Stone Cold

Chapter 64

For those readers who wanted to see cute Ares and Aria moments, this is for you all ❤️

She was downstairs when her sensitive hearing picked up baby Aria’s cries. She had put her to sleep only an hour ago, but the vampire baby was a big ball of energy and it became extremely difficult to handle her at times. She kept Faith awake all night and didn’t let her get much rest in the daytime either.

“Isn’t she an angel? Doesn’t disturb mommy at all.”

“She’s small at the moment. Wait for a month and you’ll be eating your own words.”

Her heart clenched as Felix’s words came rushing back to her. They hadn’t spent much time together yet he had left a huge impact on her. He refused to remain buried inside the deepest corners of her conscious. It wouldn’t be false to say that his memories were haunting her.

“Hush, little baby, don’t say a word. Papa’s gonna buy you a mocking bird.”

She was barely a foot away from Aria’s room when she heard the lullaby making her come to a halt.

“If that mocking bird won’t sing, papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.”

The voice had her frozen in her place. She couldn’t believe her ears.

“If that diamond ring turns brass, Papa’s gonna buy you a looking glass.”

The childish words weren’t syncing well with the deep voice producing them yet their combination had turned out to be surprisingly pleasant to her ears.

“If that glass begins to crack, Papa’s gonna buy you a jumping jack.”

She never thought she would hear him singing, especially something so silly.

“If that jumping jack is broke, Papa’s gonna buy you a velvet cloak.”

Suddenly an image of Ares wearing his beloved black cloak from the medieval times flashed before her eyes. Slowly she felt her imagination getting mixed with reality as the image in her head morphed into a new picture; Medieval era Ares holding little Aria in his huge arms, shielding their cloaked figures away from the glaring sun.

“If that velvet cloak is coarse, Papa’s gonna buy you a rocking horse.”

Trying not to alert him of her presence, she carefully stepped forward to hide behind the door-frame.

“If that rocking horse won’t rock, Papa’s gonna buy you a cuckoo clock.”

Her lips stretched into a small smile as she thought about Ares buying a cuckoo clock for their little daughter. A brooding giant with a cooing artificial bird in his hand, the idea was too adorable to digest.

“If that cuckoo clock won’t tick, Papa’s gonna buy you a walking stick.”

It surprised her to see that he had perfectly memorized the whole rhyme, down to the very last word.

“If that walking stick falls down, you’ll still be the sweetest little baby in the town.”

Her little angel had gone back to sleep. She could guess it by the way her breathing and heart rate had slowed down.

“Faith.”

After hearing him sing so flawlessly his voice had become a hundred times more attractive to her ears.

“You can rest. She’s asleep.”

He said it after a moment following no replies from her side.

It had been a week since the incident in Romania, and she still only talked to him when it was absolutely needed. He, on the other hand, was doing everything in his power to set things right. Every day she’d wake up to see their room filled to the brim with fresh flowers. There would be sticky notes plastered all over the castle with apologies written over them. He read stories and poems to Aria every night and sometimes while doing so, he had tried narrating his side of the story to Faith as well but she didn’t allow him to proceed with it. Each time he started talking about that ominous night his castle caught fire, she would walk out of the room. He hadn’t listened to her so easily and she wasn’t going to let him have this privilege either.