74 - Strange Things
74 - Strange Things
Chapter 74: Strange Things
After getting to the servant’s floor, Aniya was quick to realize that she didn’t know where she was going. The dark hallways were unfamiliar, the language of the Lycans’ filled almost every space and reminded her of how much she did not belong here. The servants were too busy to notice her presence, or maybe it was the fact that no one would have expected her to be here that did it.
People were moving around in different directions, into different rooms on either side of the hallway. Shouting across the hall to one another about things that she didn’t understand.
Her feet shifted against the ground slowly as she realized something.
She shouldn’t have come here.
The people of this realm did not like her and she had walked right into their midst on a day like this; on a day when she really didn’t have anyone on side. On a day she wasn’t strong enough.
She had to leave.
Now.
But everyone went still in that very moment. Each of them turned to her, as if by some force, they suddenly recognize her presence and cannot dare to ignore it.
There faces were clouded with confusion, and Aniya let out a shaky breath under her veil.
By Ignas, she was wearing her veil.
That was the only thing she felt like she could hold on to. The only barrier that stood between her and them.
From all angles, they seemed to pull away from her. Then an older woman stepped forward. She seemed to be their leader. There was a quiet confidence about her but when she spoke, the underlying fear made it to the surface.
“We have done nothing,” she said, her voice slowly shaky. But beyond that, Aniya observed that she could speak the language Ignas. Though with slight difficulty but still.
Not many servants could even speak the language.
Aniya blinked.
We have done nothing?
What was that supposed to mean?
Her hands tightened around Arlo, as she looked around quickly. Her heart was racing when she realized that she was surrounded. She turned towards the door and they pulled away quickly, creating a path for her.
It hit her then.
They knew who she was and they were afraid. Of course, they were afraid. They displayed that during the festival but then, she didn’t know it was like this. This type of fear seemed to be commanded by something more than just her face. Maybe it had to do with Ikrus?
That thought alone angered her.
It seemed that no matter what she did or where she went, his effect followed her.
That rage made her turn her attention back to their leader.
“Where is Syon?”
She didn’t care what they would think of her request. If this strange visit and the subject of it would get to the Luna who was already accusing her of adultery, even though she owed no loyalty to Ikrus. She didn’t care if this would get to Ikrus himself!
He would hurt him!
A mind screamed at her sharply.
Too late now. Too late now.
Her mind was losing itself and she was making poor decisions because of it.
She had to find her way back to logic. She had to speak to a friend.
Foolish. Foolish. Foolish!
“Where is he?!” She snapped.
They mumbled amongst one another before their leader spoke again.
“Gone.”
“Gone where?”
Someone answered in the Lycan’s language and Aniya turned to their leader quickly for an interpretation.
She held her gaze firmly and said, “We don’t know.”
A strange silence settled across the hall.
She was lying.
Aniya knew it deep within her, not for any reason. She just felt it.
She looked around carefully and she knew she had to get out of there.
“When he returns,” she said, backing away to the path that had earlier been cleared for her, “tell him I want to see him.”
The leader nodded.
Aniya did not look away until she was right at the door.
Only then did she turn.
They must have been waiting for her because the door was slammed shut in the next moment.
Aniya let out a shaky breath. Her hands around Arlo who seemed very unbothered about everything that was going on. He was tired of being held and wanted to play on the floor.
Run. Walk. Grab all the colourful things he could find and put them in his mouth.
The bliss of ignorance only a child could have.
Aniya tried to regulate her breathing, and her thoughts at the same time, as she began to walk back to her room — Ikrus’s.
She felt the need to get as far away from this place as quickly as possible.
That felt really strange.
Was Syon well? She had not seen him ever since the festival. And with what happened down in the servant quarters… had Ikrus done something to him?
No.
Ikrus would have told her. He was blunt not to have said anything about it. Besides, he didn’t even know who Syon was.
By the time, Aniya got to the Ikrus’s floor, she found Oana, waiting by the door.
A wave of relief had washed through her only for her to notice the guards who were standing behind Oana.
Instinct kicked in and Aniya began to back away, with a firm hand over Arlo’s mouth.
But being human, she had been at a disadvantage right from the start and anything at this point was too late to escape the fate that awaited her.
“Seize her!”
It was Oana’s voice she heard before Aniya broke into a race.