Vlad The Impaler Adult Chapters 🔞

55. Freedom

First half is in the main book.

After the passionate night they had shared following the Gol, Erinna wanted to wake up in Vlad's arms. She wanted his face to be the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes at dusk but as it was, he had withdrawn from her the moment the initial animal impulses that had been driving them had subsided. She sat up and saw him sitting alone on the floor in the dark. There was something melancholic and fundamentally symbolic about the picture that it immediately drew tears to her eyes.

With their newly established bond, his feelings and snippet of his thoughts filtered from his mind to hers, giving her a glimpse of the root cause of his withdrawal. It made her hesitate approaching him because generally it was hard to predict Vlad's reaction but even if he blew up on her, it was nothing she did not deserve. She had almost ruined their relationship and she did not know how she would ask for his forgiveness she would grovel all the way to high heaven if that was what it would take.

She rose softly from the bed and got down beside him on the hard floor. He did not react to her presence or act as if he had seen her.

"Vlad," she called softly, unsure if he would even reply her.

His body was rigid with tension, the cords at his neck pulled tightly and his granite jaw savagely clenched. His hands were hugging his knees and there was something both forbidding and vulnerable about the way he had arranged himself.

"Go back to sleep, Erinna." He said softly.

"We need- I need to talk to you," she quickly corrected.

He said nothing and the strength of her shame and guilt knocked off her courage. She looked down at her fingers not knowing where to start. It was always Vlad who apologized in their relationship and she did not know how to beg.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Ingrid. I should have believed you."

He looked away from her and out of the window and Erinna's heart sank.

"Vlad-"

He brought his eyes back to her.

"I heard you, angel. It's fine. Go to sleep."

But nothing in his expression said it was fine. He was holding back. Erinna wanted him to be angry, to shout at her, anything except his frustrating reserve. She always blew up on him whenever she got angry and did not want him to feel as if he had to treat her with kid gloves.

"It's alright for you to be angry, Vlad," she said quietly, gauging him for his reaction.

"No, it's really not. We both know who is more in love with who in this relationship. If I really allow myself to get as angry as you want, I'll start yelling and if I do you'll leave and I really can't stand that so..." He ended his words with a shrug.

She drew back, shocked at his words.

"You think you're more in love with me than I am with you?"

She had always thought it was the other way round. It had always seemed like she was the one always compensating and sacrificing some part of herself or giving up something so their relationship could work. It had never crossed her mind that it could be the other way round.

"Erinna you were ready to leave me because you thought I had cheated on you. You could cheat on me with ten thousand men and I'd still be there, begging for the last bit of your attention."

She got up on her knees and cupped his face in her hands.

"That's not why I wanted to leave you. I wanted to leave because I love you. So so much that I can't stand the thought of anyone having their hands on you or sharing any part of you. That's how much I love you."