Chapter 38 CHAPTER 38

Chapter 38 CHAPTER 38
Lucian

I watched her walk out of Dante’s chambers, her back straight, long red hair falling down to the curve of her waíst, hips swaying lightly with every step she took.

What the hell was she searching for? She said she was going to see Dante, and instead of doing that, she broke into his room.

And after he suddenly fell ill, after visiting her….

Something was fishy. I turned back to where she was standing, when I had caught her like a deer seeing a hunter. She was bent over, trying to move his bed?

Ever since the day the scrying bowl turned red, my suspicions had grown and grown and right now, seeing her trying to search through one of our rooms…

How many times has she tried to search mine? I walked to the bed, bending down at the little space she had managed to make. Everything was dark, light barely getting through. Squatting low, I pushed my head between the spaces.

It was empty.

I got up, a soft sigh escaping my lips. This girl must be even more dangerous than I thought, I hiss, wiping dust away from my clothes. I mean, she has me here, bending and searching Dante’s—

What was that? I sniffed the air slowly, the faint, yet sweet smell of something wafting through the air. A human would have not been able to place it, thinking it was a normal smell, but that smell?

I tracked it to Dante’s bed head. It was strong here, almost choking and I pushed the bed frame aside.

There was a small iron door behind Dante’s bed, not too big yet, big enough for someone to pass through. Sera must have suspected something was here, but she didn't have the necessary strength to move his bed. I opened the door, and entered what seemed to be a small terrarium.

In the midst of all the plants, the smell of one lingered, forcing its way down my nose and throat and I ventured down in horror, plucking a few pieces of vervain, the one thing we had collectively forbidden. The entire room was covered with it, and rage and disbelief grew in me.

How could he, how could he plant vervain?

I blurred, reaching the south infirmary in less than a second. The two guards standing by his door were spooked, their spears drawn. “Still,” I hissed, walking in between them.

“My Lord, our king has requested to not be disturbed,” one of them said. I clench my fists around the hideous plants. “He has asked for no visitors.”

I pushed past them, throwing the doors open, and coming to a halt at the sight in the room.

Blood covered the entire ground, the bed, the walls, and Dante did not stop slashing at his hands, the knife moving at an alarming speed.

"Dante," I whispered, shock flooding my system.

His head whipped back, wide brown eyes staring at me. His mouth is open, his lips quivering and for a fleeting moment, he looked surprised to see me here.

"Can you explain this?" I hissed, throwing the vervain at him. "Why are you growing this plant in the palace?"

Dante recovered quickly. "You are welcome to interrogate me in my wing," he grunted, standing up in pain. The knife dropped from his hand, falling weakly to the bloody floor. "and you can also completely forget the boundaries we have in place."

"You have already crossed the line," I yelled. "You crossed a boundary, the minute you decided to grow this."

He rolled his eyes, picking up a cloth from the floor to dab at his wounds.

"You know, I can understand you planting it, why the fuck did you drink it?" I asked.

"I definitely did not take it because of Sera," he replied tautly.

Sera? He drank vervain because of Sera? "What does she have to do with—"the lines clicked in my head.

"I hope it was worth it," I sighed, looking at his bleeding frame. "You know you have to drain all the blood out of your system right? And then you made Althea lie to all of us?"

"I am absolutely fine, which is why I told Althea to inform all of you that I was and you would understand," he snapped.

"Why do you think we won't understand?" I raised a brow. "Maybe I would understand if you come to me with things like this, not give a catalyst we are still trying to know another weapon," I panned.

Like, the girl already has the silver knife she was trying to hide so badly, even though Caspian had already told us about it, and I felt it on her the day she came to my chambers. God knows what she would do, now she knew vervain could cause us this much trouble.

"I would normally not care," I continued,"but you had been growing it secretly in your room, after we decided to get rid of it from the castle."

"It's comforting to know you have no interest in searching my room," he replied, sitting back on the blood stained bed.

"Yeah, and guess why I was there?" He glanced up at me. "Sera said she was coming to meet you, and I was coming to do the same, but I found her snooping in there. We should be more concerned about that. What if she was looking for more vervain?"

Dante rolled his eyes and picked up the knife again. "Listen," I pinched the top of my nose, "you remember Althea's ritual? She may be our catalyst, but the results were clear, we cannot trust her."

"Yeah, I am sure we gave her a lot of reasons to trust us," he grumbled, "that is why she trusts us so much."

I rolled my eyes. "We are throwing her a ball to earn her trust.". That was one of the biggest thing our kind could do, publicly declare her as ours so no one touches her.

"Yes, such a gesture is enough to earn the trust of someone that has been hurt at the hands of our kind," came his harsh reply.

I fell silent. The room got filled with the smell of blood again, the sound of his skin opening, flesh tearing apart.

"Why did you give her the vervain?"

Dante looked up at me with red eyes. "Compulsion."

One word.

"Someone tried to compel her?" He shook his head, "someone compelled her?"

Dante's head bobbed in agreement.

I clenched my hands at my side, a deep frown taking over me.

"You should spend more time investigating the situation and forget about the ball meant to earn her trust," he said quietly.

He wanted me to just focus on the ball. To forget about the fact that she was compelled by someone in the castle.

"Fine," I relented, "but if she ever uses this knowledge against us, you will bear the consequences."

Dante gave me a weak nod. I shook my head and turned to leave. Since she came, I have been fighting more than usual with them.

"Lucian," Dante called as I turned the door handle.

"Yes?"

"Trust is not vital to breaking the curse," he said. "I am looking forward to your surprises at the ball."

A warning.

"You spoke too late, Dante. I already have something planned for her," I said, leaving the infirmary.

And unfortunately for her, it would be something that would remind her just where exactly her place was.