CHAPTER 417: DIFFERENT

"Arabella!" Floriel was first in the line of chirping fairies to zoom across the gardens and squish herself into Arabella’s cheek.

The rest pressed themselves on any part of her body their little hands could access. Arabella came to understand it was their way of hugging. Not that it held much mystery.

"You seem a bit tense!" Ariel spoke second.

"Yes, I did not sleep in the best of positions yesterday,"

"Oh...!" the fairies around her had all exclaimed in unison and awe at her last statement. Their eyes turned round as though she’d just uttered the most incredible thing to be heard.

"That happens to humans as well!" one of them half asked.

"I thought it only happened to us, creatures with smaller bodies to wake up that way after a full night of rest,"

"Well, now you know different," Arabella chuckled before looking around, "Where is Liriel? Didn’t she come along? I was hoping to speak with her,"

"She did, but Silas greeted us at the entrance and dragged her somewhere along with him," Floriel declared happily.

How could Silas just meet them at the entrance if he was somewhere out on a business trip? Things did not add up.

"What is it? Has something gotten into your eye?"

The fairies’ eyebrows started to knit as they all focused on something or someone behind Arabella.

Upon spinning around, she found no one but Ada looking as culpable as earlier, her arms flailing, signaling odd gestures. The woman froze and straightened her stance when realizing she’d been caught.

"You seem quite ill. Are you sure everything is alright?"

Much like her, the fairies seemed to have no clue as to why Ada would be behaving that way.

That only meant that whatever scheme was taking place under her nose, the little sparkly beings were not included in its weaving.

Something at her core caused her heart not to sink but to rise up to her throat. It was a sudden sense of urgency to run, cut across the hallways right towards Katherine and her sisters’ room.

Him hearing her suspicion of Allegra had sent shivers down her spine, but she had managed to soothe them enough the previous night.

What if he had decided to act upon that suspicion? What if he’d decided to do something drastic and had everyone zip the lip about it?

Ada wouldn’t do that to her? Would she? She wouldn’t keep that heavy of a secret? Not even if he threatened her?

"Arabella, where are you going?"

Without paying Ada’s calling any attention, Arabella rushed back, leaving the brilliance of the sun behind in order to check on Allegra.

Since she was hibernating, her body would have been utterly defenseless to anything that would be done to it.

Gasping for air and pushing beyond the pain of the acid that had built up in her muscles during her sprint, Arabella arrived in front of their door.

Her chest rose and fell as her hand, shaky, found the knob.

She did the twisting with utmost care and only made a tiny gap for her eyes to peek inside before expanding it just enough for her body to slip through.

Pitch black the space was until the candles in the room lit up to greet her. The three beds that captured her attention were wrapped in thick white fabric that made their canopies.

Ever so slowly, Arabella took her first steps deeper, straight towards Allegra’s bed.

After making sure that no sunlight snuck through the tightly shut windows, her fingers curled around the curtains shielding her bed and peeled the tiniest of holes for her eye to see past.

Dread and relief somehow paired up to rush up her lungs and wrap around them, rendering her legs too numb to carry her weight. She collapsed onto the floor and allowed a few tears out.

Allegra slept soundly upon her bed, but that could end at any moment.

At any moment, Silas could come in and just... Just what would he even do to her? Drag her down to the dungeons the way he did with Katherine?

His actions with Katherine were justified. Wouldn’t they be with Allegra as well? Wasn’t she dangerous if her theory turned out to be true?

Arabella’s eyes fell onto one candle in particular and followed as its flame danced and wiggled at will, lulling her consciousness into a comfortable spiral that drew her far away from everything that bared its teeth at her.

When she reopened them, a pair of diamonds stood inches away from her face.

Instinctively, she flinched back from him, her attention snapping onto Allegra’s bed.

"She is safe," Silas rose back to his full height since he’d been crouching in front of her, "I was not and still am not planning on doing anything to her," there was no warmth coating his features or voice.

He spoke mechanically, flatly, his eyes on Allegra’s bed as well.

"Why?" he asked without looking at her.

"I...Ada and Carlton were being dodgy all morning and I-"

"I meant why do you believe me capable of harming her? Why didn’t you trust me enough to share your thoughts about her?" he cut her off.

"I told you already. It was a mere theory that I didn’t want to bring too much attention to without proof," she murmured, her eyes on the floor.

"And yet you shared it with Ada,"

Arabella inhaled in order to speak, but Silas beat her to the mark, "Let me guess. You are going to tell me that it is different so I will save you some time and directly ask you, what’s the difference?"

Nothing but the flickering of flames whispered in the room for a good moment until Arabella seemed to finally push down that lump that prevented her from voicing her thoughts, "Because Ada can do nothing but listen to that theory. You, on the other hand, can act...," she trailed off, her throat turning completely dry.

"Act how?" the way candlelight reflected on his face, putting emphasis on his bone structure darkened his features, earning him the most terrifying of expressions.