Chapter 399: Plan B
Rohan traced Rav’s whereabouts through their shared link and found him outside the Dawson gate, pacing anxiously while Evenly held the whimpering Angel in her arms, her expression tight with restlessness.
The moment Rohan descended to the ground, where the surroundings were shrouded in darkness but faintly illuminated by the torches hanged on the gate walls, the anger that had been steaming inside him on his way back finally boiled over. He went straight to Rav, seized him by the collar, and grit his teeth furiously.
"I told you to fucking keep a close eye on her, even while she was away from you! How did you let her meet that bastard and lose control?!" Rohan snarled as he shook the man, who was already drowning in self-blame for not being able to protect the lady hours ago in the hall while she was being dragged away before them.
"I am sorry, my lord. When she was called to meet the king, I couldn’t follow her to submit the report; you told me to act natural and not make it obvious that I knew what was going on," Rav said quietly, making no effort to fight against his master’s grip as he felt the collar around his neck tighten. "I didn’t know she would meet the man on the way, and I didn’t even notice he was in the hall with us."
He hadn’t noticed Jamie because, in all honesty, he had been distracted by Lady Evenly, forgetting for some time that he was supposed to keep an eye not only on her ladyship but also on the man who stirred up violence in her, and to make sure she wouldn’t be anywhere around him alone.
"Forgive me," he muttered remorsefully.
Rohan was so furious and worried that he could barely rein in his temper after hearing that his wife had lost control because she had run into Marchant on her way to see the king.
When Rohan had asked Rav how it had happened that Belle ended up meeting Marchant alone, Rav had admitted that he hadn’t kept an eye on Marchant the entire time. That confession made Rohan automatically grow angry at the very man he had trusted with her well-being. So, when he arrived, the first thing his instincts urged him to do was hurt someone.
As much as he knew deep down that Rav was not entirely at fault, Rohan couldn’t help but give in to his temper.
Seeing as the duke was furious with Rav, Evenly couldn’t help but step in to intervene.
"Don’t blame him, my lord. He tried his best and went to stop the men carrying Belle away in chains, but they held sharp wood to his chest and told us to back away if we didn’t want to die. We were surrounded by hundreds of men, and they knew our weakness. You have to believe that I wouldn’t have let them take her if we had a chance to fight..." Evenly said, remembering how helpless they had been among the humans who were already chanting for Belle’s life to be taken the same way Lady Althea’s had been taken.
The humans had somehow learned that wood and metal used together could kill a vampire when it struck the chest, and they had threatened them with those weapons.
Rohan finally released Rav and stepped back, raking his fingers through his hair, causing them to fall messily around his forehead. He realized how easy it had been for him to pin the blame, when in truth, he himself was the one more closely at fault here for not being there on time to protect his woman. Not dwelling on that thought for long, he steadied his voice and asked Rav, "Where did they take her?"
Rav looked guiltily down at his shoes as he replied, "I heard them talking about taking her to the asylum immediately before she hurts another person..."
Rohan froze. The asylum, a living nightmare where even the strongest could break. He had lived much of his life there; he knew what went on in it and that a sane person who was taken there rarely came out sane. His case had been different, but his wife...
"I can’t let them keep her there even for a day," Rohan said, looking toward the Dawson mansion where they were not yet back. "How long has it been since she was taken?"
"A few hours. The humans told us to come back here and said they will discuss with us about the lady who has lost her mind when they return. What are we going to do now?" Rav asked uncertaintly as he noticed the murderous look in his master’s dark eyes.
"We will get her back," Rohan said in a calm voice that didn’t match the expression turning murderously calculating on his face. "I didn’t want to take this step, but it seems I will be left with no choice. I can’t let her stay in the asylum."
Though Rohan had a second plan if things were to go wrong in Aragonia, he hadn’t thought it would involve the madhouse. He had thought that if things went bad, it would be the humans discovering their son and that their marriage was not just in name. However, the unexpected had happened, and now he would have no choice but to use his second plan all the same.
"How are we going to do it?" Rav asked.
"We have given them the weapons they needed. It’s time to wipe Isa’s existence from their minds, they don’t deserve my wife. We will have to start with their king and the Royal officials."
Rohan knew this would take time; many in Aragonia already believed she had married to spy in the enemy land, and wiping away memories would mean going to everyone. But if they could skip the masses and target the important figures, the king, her parents, the officials, the parents of the woman who had been burned, and a few of the important figures who had attended the ball, it might work.
