Chapter 191: What Is Mine
Ruelle felt her stomach drop at the sight before her.
The guards entered first, their eyes sweeping across the church until one of them spotted her and shouted, "Miss Belmont is here!"
Her eyes widened as more than ten guards entered and right behind them came her father. But he wasn’t alone. Lord Azriel was there, Elder Minister Carnifex beside him, along with a local officer whose expression looked far too tired for this hour.
Before she could think of what to say, her father walked straight past the guards and pulled her into his arms. His hold tightened around her so hard it nearly suffocated her.
"Why are you here, Ruelle?" her father demanded, his voice low near her ear which carried irritation hidden beneath concern. When she tried to push him away, his arms loosened reluctantly.
"Mr. Belmont was convinced you had eloped with Lucian Slater," Elder Minister Carnifex remarked with a wry expression. He looked as though he had been dragged from sleep and wasn’t happy about it. "It is good to see you are safe, Miss Belmont. Your father caused quite the disturbance, though I suppose it is understandable."
Ruelle’s eyes lowered. She had only wanted to get away from her father for the night. She hadn’t expected him to drag half the courthouse and Lord Azriel out of bed in the middle of winter.
"I had a bad dream about my sister," Ruelle said, piecing the lie together quickly enough that it sounded believable. "And because it has been days since we heard anything of her. I... felt I needed to come here and pray for her safety."
"In the middle of the night?" her father asked, suspicion lacing his voice.
Ruelle bowed her head, "I apologise. I didn’t think it would cause such disruption. I didn’t mean to worry anyone. I will be more careful."
Before anyone could speak further, Lord Azriel stepped in and spoke, "She must be exhausted after spending the night here. We should let her return and rest first."
"That she will," Mr. Belmont said firmly, and when Ruelle looked at him, she could see the anger sitting behind his eyes despite the calm in his voice. "It is obvious the guards have not been doing their job if my daughter can slip in and out of the house so easily, Minister. Perhaps the windows should have iron grills installed for her safety."
Carnifex’s mouth tightened before he gave a short nod. He replied, "That can be arranged."
Grills on the window where she would have nowhere out? Ruelle felt like things were getting worse.
"If you wish to visit the church, you need only ask Claude to escort you here," Lord Azriel said, and she nodded awkwardly. Then he turned to Mr. Belmont, his expression cooling. "And I believe an apology is owed. Considering you accused Lucian of stealing your daughter away."
After a pause the pureblooded vampire added, "Though he cannot steal what already belongs to him."
Ruelle’s breath caught at the words.
Minister Carnifex spoke in a grim voice, "Lucian has been occupied with the case involving your other daughter. It would be wise not to make such accusations carelessly."
Mr. Belmont’s expression tightened.
Carnifex then looked to Ruelle and continued, "And you, Miss Belmont. You must inform your family before leaving. Times are not as the last few months. If you disappear without a word, you place yourself at risk and there may be nothing we can do for you."
The weight of his words settled heavily.
Ruelle lowered her head again and agreed, "I understand."
"Children can be reckless," Mr. Belmont said, smoothing his expression as though none of this had rattled him. "I simply didn’t want the treaty endangered when Ruelle’s future is so close to being settled." His hand came to rest on her back, guiding her toward the doors. He said to her, "Come. Let us go home."
The warmth of his hand against her spine felt less like comfort and more like a warning.
When they stepped outside the church, Ruelle caught sight of the four carriages stood waiting at the front, their horses stamping against the frost-covered ground while the townspeople who had woken early lingered nearby, their eyes following the little procession leaving the church.
Whispers had already begun. A missing bride-to-be found at dawn was enough to stir any quiet town.
The local officer who had come with them still looked at Ruelle with visible confusion, as his eyes darted to her neck. When their eyes met, he quickly lowered his head in apology.
"Thank you for helping find her," Mr. Belmont said to Elder Minister Carnifex as though he were nothing more than a worried father. "I should discipline her now, so she doesn’t think she can do the same once she’s married."
The words made Ruelle’s stomach tighten.
She climbed into the carriage without protest, her father following after her while two guards took their place behind the carriage before it began moving.
