Charlotte whistled once Darius left the room. She looked Serena up and down and shook her head. She leaned over the desk and placed her chin in her hand. With one sharp breath, she blew out the candle on the desk. Serena flinched and then leaned forward slightly and watched Charlotte with narrowed eyes.
"Why would you do that?" Serena asked suddenly.
"I am about leaving, and I do not wish to keep you up longer than you ought to be," Charlotte said, her tone light.
Serena nearly breathed out a sigh of relief. She could relax now that Charlotte was going. She hoped that Darius coming to her room in the middle of the night would not linger too long in her thoughts. But such a thing was nearly asking the moon not to rise.
"Or," Charlotte added, straightening with a wicked glint in her eye, "would you have me stay and keep you in check? Even the great Alpha of Ironshade had to come call on you in the middle of the night. Perhaps he fears you’ll drain the blood from my favourite stable hand."
Serena paused, the words dying in her throat. She shot Charlotte an incredulous look, though she doubted the other woman even noticed it. What in the world was her problem, she figured that being a vampire in the west was even a greater sin than being a rogue. There were next to none living in the West of Kaldora.
"I am not a vampire," Serena said finally.
Charlotte burst into laughter and stood from the chair, brushing the front of her tunic as if she’d done something strenuous. "I did not call you that...but imagine you were," she said between breaths. "Lurking around the castle, hair in tangles, whispering sweet nothings into the ears of the unsuspecting and bitting on their neck to get drunk on their blood."
"If I were, I should not be able to walk beneath the sun," Serena retorted.
"Or," Charlotte said, wagging a finger, "you could be one of those old tales, a vampire witch. A proper monster cloaked in silk and grace."
Serena’s upper lip twitched. She was torn between mild irritation and amusement. "They died out, did they not?"
"Oh? So you do know of them," Charlotte said, leaning forward like a cat spying something curious. "Strange thing for a humble wolf to know."
"I was raised among many books," Serena replied smoothly.
Charlotte smirked. "Aye, I wager you read of many things. Spells, curses... rituals perhaps?"
Charlotte shook her head and sighed. "And then I have two heads."
Serena rolled her eyes. "You make it sound as though I spend my nights brewing potions and howling at the moon."
"I’ve seen odder things in this place," Charlotte said with a shrug. "Old Evelyn claims a mirror once whispered her name."
"And what do you think of that?" Serena said slowly.
Charlotte gave a noncommittal shrug. "She was drunk, more likely. Or perhaps the mirror really did speak. Ironshade is not without its shadows."
A beat passed between them. The air had settled again into something softer, less charged. Serena was not too sure what to make of the joke, she would have never imagined that the Elder could get drunk, even the fact that Charlotte made such a joke of that like Elder Evelyn was her grandmother.
Charlotte stepped away from the desk and made her way to the door. She reached for the handle, then hesitated. Her fingers curled around it, and for a moment, Serena thought she would simply leave without another word.
But she turned. Her eyes held something different now, not sharp or mocking, but thoughtful. She tilted her head just a little, her expression unreadable.
"When next you speak with Livia," Charlotte said slowly, "ask her to jog her memory. The old one tends to forget what she once kept close. It is funny, younger than me but she is already a hag."
Serena blinked. "Pardon?"
Charlotte did not say anything more than that. She opened the door, stepped halfway into the hall, then looked over her shoulder.
"She’s not so cold as she seems. Just stubborn. Perhaps more stubborn than you," she said.
Then, without waiting for a reply, she slipped into the corridor and shut the door behind her with a soft click.
Serena sat still for a moment, the silence rushing back to fill the space Charlotte had left behind. She rose up from the bed and struck the match again and then lit the blown out candle. It flickered weakly, its flame curling toward the ceiling like a question unanswered.
She replayed the last words Charlotte had spoken. Ask her to jog her memory?
Serena frowned. What could Charlotte possibly mean by that? What memory? And why did she speak of Livia with such a peculiar softness in her voice, when all this time she had behaved like it was some trivial matter? It left Serena with more questions than answers. Official source is novel⁂fire.net
Serena sat back down on the edge of the bed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. She stared at the floor, Charlotte’s words echoing in her head.
Was there something she didn’t know? Something Livia had forgotten, or pretended to? And why had Charlotte hinted at it at all? If she truly didn’t care, why mention it?
Serena sighed and finally lay down again, drawing the covers up to her chin. She stared at the ceiling, listening to the wind sweep gently against the windows. Yet again though this was easier to deal with she was left with those many questions that never had answers.
People here already looked at her like she had two heads whenever she asked anything straight forward, perhaps everyone hid things like she did. Her fingers curled around the sheets and she sighed, one day they all would be free.
Whatever it was, she had the sinking feeling that this, like so many things in Ironshade, would not stay buried for long.