"What do you mean by that?" Serena pressed.
She was acutely aware of Feyra in her mindscape, the wolf was now observing the man alongside her. A bell chimed in the distance and Anthony flinched.
"I have to go now, my supervisor has summoned us," Anthony said quickly.
"Wait-" Serena said, stretching a hand, but before she knew it Anthony had disappeared into one of the castle corridors. She withdrew her hand and clenched her fists.
I simply do not trust him.
The words kept on replaying in her mind as she traversed the narrow, long winding staircases to her room. If not for her supernatural smelling capabilities, it would have been a pain to find her room. The castle was just so hopelessly massive that someone could get lost in it without a guide.
She followed her scent and returned to her room. The castle smelt too much of Darius, she already knew exactly how the man smelt. Serena could not escape it, the castle had an amalgamation of different scents. It was like a wound ball of yarn mixed with different strands, but Darius was just so clear to her—like she could pick up the golden one and pull it apart.
She twisted the knob of the door and let herself into the room, she sighed and looked at the letter clenched in her hand. Daylight was almost gone now.
"What would you make of that encounter with Anthony?" Serena asked.
Feyra huffed. "Nothing just yet, but you saw his eyes. That is ancient magic."
Serena settled on her bed and closed her eyes. Ancient magic? An odd suggestion, but if it was something that could have such a hold on the whole of Ironshade, it was plausible—or done by an extremely powerful witch. She had heard of vampire witches but they were almost a myth in Kaldora. People of the undead who had had long enough time to perfect blessings and curses, some even venturing into black magic.
"How are you sure?" Serena asked.
"I am ancient, and so are you. You simply restart your life over and over when your body dies," Feyra said.
Serena turned over onto her stomach and dwelled on the wolf’s words. Old teachings had always said the wolf spirits were given to the children of Lunara to guide them till the end of existence. The spirits were usually wiser but still subject to animalistic urges.
"Was I always in my lives?" Serena asked.
She already knew the answer to this question. Silence. It was always silence whenever these sorts of questions were brought up. Feyra never answers any question that had to deal with the past, the answers always remained the same.
"When will you stop asking me this?"
The answer given was always that she was under oath to never talk about her human companion’s past lives. It must have come from the goddess herself, there would be no one who could put such a seal on the spirit. Sometimes Serena wondered if she was unfortunate in her other lives.
Surely, there were patches of good, but the evil that came next was sometimes so unbearable. She remembered crying her eyes out when they brought her father’s jacket. His body was nowhere to be found. She remembered the numbing feeling of holding her mother’s hand until she passed. She could still feel the rotten fruits that slid down her cheek as she was humiliated in the walk of her exile.
Was there a version of her that experienced nothing but happiness... it would mean there was a version that experienced nothing but sorrow and anguish. Was that version her?
Serena’s eyes flew open and she stared at her open window.
"Stop it, you will get your mind sick and if that happens, I will get sick, and then your body will get sick," the wolf warned.
Serena sat up and blinked slowly, she could not interfere with Feyra’s healing. If that would happen, it meant she would not be able to shift and would lose a fundamental part of her being.
Serena licked her lips and sat up. "I am sorry," she muttered in the silent room.
The blonde woman rose up from the bed and took off her clothes. She changed quickly and slipped into a cotton shift, the softest in her wardrobe. She felt around and finally touched the familiar shape of a candle stand. Now to look for matches.
It took a few failed advances but Serena had found them, she struck them and lit up the candle. It had not provided much light, but it would be enough to read the letter that was sent to her.
She picked up the paper and inspected it. It was not sealed, so it meant anyone could have gotten to it. She shrugged and unfolded it.
It was a short one and straight to the point. Serena did struggle to make out the words, it was like trying to decipher chicken scratches. Her eyes lit up when she saw who was the sender—it was Clara.
A smile spread across her and she settled into the seat at her desk. The letter had ’Serena’ at the top with an attempt to spell her last name but it was eventually scratched out. The woman laughed and continued squinting through the words.
You asked me to send a letter to you and I did. After many tries and a hard long day at work I finally sent it. The courier said it would take two weeks and it made me sad but I wrote as quickly as possible.
I live in Thornridge, the closest house to the bushes and trees. Please visit me as you promised, I will serve you hot tea. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novelꞁire.net
Serena chuckled at the letter, there were a few words she could not possibly make out, it was just too mangled to decipher. Thornridge, that was where Anna said she had lived. It would be easy to locate the girl, her heart fluttered at the thought and then she frowned. Serena would have to convince Darius to let her go that far.
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