Inside, silence filled between them, broken only by the steady turning of wheels and the horses pulling them through the frozen streets. Ruelle kept her hands pressed tightly in her lap and her eyes fixed outside the window, watching the bare trees pass by. But even that wasn’t enough to ease the weight of her father’s gaze on her right now.
"Is there a reason," he finally asked, his voice calm in a way that made her skin crawl, "why you chose the window instead of the front door last night?"
Her fingers tightened. Maybe she should have truly run, she thought. Not to the church but farther.
"I didn’t want to wake anyone," she replied quietly, still looking outside. "It was late."
"Then why didn’t you return after your prayers?" he asked, his voice sharpening. "Look at me when I am speaking to you, Ruelle. Or are you hiding something?"
The only thing she was hiding was herself from him. Slowly, she turned her head and met his eyes. There was no warmth there now, only that familiar glare she had known for years.
"I didn’t mean to fall asleep there. I already apologised. What more do you want me to say?" She asked him.
A low chuckle escaped him, but there was nothing pleasant in it.
"You have been having bad influence since you came in contact with the Slaters," he said, leaning back as though studying her. "As if they have filled your head with rebellion when all I have tried to do is protect you. Or are you eager to end up like Caroline? Taken in the night and dragged into God knows what."
The mention of Caroline made her jaw tighten.
What she didn’t know was that after finding her room empty the night before, Ezekiel had gone through the streets twice, tearing through alleyways and corners before waking Elder Minister Carnifex himself to search for her. Rage had hollowed him out when he realised she had slipped through his hands.
Then his eyes narrowed. He demanded, "The letter Lord Azriel mentioned. Was it from Lucian Slater?"
Ruelle couldn’t help but feel paranoid that her father was trying to look for loopholes over the false reason. That he would know that she had climbed out of the window because he had tried to open the door.
Then again, the way he spoke just now pressed a nerve and she replied, "What if it was from Lucian? I don’t think sharing letters is a crime."
His face darkened, and he murmured, "So you were trying to meet him."
Ruelle said nothing.
Ezekiel stared at her, anger burning beneath his skin. He had wanted to take her away last night, somewhere quiet where she would finally come with him and remember who she belonged to. But the one night he had planned everything, she had slipped away.
The carriage rolled to a stop.
The moment they arrived back at the mansion, Mrs. Belmont hurried down the front steps. She questioned, "Where have you been, Ruelle?"
"That won’t be necessary," Mr. Belmont’s voice came from behind them as he stepped forward, his expression vacant. "Seeing how Ruelle still struggles to know right from wrong, she will remain at home today. No outings. She needs time to reflect on what she has done."
Ruelle didn’t stay to argue. She walked past them and into the house, her feet moving faster than usual. Halfway to her room, Hailey caught up to her and whispered,
"You could have waited until morning. I would have come along with you."
"I don’t think I would have survived if I had," Ruelle glanced behind them first, making sure no one had followed before lowering her voice. "My father came to my room last night. He tried to get in using a key."
"Maybe he was worried when you didn’t answer?" Hailey frowned. "I mean... when I woke up, the door was broken and everyone was panicking. They thought you’d been taken."
But Ruelle shook her head. "No. He didn’t even call my name," she said softly.
Ruelle knew it was difficult for her friend to understand completely. The Elliots were nothing like the Belmonts. Mr. and Mrs. Elliot loved their daughter openly. They worried for her, protected her, fed her until she complained there was too much food on her plate.
She pressed her fingers against her temples, trying to ease the pounding in her head. She then admitted, "I panicked. I just... didn’t expect everything to turn into this."
Hailey offered her an awkward smile. "Well... you are the most important person in the house right now. It would be strange if they didn’t care." After a pause, she murmured, "It is strange that I didn’t hear the crash. I must have slept like a log."
The appointment to visit the seamstress was cancelled at Mr. Belmont’s word. He claimed there was still enough time for adjustments to be made and that there was no need to rush.
The next two days, Ruelle wasn’t allowed to step outside the house even to walk in the mansion’s garden.
