A friend? She had really considered Serena a friend. The blonde woman tilted her head slightly and smiled. She looked over Annamarie.The woman looked well—her pin-straight brown hair flowed past her shoulders, and she wore a lovely green dress that clung gently at the waist. The sleeves hugged her shoulders before flaring out at the wrists like a bloom opening.
Serena twisted her hair around a finger and then looked at Anna. She looked at Anna again. It would do no harm to tell her. Annamarie had called her a dear friend. Would a dear friend be someone she kept important truths from?
"I got your letters. I wonder if you got mine," Serena said.
"I did. You write so beautifully. Where I, on the other hand, have such terrible writing." Anna gave a sheepish laugh, waving her hand dismissively. "But I have so many letters to read through and get done."
The brown-haired woman sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "A lovely side job to add to the income the council pays the scouts. Those old people do love to talk to their friends often."
Serena laughed softly and then she looked behind her, her eyes on the trees behind. She still had some time before she would be summoned to the council room. Thankfully, she had already had her first meal of the day—her stomach would not disturb her for the rest of the day.
"I wonder if I can work a job here," Serena joked.
"Maybe, but an ambassador working here would be strange, no?"
Serena turned to Anna, who had a less cheerful expression and her eyes were downcast. "Serena, how have you been feeling? Your letters have been so short and vague. I have been worried."
The blonde woman pressed her lips together and shook her head. "As it would be what I expected. I have not even begun. There are so many expectations on me."
Serena motioned to the bed and waved for Anna to come join her. The woman sighed and flopped on the soft mattress and closed her eyes.
"Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I never stepped out of that dusty little building," she mused. "I might’ve still been there, half bored to death. Now here I am, making sure I speak loudly and intelligently enough all the time."
Serena sighed and glanced at Annamarie, who wore a concerned expression on her face. "Anna, do you think I am like those other rogues too? I am not even sure what they had done, but everyone..."
"I understand," Annamarie replied. "I do not see you as those wild beasts that roam around to disrupt our pack. I had seen one once... Papa had to defend me."
Annamarie lifted her sleeve for Serena to see. There was a depression in her skin that Serena had seen when she was treating her, but Serena did not know what to make of it.
"I am sorry. It must have been terrifying," Serena said.
"I thought I was never going to go home and see Jack... and I mean the others too, you know?"
Serena raised a brow at the correction, noting the sudden bashfulness in Anna’s expression as she turned her face slightly away. The blonde let out an amused breath through her nose, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Fresh chapters posted on novel※fire.net
"Has it always been ?" she asked.
Annamarie hummed, a low sound as she played with a loose thread on the hem of her sleeve. "No, but it’s grown worse. The last attack was almost a month before we set out for the expedition where we met you."
Serena huffed and shook her head. What terrible experiences they must have had.
"I am not sure what they want with us, but-" Annamarie looked around like there was someone there who would eavesdrop on them. "Papa thinks they’re the same, the rogues."
Serena scrunched up her brows and she turned to Anna. "What do you mean?"
There were few instances of rogues working together. The environment had bred harsh people who had no sense of unity and no obligation to be under someone else. Her mother had told her down south, one group had done the impossible and was recognised as a pack in the Crescent Tribunal.
It was a massive feat to be recognised by the Council of Werewolves in Kaldora, but a ’rogue’ pack had done it. The most aggressive wolves were in the West and East of Kaldora.
"They’re like a group," Anna began, gesturing in the air. "Ever since our former Luna fell sick. I was so young then, I think eleven or twelve. It was so relentless, but once she died..."
Serena sat up and shook her head. "Maybe they want something?"
Even as she said it, the words felt hollow. What could be worth over a decade of skirmishes and spilled blood? It didn’t make sense. In the West, people left rogues alone. You didn’t pursue wild dogs unless you were ready to get bitten.
"The devils," Anna muttered, more to herself than to Serena.
Anna sighed and shook her head as though to dispel the heavy talk. She turned to Serena. "Livia is so scary. How did you manage to get her to make your dress?"
Serena did a double take and raised a brow. "How did you know?"
"Pfft, she is the only one that I know of that can perform such magic in such a short time, unless I am mistaken?"
Serena shook her head. "No, you are not."
Annamarie pushed her hair behind her ear and leaned back, sinking deeper into the pillows like she had been in this room frequently. Serena studied her quietly, watched the way her chest rose and fell, the way her lashes fluttered as she stared at the ceiling.
This would be a perfect opening to drop the revelation on Annamarie. The blonde woman took a deep breath and she called Annamarie’s attention.
"Anna..." she began, lifting her gaze. "I used to be married."