Just as she had predicted, sleep never came. Maria turned restlessly on the bed. The candles were dying out with each minute that passed. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw flashes of people moving about, with the women wearing veils.
Freye and the dungeon also clouded her mind. The wall has been broken and proved that the dungeon didn’t exist, yet, it still unnerved her. What she saw was too much to be shoved as a side effect of her medicine. The tonic was meant to give the side effect of sleeping, and not of seeing strange things.
She sat upright with a sigh and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. She tried to put what Freye had told her in the dungeon, together with the visions of the women in veils that she saw.
Freye mentioned Veilwood. Veilwood was a place, and now, she saw flashes of women in veils. She was sure they had to be correlated in some way.
"Was there something about my memory that is tied to veilwood?" She whispered to herself.
Trevor had assured her that she was just seeing things, but she felt it was deeper than that. "Could I be seeing Veilwood?"
She shook the blanket off her body and slipped out of bed. The floor was cold against her bare feet and she hurriedly slid her shoes on.
The castle was quiet, and the air was chilly. She hugged her arms as she shivered a bit from the cold. She was sure the library would be warmer.
As she approached, she sighted a bit of illumination from the window, meaning that a candle was already lit. When she opened the doors, the air was actually warmer.
Kelin sat close to the burning candle with a book in her hand. She was engrossed that she didn’t even notice that someone had walked in.
"Kelin?" Maria called out in surprise.
The young girl jolted from the book. "Oh! You scared me."
Kelin smiled nervously and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I couldn’t sleep. I like it here. There are so many dreamy books."
Maria smiled faintly and moved closer. "You read a lot?"
"Whenever I’m not busy, I read." Kelin admitted cheerfully. "I like reading about mate bonds and how the moon goddess ties two souls together." She held up an old book for Maria to see. "Did you know that some mates can sense each other’s dreams?"
"Dreams? I suppose that makes sense." Maria muttered as she remembered how Trevor came into her room when she had a nightmare.
"What about you? What are you looking for?"
Maria darted her eyes around the shelves. "I want to find out more about a place called Veilwood."
"That’s a pack, isn’t it? I think the women there wear veils as part of their dressing. Kelin leaned closer to a shelf and pulled out a slightly dusty book. She stretched it towards Maria. "This is a book about packs that exist."
Maria collected it from her and settled in a chair. She turned the page, revealing a map of the different packs that existed, the waters that separated Veilwood from the northern pack of Lycanthia. She saw another pack called Eirengale.
She was more interested in Veilwood, and skipped the pages until she found something about it.
"A quiet pack where the women are gifted with abilities other than their werewolf powers." Her curiosity was piqued and she continued to read more, about their mating traditions, about their foods, about their dressing and the different gifts that most of the women possess.
The library was quiet, except for the rustling of papers as she and Kelin concentrated on their books. She read until her eyes began feeling heavy.
The words blurred and she struggled to keep herself from dozing. She hadn’t gotten any sleep throughout the night.
Finally, she gave in and drifted into sleep with her cheek resting against the book.
When she woke, Kelin wasn’t in the library. The sun filtered through the windows. The first thing she felt was an echo in her head. A name drifted through her mind, and she recognized it— Maria.
She sat up quickly as the memory of her name hit her. "I remember. My name is Maria." But that was it, she could only recall her name, but nothing else.
With her chest pounding, she abandoned the book in the library and went straight to see Trevor. He was by the window, shirtless and talking to Devon.
He turned towards her as she approached him. "Blossom, what’s wrong?" He asked as he noticed she was panting like someone that ran all the way here.
"I remembered something. My name is Maria. I just know that I remember it." Newest update provıded by Nove1Fire.net
Trevor’s expression softened from worry to relief. He almost thought that she was hurt. "Maria," he said with a voice that was barely above a whisper. He smiled, "that’s a beautiful name."
"And that place, Veilwood. You said you knew it, can you take me there?"