The iron grills had been installed over the windows in the name of safety, but Ruelle knew better. Whether it was because her father no longer trusted her to stay inside or because he feared Lucian might come through those very windows, she couldn’t tell.
Perhaps it should have given her time to go through the books she had taken from the witch to practice and learn.
But that would have required her to be left alone.
And if that wasn’t enough, they had all begun sleeping in the same room. The excuse had been simple. Family should stay close after everything that had happened.
Ruelle had nearly laughed at that.
She hadn’t known her father could be this petty or this determined over something so pointless. At times she thought it would be easier if someone simply dragged him back to a gambling table. At least then his attention would be elsewhere and not on her.
But the worst part was the silence as she hadn’t heard anything about Lucian. Nor did she see him.
Far from the new Belmont residence, the courthouse officers had spread across the lands in search of the escaped prisoners. Bounty posters had been nailed across towns and villages, yet none of them had been found.
To Lucian, it had been four nights without Ruelle.
He had followed the stale human scent through the narrow streets, unwashed for days. Separated from the others, he sat on the branch of a tree with a cigar between his lips, lighting it with the silver lighter in his hand.
A low whine came from below.
It was Zhenya, the wolf who stood near the base of the tree, nose lifted towards the trail it had found.
Lucian’s eyes shifted upon seeing the person emerge.
Below, Caroline moved from one alley to another, glancing over her shoulder as she carried bloodied stakes in her arms. When she reached the clearing beneath the tree, she dropped them into a pile and poured oil over them. Her trembling fingers struck two stones together, trying to spark a flame.
Before the fire could catch, Lucian dropped from the tree and landed before her. At this, Caroline gasped and stumbled backwards to fall on the ground.
"Caroline Henley," Lucian said, taking a drag from his cigar. "You are under arrest for the murder of vampires."
Her face drained of colour. "It wasn’t me—I didn’t kill anyone," she stammered.
Lucian’s gaze flickered to the bloodied stakes. "And yet here you are, burning what says otherwise."
Tears welled in her eyes. "I was forced to stick with them. Marjorie said they would help me escape. I didn’t know it would turn out like this. They told me to meet them by the creek after I got rid of this. I was planning to get back home!"
Lucian exhaled smoke into the cold air. "Why run if you were going to return?"
"You–you locked me in the dungeon," she whispered. "I thought... I thought I would die there."
Lucian’s eyes moved to the far end of the street, his ears picking nothing but the sniffles of the woman before him. He said,
"Whoever was with you has already left you behind to take the fall for their actions." It seemed the real killers had used Caroline well, leaving her to carry the blame. He added, "Let us hope you enjoy hanging from the gallows as much as you have in hanging the bodies of innocent vampires."
Soon Caroline broke into more tears, wiping her eyes and nose with the back of her sleeves.
She pleaded, "Please don’t send me to the gallows. I will do everything I can to help. I don’t want to die!"
Without another word, Lucian dragged her into the nearest abandoned building and bound her wrists and ankles with rope. Caroline’s cries broke into quiet hiccups. He tied the final knot and looked down at her.
"They say fear usually sharpens the mind, Mrs. Henley," Lucian remarked, as she looked at him with blurry eyes. "Why don’t we go back in time so that you remember something?"
"What do you want me to remember?" Caroline asked in doubt.
Lucian bent down and pulled out a vial from his coat. Pulling the cork, he said, "Take a long breath."
Caroline hesitantly leaned forward and sniffed the vapours that entered her nose. As her mind started to feel light, she heard the pureblooded vampire then question, "When did you last see your chain that was found with the victims."
As smoke filled the air around her, Caroline remembered.
"I should go bathe now. I don’t want the water to turn cold," she laughed as she said it to her husband who had come home from work. She crossed the room while removing the delicate chain from her neck and keeping it on the dressing table.
"Before the bath..."
"Was there anyone apart from you who had entered the room?" Lucian asked what he already knew.
Caroline nodded, "My husband. Ezekiel... Why?"
"Let us try again," Lucian said, bringing the last of the vapours near her face. Seeing her eyes almost turn white, he asked, "When was the last time you saw June Clifford?"
"It was... at my old house."
"Were you alone?"
