[LYCAN'S REALM]
Aniya woke up furious.
How dare she had slept in this kind of situation?! She marched to the door, but just as she was about to bang her fists against the wooden obstruction, it pushed open, and Oana stepped in with a frown.
“I cannot believe he locked you up!” She declared.
Aniya dropped her hands to her sides. “I can't believe you left me here all alone for that long.”
“I thought my brother was with you.”
Aniya folded her arms across her, and walked out into the hallway. “Don't even mention him, I hate your brother. If I hated him before, well now I hate him even more.”
Oana was not pleased with that.
While she had been with Goldie, she had hoped that Aniya’s relationship with her brother would blossom into a force to be reckoned with. She had heard from Eldrick that the North border wasn't disturbed yet, which was surprising because it didn't usually take this long for another attack to happen at the North Border.
She had hoped to meet something different, but instead, it was more hatred. It was quite unexpected, seeing that Ikrus had told her to hurry back. He wanted her to help Aniya prepare for the Wuri Festival. She had thought that he wanted to surprise her with his presence at the festival, but now it was obvious that they probably fought about it.
They were so lucky to have each other.
Oana told Aniya about Ikrus' message, and she also delivered the bags of coins to her. Aniya received them with a smile, her anger vanishing as she made it to her room.
They got there to find carpenters working on the door.
“What really happened here?” Oana asked, horrified.
“A lot. I will tell you everything but you must tell me everything that happened while you were away.” Aniya asked and Oana took her hand in excitement, taking them to her room instead, while telling her that she could use her bathroom and wear one of her dresses.
Oana wasn't as busty as Aniya was and Aniya could see how hard it would be to find one that would fix, but she needed answers to her question; she needed to know what Eldrick had been up to, she needed to be sure that she still had him in her control. She needed this gossip more than she needed dresses, so for that reason, she refused to state the obvious.
“Goldie is recovering, she conveys her deepest apologies. Everyone is alright,” she blushed even before she spoke his name, “and I saw Eldrick, many times more than I would in the Pack House. In fact, I’ll be seeing him tonight. He is going with us to attend the Wuri Festival.”
Aniya’s heart soared with joy at that.
By Ignas, finally.
Oana kept on talking more and more about the fantastic things Eldrick had been doing while she was at Goldie's house. They had been friends for a long time and every action she narrated just illustrated that. Oana was being delusional and seeing things that were not there to feed her feelings for him. Knowing the things that she knew about Eldrick and Ula made her certain of it.
Aniya wondered if she should point this out but then, why should she? If Oana were to believe her, it would break her heart, and attending the Wuri Festival would be impossible. If she were not to believe her, then she would acquire an enemy; by Ignas, there was no greater enemy than one in love.
She would just allow the delusion to continue; after all, she wouldn't be here for the messy end.
She did feel sorry for Oana though. It would be so painful for her when she would discover everything. She might even hate her for it but then again, she would be long gone.
Away from here and back in Inaymi.
Oh, she missed home.
“...and he said, ‘Oana, you look tired, you should rest.’ Did you hear that, Aniya?”
Aniya nodded. They were in Oana’s room already? She had been so lost in thought, she didn't even know when they got here.
“He noticed that I was tired!” She declared in excitement as she led Aniya to the bathroom. “Goldie did say something about my tiredness before but she didn't say I should rest. *He* said it! No one else, he did. He is in love with me, Aniya. He is just shy to confess.”
Aniya hummed, taking off her dress as she walked to the bathtub, while Oana paced back and forth in the bathroom.
“I’m thinking of telling him tonight. Maybe my confession will trigger his own.” She looked back at Aniya and stopped short. “You are naked.”
“Yes.”
Oana looked away, chuckling nervously to herself. “I should give some privacy.”
“Thank you, Princess.”
She smiled and walked out of the bathroom while Aniya sank into the bathtub.
Whatever privacy meant to Oana, she certainly didn't mean it in a way of leaving Aniya completely because she stood outside the closed bathroom door and continued talking.
“How do you suggest I confess? I’ll tell you of all my ideas.”
Aniya sighed, closing her eyes as she listened.
“Shall I sing for him?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
She listed many ideas, too excited to wait for Aniya’s input. Then she paused to slip in an “I’m so glad you know of this, Aniya. You are my only friend who knows. Thank you for listening to me, I have no one else to tell.”
Aniya’s heart sank with guilt as Oana continued talking about her ideas.
She would be totally destroyed when she would found out.
Her conscience struggled with logical thinking and she forced herself to focus on her plan for the Wuri Festival, to plan the escape of her and her son.
Tonight was about to change everything.