299- Echoes Across Time
POV Viktor Averwyn:
The next morning, Adelina refused to leave her bed. Daciana said she was only crying, but I didn’t go to see her.
It would be good if that served to warn her that every action carried a consequence. If she hadn’t been so stubborn and curious, Felix might still be alive. Though the choices had been his.
I tried to work, to move forward as if nothing had happened. The villagers did not change their routine. Vlad went to the mine in silent grief, according to what Ionuț told me. The discomfort followed me, but I did not show it.
When I went to have lunch at the castle, Cezar was there, drinking coffee in the kitchen with his mother. The three-hundred-and-two-year-old wolf was tall and broad, the chief of my guard. And he was waiting for me, because I had sent for him.
“Do you want to talk to me, Viktor?”
“Yes. Have lunch with us.” I took off my refined black jacket and hung it over a chair.
“Adelina still hasn’t come down. She hasn’t even touched the tray of food I took to her,” the woman said immediately, her eyes worried.
“When she gets hungry, she’ll come.”
I rolled up the sleeves of my white shirt and sat at the head of the table. Everything was already set out. Cezar settled to my right and his mother to my left. She began serving us as if we were her pups.
I smiled slowly. He rolled his eyes.
“I can manage, Daciana. Serve yourself first.”
“I’m already here. And the food is still warm. Just the way you like it. It costs me nothing!”
“It’s the same at home. She insists on filling my father’s plate, mine, Ionuț’s, and Petru’s. Four enormous wolves being treated like hungry, weak mutts, watching their mother put their food down while they sit there with their tongues hanging out.”
“Exactly like that! If I didn’t take care of you, you’d all be skin and bones, living on sandwiches and processed garbage! And you still complain! Ungrateful boy!”
“Calm down, Lady Wolf!” he laughed, knowing her dramatic side.
All we could do was wait while she filled the plates with meat, vegetables, and mamaliga, a kind of polenta.
“Here, eat every bit!” She handed me a mountain of steaming food.
“Are you trying to make me fat?”
“You only gain muscle! We need our alpha always huge and fierce! With my cooking, that’s guaranteed! And here’s yours, Cezar. The chief of the guard can’t be weak either.”
“Yes, Mother.” He pretended submission, though he brightened at the sight of the food—his weakness.
I almost teased her, but held back. Deep down, I liked her fussing. At four hundred and eighty-four years old, Daciana was beginning to show some signs of age, and for centuries she had treated me like her son. I didn’t like displeasing her.
We began eating, and for a moment we stayed silent. I poured myself a glass of țuică and Cezar almost did the same, but changed his mind and grabbed a mug of palincă instead.
“Afraid of getting drunk?” I mocked, though I knew it took a lot of alcohol to bring us down.
“I still have work this afternoon. My boss won’t like me stuffing myself with sixty percent alcohol in a single meal,” he shot back, mocking his “boss.”
It was true that the distilled drink made from plums was very strong. But palincă was not far behind. I shrugged and continued eating.
He kept casting curious glances at me, so I went straight to the point.
“It’s nothing serious. I just want you to reinforce security.”
“Some kind of threat?”
“No. Adelina has never been allowed to leave the village, and I want that to be even clearer.”
“Oh Lord!” Daciana placed a hand over her full chest, eyes wide. “Do you think she might run away? After everything that happened yesterday?”
“She’s stubborn, but I don’t think so.” I chewed a piece of the delicious meat and swallowed. “In any case, keep an eye on her.”
“I’ll instruct the guards about it. Don’t worry, Viktor,” Cezar assured me. “We won’t have any more trouble here in the village. She learned a hard lesson.”
I nodded, not wanting to prolong the subject. Still worried.
I had never liked Lucian, but I tolerated him for the sake of peace between territories. We never reached the point of physical aggression, but verbally we attacked each other every time we had to be in the same place. That eventually ended the trade between us.
Everything worsened when I found the baby abandoned in the forest, too weak even to cry, covered in ants and bites. I healed her and brought her to my village. Later I learned who she was: the female brought from the Budapest pack as his promised mate.
According to the news that spread across all territories, he had been furious because she was only a baby. Hence his rage, his orders to kill everyone. From that moment on, that alpha became even more unbearable to me—and a threat to someone I had begun to love like a daughter.
I did not want to think about the baby I once believed was mine, the daughter of my wife. In a way, Adelina helped close that wound left by the past. She was not a replacement. She was even better. Not of my blood, but with all my love and protection.
If Lucian came near her, if he put her in danger, I would kill him. And then the fragile peace maintained by the Elders would finally shatter.
Tense, I distracted myself with the conversation at the table. When I finished, I went straight to my office and used the computer to answer messages from more important clients. In the afternoon, Daciana knocked on the door and told me, more cheerfully, that Adelina had eaten in her room.
It was good to see the old woman happy. I also felt more relieved.
I paused for a moment and turned on the sound system built into the corners of the room. Nothing relaxed me more than music. After so many centuries of life, my taste had become quite eclectic.