He went into the room where strong blood wine was stored, bottles he hadn’t touched in a long time. But tonight, he wanted to dull his feelings and helplessness, and so he found himself there. Smoking had always been his way of distracting himself, but lately, he had not held a cigar between his fingers, nor even carried one with him for months. He had begun to overcome the urges to smoke all the time, but now that urge hit him hard.
He drowned it down with the blood wine, drinking bottle after bottle until a pile had gathered around him. Rohan finished his tenth bottle, but frustration struck when he realized he didn’t feel drunk enough to be numb. With anger boiling in him, he hurled the bottle against the wall, shattering it into pieces, and then continued to pull out bottles of wines from the cellar.
Rohan drank himself to sleep and didn’t wake until the next day, late in the afternoon, feeling no better than he had the night before. He finally left the blood wine room.
He didn’t want to think about anything, because every thought would only make him feel like he was losing instead of fixing things, like he had hoped to do by the time they came back from Aragonia. It seemed that knowing what happened to Isabelle wasn’t the way to fix things after all. If only his wife would come back to herself, return to him, to reality, then maybe they could find their way out of this together.
A week from now, he needed to send a report to the vampire king about his return, but without his wife’s support at his side, he felt as though every plan he had made for the future might end up failing. He wasn’t in the right state of mind for anything, except for wanting her to be normal again.
Rohan went into one of the many chambers in the castle and filled a bathtub himself with cold water. He stripped off his shirt and trousers, tossing them aside before stepping into the water to calm himself, to stop himself from doing something he might regret. His hands were itching to dip into a chest, to rip out a beating heart and feel it throb against his palm.
Old habits he had thought no longer bothered him were now creeping back, making him tremble all over as he fought them down. He was itching to experiment on a living person like he used to do, and the thought made him shudder in pleasure which he knew wasn’t good at all.
Knees drawn to his chest in the bathtub, he scooped water into the pitcher and poured it over his head. Cold water rained down his neck and back, washing away the heat of his anger and the violent urges he was struggling to restrain. He didn’t want to be like that anymore. He didn’t want to go out aimlessly hurting and killing for his pleasure and enjoyment.
That would be a terrible example to set for his son. He wouldn’t—
He felt movement behind him, though he hadn’t heard the door open over the sound of water pouring through his hair. His head shot toward the divider, already knowing who it was even before she stepped around to the side, and he felt his heart leap with hope.
"Sweetheart," he called softly.