Chapter 158: Where are they?
"King Alvone had descendants who escaped from Jaigara. Where did they settle?" Arkilla murmured, her eyes narrowing at the worn, ink-faded branches of the family tree sprawled across the page like a ghost’s web.
"Yes, Arkilla. I thought the same, look at these pages, this slim spine pricks me, he had many achievements, and this book is too small." Came the quiet and yet furious reply. "The way Victor approached that girl... it’s too precise. Not just her purity. This is too deliberate. Either she carries secrets she doesn’t yet understand, or she’s hiding them well. I will know."
Arkilla flipped another brittle page, the parchment whispering beneath her fingertips. Her frown deepened. "You don’t trust her, do you?"
"Of course, I don’t," came the sharp answer. "But I won’t let her die just because a vampire decided to play puppet master."
Ren suddenly looked up, her gaze darting to the dusk-streaked sky. "It’s getting dark," she whispered. "Gloria hasn’t returned. I’m scared royals bully her. She is adorable for a maiden, and these women are jealous as hell."
She shot to her feet, unease coiling in her belly like a tightening noose.
"I don’t feel right," she said, her voice clipped and tight. "We need to find her. I’ll keep her close to me, a chamber right next to me for both of you."
Arkilla’s shoulders tensed. The girl should have arrived long ago, punctual to a fault, never one to delay. Something was wrong.
Unfamiliar with the castle’s layout, Arkilla followed closely as Reneira led the way through dim, endless corridors. This fortress was nearly three times the size of Thegara’s Vine Castle, and far colder in spirit.
"I don’t like this place," Arkilla muttered, glancing over her shoulder.
Eyes watched them, too many, too long, stares that rip your clothes off and assault you in a dislikable way.