It wouldn’t be easy, he knew. That was why he had not chosen this plan in the first place. But now that it had come to his wife being taken, it was time to sever every connection with her family here in Aragonia.
Rohan turned to Rav and Evenly to say, "You two have to stay here, and before the Dawsons return, I want you to go around the house and take out everything and anything that belongs to my wife or has anything to do with her. Get rid of them. Rav, compel the workers to remove her existence from their memories. I will handle the rest."
Rav, who heard this, couldn’t help but frown. "You... want to compel the mass by yourself? Wouldn’t that take days to achieve?" And wouldn’t that mess with your power to compel? Rav thought to himself, as he knew he couldn’t compel more than a dozen in a day for being a turned vampire. But then, he didn’t know to what capacity his master’s demon powers could reach in a day before the compelling started to lose it’s strength to block the memories of it victims.
"And who said I’ll be doing it alone?" Rohan questioned, letting his eyes move to his son, who had been watching him the entire time since he returned. The boy’s eyes still held the glossy shimmer of tears, as though he had been crying earlier.
His poor little son, caught in a mess since the very moment of his birth. The thought left a bitter taste in Rohan’s throat, but he forced it down.
"Come here." He reached out for Angel, and the boy quickly went into his arms, holding the front of his shirt with his fingers.
Angel’s red eyes shifted from crimson to black as they glimmered faintly with light, relief washing over him at being in his father’s arms when only moments ago he had feared his papa was taken away just like his mama.
"You will help me get your mother back, won’t you?" Rohan asked softly, gazing into his son’s face.
Angel had begun to use his powers to wipe memories since he was still in his mother’s womb, and now that he was out and growing, he could do even better if given the opportunity and the chance to use his powers freely, for his powers were much stronger in that aspect.
Earlier in the hall, when Belle was being dragged away, it had taken sheer strength from Evenly to hold the boy in her arms as he bared his fangs and began to struggle against her grip, watching his mother being dragged out like a criminal in chains.
Now, after hearing what his father said to him, Angel nodded his small head in understanding, and Rohan ruffled his hair proudly as he told Rav and Evenly, "Make sure not to leave the house no matter what. We don’t know what the humans might be planning with the weapons report in their hands. Once I get my wife back, we are leaving Aragonia immediately."
They both nodded, and Rohan added for Rav, "Your neck is red, soothe it before you start the work."
He said it in the form of an apology for his reaction a moment ago, his tone softer now, before he turned away to leave.
"Wait," Evenly said before Rohan could leave with his son. She hurried forward and carefully put Angel’s blue knitted cap on his head, covering his ears. "I noticed he doesn’t like the wind blowing inside his ears, so Belle gave me this to hold before we left this morning. Please, be careful. Don’t let him get hurt... and Belle too..." Evenly whispered as she tied the cap strings beneath his chin and then stroked Angel’s warm cheek with the back of her hand.
"Enny," Angel muttered as he touched his small hand to hers, and she smiled despite her worries at the way he had begun to call her since that morning. "Be careful, Angel." She stepped back, waving.
"Thank you, for taking care of my son and wife," Rohan muttered as he shifted Angel in his arms and then opened his majestic black wings and flew into the night without waiting for a response.
Evenly watched with her lips agape. The duke had not only thanked her, but she had also seen him with wings! She thought, not knowing that Rohan opening his wings in front of her was his way of showing that he trusted her now, for he had killed a handful of people the moment they witnessed he had them.
"He has wings," she muttered to Rav in astonished disbelief. She hadn’t noticed it when he descended because she was too busy trying to coax Angel, who was crying, and Rohan hadn’t come down directly in front of them.
Rav, who was soothing his neck where his master had gripped his collar earlier, said, "Another secret you have to keep if you treasure your life. Let’s go and start with cleaning up the things."
"Rav, do you think he will get her back?" she asked, not taking her eyes away from the sky where the stars were clear and Rohan had disappeared through the night.
"His lordship will not stop until he has his wife back. Don’t worry about them. Your arm is bleeding," Rav pointed out as he reached out and took her arm, where Angel’s claw had sunk into her skin when she tried to hold him back from breaking free to go to his mother.
Evenly hadn’t even noticed it until Rav spoke, and she looked down to see the wound was taking it time to heal. "Oh."
"Let’s go inside and get it cleaned before we start clearing away the things that belonged to the lady," he said quietly as he, without thinking about it, took her hand into his and held it tight as they walked back into the house.