Married To Darkness-Chapter 419: Make Me A Woman!

The bathing chamber was a dream carved from moonlight and myth.

Smooth black stone lined the sunken tub, and water as clear as glass steamed gently, scattered with floating blooms that opened and closed like they breathed.

Above them, the ceiling mimicked a night sky, stars slowly swirling, soft music humming from unseen crystals.

Salviana stepped into the warmth first, letting the water embrace her sore limbs. Alaric watched from the edge, his shirt already half-unbuttoned, jaw tight.

She glanced back. "You’re just going to stare?"

He smirked and stepped in after her.

The water rose around them, cradling their bodies in heat and scent. Their knees brushed. Then his hand found her waist under the surface. She didn’t pull away.

For a while, they said nothing—just soaked, breathed, leaned into each other.

Then he kissed her.

Softly at first, like he was testing her. Then deeper—hungrier.

She let out a sound, caught between breath and want. Her fingers slid into his damp hair, pulling him closer. His hands roamed under the water, tracing the curve of her back, the edge of her thigh.

When they pulled apart, her lips were swollen and eyes shining.

"I want you," she whispered, voice thick. "I want all of you."

His gaze burned. "You already have me."

"No." Her eyes glistened. "Not like that."

She moved closer, straddling him in the water, hands pressed against his chest.

"I want you to make me yours," she whispered. "Completely. Not half-way. Not waiting for the right time or right mood or after some stupid celebration."

"Salviana—"

"I’m not a girl," she said, voice trembling. "I’ve already lost my home. My pride. Everything. Let me be a woman. Your woman."

Alaric froze.

She kissed him again—desperately this time, lips dragging, fingers curled around his shoulders. But when she pulled back, she saw it.

The hesitation.

His jaw was clenched. His eyes... distant.

"You’re holding back again," she said. "Why? I know this isn’t our home, but we can be comfortable after this long"

He exhaled sharply and gently shifted her off his lap, though his hands lingered.

"We should finish the bath," he murmured. "Dinner is waiting. And Embrez already suspects we’re animals."

Salviana stared at him. Then her chest heaved—and suddenly she slapped the surface of the water with both hands, sending ripples crashing against the marble walls.

"Damn the dinner! Damn Embrez! Do you not want me?"

"Heaven knows–" Alaric started but his voice broke, "Heaven knows Salviana how much I desire you, how much I want to bend you over every hard surface and show you the climax of an euphoric feeling you have never felt,"

"Heaven knows how greedy I take double sniffs of everything that is you and hunger to connect with you in a more sensual manner, I want to be one with you, body and fluid,"

Salviana nodded with her heart threatening to jump out.

Alaric grabbed her face, "Fiery, I crave you and I am starved of you, I want to fuck you till I tire—and heaven knows how impossible that is because I’m a vampire but I will try, I do want you Salviana–I do"

"So show me! Do it to me Alaric" she pleaded, eyes full of tears like a stream waiting to be fetched.

"But Lord knows I love you more than that—" he looked down to the clear water between them, "I love you too much to lose you"

Salviana wiped her tears that had ran down, "Exactly, you love me too much to hurt me—I trust you, you need to trust yourself,"

"Salviana—"

"Make me a woman!" she shouted, tears rushing to her eyes. "I’m not some breakable thing! I’ve lived with you, I’ve bled for you, Loved you! Why won’t you love me fully?"

His mouth parted—but she kept going, voice cracking.

"I want to be touched. I want to be ruined. I want to know what it means to be loved completely—not held at arm’s length like I’ll shatter. I want to feel it, Alaric. Feel all of you! If you know how to—show me!"

She lunged at him again, water sloshing between them, her hands gripping his face.

"Show me how much you love me, you wicked vampira!"

He caught her wrists, held them steady.

Her chest heaved, wet lashes clumped with tears and steam.

"Salviana," he said lowly, voice rough with restraint. "If I start... I won’t stop. And you deserve more than frantic need in a tub of flowers. You deserve to be cherished."

Her chin trembled. "Then cherish me."

He pulled her in—not with hunger this time, but fierce tenderness. His forehead touched hers.

"I love you," he whispered. "Enough to wait. Enough to calm the beast inside me. Enough to hold you like this until I know you’re safe with me—completely."

She melted against him, her sobs muffled in his neck as he cradled her.

And in the quiet, in the water, in the starlit chamber... he held her until the tremors stopped.

Until her anger turned into quiet tears.

Until she believed him.

In another wing of the mansion, the air was thick with laughter, steam, and the scent of roses and amber.

Emma leaned back in the tub, sighing dramatically. "I swear, this is what heaven feels like."

Sarah blew a cluster of bubbles from her palms and grinned. "If heaven has scented oils, golden soap, and five kinds of lotion—then yes. We’re dead."

Both girls burst into giggles.

After the bath, they were whisked into a warm chamber by a trio of elegant mansion maids, their arms laden with shimmering fabrics.

"Your gowns, my ladies," one said with a soft bow, her accent proper and polished.

Emma and Sarah stared wide-eyed at the lavish array: silk and velvet, pastels and jewels, ribbons and lace.

"We get to pick?" Sarah whispered.

"All of them are yours," the maid replied.

The girls didn’t wait a second longer.

In a blur of squeals, tugged corsets, and clumsy pirouettes, the chamber turned into a whirlwind of color and joy.