245- When the Past Comes Knocking
POV Aldren Valmorin:
“Go home,” I ordered, ready to head down to the underground.
“Tell me how she is, and I will.” In her eyes shone the purest concern.
“I gave her a sedative. She’s calm and sleeping, Korlina. Satisfied?” She didn’t need to know what kind of sedative it was.
A sigh of relief escaped her.
“Thank you, Aldren.”
I turned my back on her and returned to my original path.
I went down the stairs furiously, finding Bratvo at the bottom, pale, fear seeping from his pores.
“Come.” I headed to the library, waited for him to enter, and closed the door. “Calm down, I know it wasn’t you.” Vitality returned to his face. “Tell me in detail what the conversation between the two of them was like.” He scratched his head, uneasy. “Don’t tell me you didn’t hear it, Bratvo, fuck.”
“I stayed outside the door, waiting for Elowen, sir.”
“What the fuck!” I shouted, kicking the armchair beside me, which, despite being heavy due to its steel frame, toppled over.
“I’m sorry, Aldren.”
I took a breath before turning back to him.
“From today on, the only place you don’t go in with her is the bathroom. Otherwise, no matter where it is, stay at least one meter away.”
“Yes, sir. Even here, at your residence?”
“No, Bratvo. Only outside the limits of my house. I’ll work it out with her which period of the day she prefers to go out, so that during the other you can rest.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Protect Elowen with your life. I am giving you the freedom to kill anyone who threatens her.”
“Understood, sir.”
“You may go. Ask Nerin to come down.”
Nodding respectfully, he left, leaving the door open.
I set the armchair upright and sat in it, my head pounding.
See? What a great revelation—the one responsible for Elowen’s suffering was me.
My selfishness and control led her to believe that her sister had abandoned her, when I knew the truth was the complete opposite.
Nerin arrived quickly, entering and leaning against the door.
“What do you think of Korlina’s statement?”
“She seemed honest to me. She came alone looking for Elowen, desperate. She even fell and hurt her knees in the forest. I had to clean them and apply fast-healing ointment to the scrapes. At her advanced age, she can no longer heal herself.”
“And why the hell did she grow fond of Elowen?”
“I have no idea, but it’s not very hard to imagine. It could be a witchcraft trick…” she lowered her voice, uncertain of her words.
I frowned, completely opposed to the idea.
“Risk her neck for that? If she wanted to go against the laws, she would have done so to save her grandson, don’t you think?”
Witchcraft was strictly forbidden within the territories and Noctheria by the elders, after the massacre I preferred to forget. Anyone caught practicing magic was imprisoned in Noctheria until the elders’ judgment.
“It would take more than one old witch to open the prisons of Noctheria—perhaps a dozen of them.”
“That’s true.”
“Are you going to tell Elowen the truth about her sister…?”
“Of course, Nerin. What kind of animal would I be, lying to her while she warms my bed?”
“You two are… together?” She smiled with delight, as if fulfilling herself in that realization.
“Elowen has no idea that we might be predestined partners. And I prefer to keep her in the dark for now, until her transformation happens and we can confirm it.”
“How can you still have doubts? No one but a partner would have pulled her out of the state she was in when she came back from the village, Aldren.”
“How do you know I didn’t just give her a sedative?”
My question seemed to make her remember something.
“Unless… my drawer was messed with…”
“Forget it.”
A little more and she would discover that Elowen tried to kill me and failed, and then she would have no doubt that we were predestined.
“Do you need anything?” she offered.
“No. Go rest.”
“And dinner?”
“No need to make it.” Nerin frowned.
“Wait, I don’t believe you’re going to cook. That hasn’t happened in so long!” she said, excited.
“I don’t know yet, ma’am.”
“I’ll leave a hint for Elowen, when I can.”
“You will leave nothing.” She laughed.
“I’m joking, of course.”
“Rest.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“ALDREN.” More than a century and she still wouldn’t give up the formality.
“All right… Aldren.” She paused at the door before leaving. “May I go to the city?”
“Of course. I’ll ask Serpentino to take you in the pickup.” I had paid a fortune for an imported GMC that I never used. “Or would you rather go alone?”
“No, I’ll be happy for Serpentino to take me.”
“Good.”
I said goodbye to Nerin, grabbed a book, and went up to the bedroom, looking for my phone to send the order to my guard by message.
I expected to find only my female asleep, like an angel, but as I approached the bed, an unexpected sight sent a chill down my spine.
Perched on the bars of the cage, a raven with plumage black as pitch watched me, its dark, penetrating eyes reflecting a sinister gleam in the light that filtered into the room. Its sharp beak—almost a macabre ornament against the pale gray of the bars—opened in a low croak that reverberated through the bedroom’s silence.
Another shiver ran through me, evoking the worst memories of a time when ravens were omens of misfortune.
With growing tension in my muscles, I moved to scare it away, but with the shadowy agility of its ill-fated kin, it beat its wings and flew out through the window it had entered.
I slammed it shut, pissed off, unwilling to accept the past’s insistence on greeting me. My focus needed to be there, on the precious being sleeping in my bed.
Elowen was different; Elowen was real.