Caroline shook her head quickly. "Ezekiel was with me. He said he had an errand to run and left..." Her voice trailed off as the pieces began to settle in her mind, each one uglier than the last. Slowly, her eyes lifted to Lucian. "What are you trying to tell me by showing me my memories?"
Lucian let out a quiet breath before he rose to stand up.
"Wait," Caroline called after him, panic rising in her voice. "Please! Where are you going? Don’t le—"
Before she could finish, the cloth around her mouth was pulled back into place, silencing her words into muffled sounds. Her eyes widened as she struggled against the ropes.
Lucian looked down at her, his expression cold. He remarked, "It seems you need time to come to terms with it. A little solitude might do you some good."
Without another word, he stepped out of the room and left the building behind, her muffled protests fading into the walls.
Though there was still work waiting for him, his mind kept circling back to Ruelle. Especially when she was still living under the same roof as her father who was supposed to be dead. Dane had tried looking into it, but it had led nowhere. Neither of them understood how Harold Belmont was standing and speaking as though nothing had happened.
Not to mention something had felt off since yesterday.
While Lucian rode back toward Ruelle’s house, the officers he had left behind continued searching the town. It took them several more hours before they found Caroline tied up and half-delirious in one of the rooms.
When Lucian arrived at the house, one of the guards who was stationed there informed him, "Mr. Slater, the Belmonts have gone to visit the seamstress."
But before Lucian could head out, Minister Gaile intercepted him.
"Oh, Lucian. You’re back already?" Minister Gaile asked. "Come, I am heading to the courthouse too."
Inside the carriage, Lucian asked, "Does the name Marjorie mean anything to you?"
Minister Gaile’s brows furrowed as he searched his memory before shaking his head. "I don’t believe so. Why? Who is she?"
"One of the prisoners who escaped," Lucian answered. His eyes stayed forward, but the face he had seen in Caroline’s memories returned to him with unsettling clarity. "The sketch drawn of her... she resembles someone who was leading the last war. Johnathan Gill."
Lucian remembered his fists crashing into Johnathan Gill’s face over and over until flesh split and bone broke. But that was many years ago.
Gaile’s expression changed. The minister said at last, "He had two children. But there’s barely any record of them. And after all these years, I doubt anyone alive would remember their faces well enough to confirm it." His eyes narrowed in thought. "I will see what I find about him."
Once they arrived at the courthouse, Lucian filed the report and gave a full account of what had been found, while omitting the part where he had tied Caroline. By the time he was done, the morning had stretched further into the day and the halls of the courthouse had grown busier.
On his way back to his chambers, Lucian crossed paths with a group of men standing near the corridor. Their voices lowered the moment they noticed him.
One of the men offered a polite nod. "Congratulations on the case. They finally found your former sister-in-law."
Lucian stopped, the sound of his boots coming to a halt. His eyes settled on the minister and the man’s throat moved as he swallowed.
"I mean, I didn’t expect you to alter the treaty. Though I suppose it is understandable if one party has lost interest. Will there be a change in the public announcement?"
Another officer cleared his throat and added, "My wife mentioned it yesterday. She heard Miss Ruelle Belmont wished to dissolve the treaty and wishes Miss Lia Sloane to take her place."
"That has been the talk among the women’s soirees," the first officer who had spoken said, attempting a laugh that died too quickly. "Most assumed the treaty had already moved to the next human candidate. Because she had returned to the former partner... Officer Hocker even mentioned there was no mark on her neck when he met her two days ago."
Hocker answered at once, "Miss Belmont was found outside at dawn, and when we saw her..." his words faltered under Lucian’s cold eyes. "There was no soul mark."
Lucian went still, and the air in the corridor turned heavy.
At first, no one understood but then they noticed thin black tendrils slipping from beneath Lucian’s boots like smoke given shape, crawling over the stone floor. One of the men stumbled back so quickly his shoulder struck the wall. Lucian then remarked,
"I wasn’t aware my affairs had become common conversation. But how strange that all of you seem more concerned with who takes her place than where she was." The men shifted uncomfortably. Tilting his head, he asked, "Tell me—does the absence of my mark make her less mine?"
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