The Duke had managed to convince her to stay for the night.
And she did, laying back on the bed, trapped beside him, perched on his naked chest.
He smirked all through the night, and Ember had wondered what caused his smirk until her breath formed into heavy ones, accompanied by soft snores.
At dawn, Ember got escorted by Duke Dallas' Butler to a waiting coach that would transport her back home.
She had equipped an excuse. She would say she got knocked down by a trafficker and kept in a container for hours - she had barely managed to escape.
However, the fact that her brothers hadn't bothered looking for her and how they'd simply left the event the previous day raised brows indeed.
Either way, she had a lie prepared.
However, arriving at the porch of her house, Grace had received her and collected her back into her bedroom through a back door without a single soul notice.
She couldn't ask questions. She was too confused to ask one. She didn't know what the Duke did, but she suddenly didn't want to find out what might have been done.
So, she laid back into her bed and pretended to have retired the previous night.
*
What she heard was banging at first, then, once her eyes were flipped open to the brilliance of the morning, she realized it was a voice. A deep, angry voice.
Only one person sounded so terrifying whenever he was angry - Barrett.
Ember jerked off her bed.
As she burst out of her room, padding down the long stairs, the yell got louder, and she soon realized it came from the servant's quarter.
Her brother stood by the entrance of Grace's room, still in his night robe; one of his hands was placed on his waist, and the other held his forehead tightly, a huge frown occupying it.
Grace stands beside Barrett, her head bowed low and both her hands folded before her. She looked like she was just about to cry.
"W-what's wrong, Barrett?"
I moved closer. Barrett's gaze settled on me, hot and blaring. He was always a dreading mess whenever he was angry.
"We are leaving, Ember. Pack your things."
He barked the order, pushing past me towards the living room.
I threw Grace a confused stare - which she returned with a pitiful one - and charged after Barrett.
"What? Why? Am I not to be married to the Viscount anymore?"
"No! This place is not safe for us. It's not safe for you."
A deeper frown fell upon her face at this.
"What happened?"
Ember asked softly, putting her hand on his softly. Then, she noticed he had a letter in his hold, squeezing it tightly.
"What's that?"
Ember managed to grab the letter from him, unfolded it, and straightened it to see the handwriting properly.
It read; "Hello, Mr Hall. I gathered you are back in town. How pleasant of you to graze me with your return. I hope for your extended stay. Perhaps you and I could find some time to have a chat.
For your graceful return, I have a present for you. It's the precious flower I've recently taken an interest in. She is so delicate and she tastes so good. And it's such a delight that I have to erase her memory whenever we meet.
Tell your little sister I won't be erasing her memory the next time we meet. Until then.
Regards,
Your worst nightmare."
"W-what is this?"
Ember's voice was shaky.
"I suspected. The vampire has met with you once or twice or even more. He erases your memory whenever he does. He compromised you, certainly."
Barrett responded in a low, defeated voice. For all his head knew, he should be screaming and shattering every single thing within his reach. But, he didn't want to show that side of him to Ember. He had let his father down. He had caused his father's biggest fear to come true. Now, not only was this vampire associated with his little sister, but he might have compromised her in the place of her future husband.
Barrett bit his lower lip angrily.
Meanwhile, Ember was even too stunned to blink than to speak. She had been compromised before the Duke? She has foolishly thought the Duke was the first man to take her innocence. Meanwhile, the vampire had done it before and even erased her memory of it.
The question now was 'when?', 'how?', 'why?'.
Actually, they were in piles, and they didn't look like they'd be answered anytime soon.
Ember dropped onto the cold wooden floor, letting tears slide freely down her face.
That bloodsucking demon, that monster that sucks people's blood for breakfast and shoves off people's heads for dinner, had touched her.
She couldn't even retch.
"We have to leave. That devil is definitely up to something."
Barrett gathers the letter in his fist and proceeds to leave. Then, something occurred to Ember.
"Barrett?" Barrett halts and swirls around. "How did this vampire know you? He sounded that way in the letter."