Trevor’s fingers brushed her hair back. Her mind kept dwelling on what Freye said.
"You’re safe," Trevor muttered as he brushed her hair back. She felt the mate bond, the sacred pull. Maria wanted to believe him.
"Maybe Freye could be a prisoner who is lying to get released. I should ask him about her, should I?" she contemplated in her mind.
She drew back slightly to meet his eyes.
"Do you still feel afraid?" Trevor asked as he brushed his palm against her cheek.
She shook her head. "I feel safer with you."
She saw something like a smile appear on his face. A cock crowed in the distance. "Morning already," she whispered to herself.
She raised her head slightly to look at the window. The atmosphere was still dark. Her eyes fluttered, and sleep pulled at her. She wasn’t even aware when she drifted into sleep in his arms.
When she woke up, the morning rays slipped into the room, illuminating it and casting a light shadow on the floor.
She turned to see Trevor standing by her side. The book about mates which she was reading was in his hands.
"I see you went to the library," He said as he flipped through the pages of the book.
He picked up a tray containing a bowl and a cup from the table, and placed it on the bed. "Alice came to give you the tonic, but I said I’d handle it."
She took the tray from him and smiled in appreciation. It was obvious that he had stayed in the room since she slept.
As she sipped the medicine, there was a brief moment of quietness between them.
"Blossom, is there any problem?" Trevor asked with an arched brow as he noticed her uneasy expressions.
She hesitated for a while, wondering if it was wise to tell him about Freye. "Do...Are they any prisoners here?" She stuttered.
"Why are you asking?" He asked, taking the emptied tray from her and dropping it back on the table.
She stared at him, her mind heavy with indecision. He looked too clear of the allegations Freye placed on him, and she couldn’t imagine the man who stayed by her side to be responsible for such wickedness.
"I’m just curious." Maria half-lied. It wasn’t only curiosity that made her ask.
"I don’t have any. We rogues are already prisoners, why would we want to imprison another person?"
"So, no one has ever disobeyed your order?"
"Even if they do, I wouldn’t lock them up."
She took a deep breath. He was lying to her. She had seen his dungeons with Freye there just last night. She pushed further. "So there are no prisons or dungeons here?"
He shook his head. "Not at all."
She felt a sense of dread. He was lying. Why was he lying? With the way he had already denied having a dungeon or any prisoners, she decided that it wouldn’t be wise to ask him about Freye. She needed to get more information from Freye today, and know who Trevor truly was, and what skeletons he could have in his cupboard.
He stretched out his hand towards her and she placed her hand in his. "I can’t wait for you to recover. I want to know who my mate truly is."
She forced a smile as he rubbed her hand gently, even though a strange sense of fear towards him filled her.
Finally he stood up from the bed and held the tray in his hands. "I have to get to work. Have some rest," Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novelꜰire.net
Without waiting for her response, he left the room. Alice came inside later with a bunch of clothes in her hand.
She dropped them on the bed and began folding the clothes. "The King said I should sort out new dresses for you."
"Thank you," Maria looked at the dresses, some of them were in the same pattern as the one she wore.
Although, one of them looked really gorgeous, like what someone will wear to a function. Alice saw her looking at it and picked it up. "I thought this would look lovely for the ceremony."
Maria furrowed her brows. "What ceremony?"
"Oh. I thought he told you. Every full moon, a ritual is done to try and appease the moon goddess so that she can bless our cursed lands."
"But have the lands ever been blessed?"
"Not really blessed, but it’s just less worse than before." She finished folding the dresses and hung the one she brought for the ceremony in the closet.
Alice helped to brush her hair after she was done taking a bath.
"Alice," She called out. "Are there any prisoners here? Is anyone locked up in dungeons for a crime?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "I doubt it. The King would never lock anyone up in those dungeons."
"So there is a dungeon?"
Maria saw Alice through the mirror as she covered her mouth like the words slipped out without her knowledge. "There isn’t."
She didn’t ask anymore questions, knowing that there was something Alice and Trevor were hiding. Alice left when she was done.
Maria held the book she had gotten from the library and walked out of the room. Her steps were hurried as she moved to the library. Freye was the only one who could give her the truth.
As she entered the library, there was an unfamiliar man seated behind the desk. Librarian perhaps.
He raised his head from his book as he sighted her. "What brings you here dear?"
She stretched out the book on mating rituals and mate bonds. "I came to return this and borrow another."
He took it for her and her eyes darted to the far corner of the room where she had met Freye last night. A shelf blocked the path.
She pretended to look at the shelves, while picking books and dropping them. She tried hard to see the passageway that led to the dungeon. Even if she saw it, she was certain she couldn’t enter there with the librarian present.
She picked up a book and sat on one of the chairs, pretending to read it. The librarian had bent his head down, and she heard light snores from him as though he was sleeping.
She still knew that pushing the shelves would make so much noise and wake him up.
After a moment, he raised his head, revealing his sleepy eye.
"Would you still be here for at least an hour?"
"Yes." Maria responded without hesitating.
"I need someone to stay here while I go out for a brief moment."
This was a chance offered to her on a platter. "Of course."
The man left and she was alone in the library. She quickly closed the door and headed towards the corner where the entrance to the dungeon was.
She pushed the heavy shelf with all the strength in her, and despite all her effort, it barely moved an inch. She paused to catch her breath and started taking off the books so that it could be lighter.
After doing that, she pushed the shelf and it glided easier than before. The wall was exposed, but she was startled as she stared at it.
There was no sign of a door. All that was there was a plain wall. She pressed against it and even leaned on it to push, thinking that it was a hidden door, but it didn’t budge.
"This is strange," she whispered to herself. The door which she had walked through last night was replaced by a block wall.
"Was I hallucinating when I saw Freye? Was there truly no dungeons, prisons or prisoners here? Could it be the medicine that’s making me see these things? But Devon had entered here to give Freye food. No, it had to be real" She asked herself all these questions as she remained puzzled at the blank wall.
She heard the librarian’s footsteps approach and tried to place the shelf back in his place. The books were already scattered on the floor, and before she could complete that, he had already arrived.
"I’m so sorry. I crashed it while looking for a book."
He walked towards her and helped in adjusting the shelf. He didn’t give her any look of suspicion and she wondered if he also never saw a dungeon here.
She left the library with an unsettled mind. Several thoughts swirled in her mind. If Freye wasn’t here to tell her more details, then she wouldn’t know what to do. She kissed her teeth in annoyance, wishing that she had asked Freye all the questions she had last night.
As she walked towards her room, she saw a place in front of her. Several women who were covering their hair and faces were moving around. She blinked her eyes and the sight cleared, to her looking at the stone walls of Trevor’s castle.
"Am I seeing things?" She asked herself. She felt like her brain was playing tricks on her.