"Veilwood is a pack far from here. If you wish to see it, I’ll take you."
"Really?" She looked at him with bright eyes, slightly surprised that he didn’t oppose going to a pack as he’s a rogue.
"Of course." He nodded. "But let me see my visitor first. Someone arrived unexpectedly. I’ll handle it quickly and then plan to take you there." He smiled faintly, although she noticed that his eyes were a bit weary. "Alice will bring your tonic." He said, and slipped into his shirt.
He headed outside with Devon.
When she got to her room, Alice was already there, balancing a wooden tray on the bed. "I brought your medicine and breakfast. I was wondering where you went."
Maria accepted it, and cleared the breakfast faster than she had expected. She took the empty tray towards the kitchen since Alice had already left.
As she was leaving the kitchen, she saw a man approaching. It was Trevor’s visitor. "You’ve been difficult to deal with, Trevor."
The visitor’s voice sounded oddly familiar to Maria and his face also looked like she had seen it before. Curiosity got the better of her and she pressed herself against a corner, eavesdropping into their conversation.
Trevor’s voice was calm. "I already told you I couldn’t do it."
The visitor responded with a faint chuckle. "You ignored my letters."
"I had reasons. You still had crazy demands after everything I had done for you."
"Ah," the man said in an amused tone. He was about to say something when he stopped and sniffed the air. "Is there anyone here? Something smells familiar."
"I hope you aren’t picking up the scent of my mate." Trevor snapped at him.
"You’ve found a mate. Maybe you’re not so damned after all."
Trevor’s voice roughened. "Leave my mate out of this. Why are you even smelling another man’s woman?"
The man chuckled a second time. "It’s just that she smells familiar, like the woman who rejected me."
There was a brief moment of silence before Trevor spoke again. "When will the plans be finalized? You promised me an end to this exile."
The man cleared his throat. "I told you that the forger needs more women. Have you forgotten how our deal works?"
Trevor retorted. "I’m done doing your filthy errands. Everyone thinks I’m a monster. I won’t continue staining my hands."
The man laughed. "It’s up to you. Do the simple task and earn you freedom or keep rotting among your cursed kind."
"Simple? If they are so simple, then do them."
"I’m still packborn." The man said in a proud tone. "I don’t soil my hands like rogues."
Trevor slammed his fist against the wall. "You think you’re better because father keeps you close? I’m here because of you!"
The visitor inhaled the air deeply and smiled at Trevor. "Maybe you won’t die such a miserable death after all, you have a mate. Her smell just draws me."
"Watch your words." Trevor said, with his palm curling into balls by his side.
"She smells like a woman I once slept with. Call her, let me see her." He said with a smirk.
"Enough!" Trevor roared and punched him in the jaw.
The man staggered back, blood streaking across his lip, but it healed immediately. "You still have a temper. You’re losing it just because your mate smells like a woman I’ve shoved my shaft in." His smirk still didn’t fade, and he was doing it to annoy Trevor.
Trevor lunged at him again. They crashed into a table, shattering glass and scattering utensils. They threw punches at each other. Trevor’s hand gripped his collar and the man twisted it, making Trevor let out a sharp cry.
Maria gasped from where she stood, contemplating if it’s wise to intervene. Just then, Devon rushed in, trying to separate them.
The man stumbled back, breathing heavily. "You made me come to your cursed lands because you refused to reply to my letters, don’t make me come here again."
"Get out!" Trevor barked at him.
He straightened his clothes and walked towards the exit, then turned towards Trevor. "Tell your mate I said hello. I might like to meet her someday."
With that, he left Trevor’s place.
Maria’s heartbeat raced. Her heart was heavy with things that she didn’t understand. "Who exactly was this man, and why did he feel familiar?"
"The forger, father, freedom?" What exactly did they mean? She looked at Trevor whose breathing was still heavy. She had never seen him so angry before.