Chapter 22 Chapter 22

Chapter 22 Chapter 22
Adrian
The heavy oak doors slammed shut as I walked inside, muffling the chatter of the people outside, heading towards the window. Cordelia and Vivian were already inside.

My silk robe barely concealed the slight, violent tremors of a body that had shifted into a beast, engaged in a fight and shifted back. The metallic tang of blood and ozone hung in the air.

“You look quite peaky, Adrian,” Cordelia remarked, her voice a cool, rhythmic chime. She was casually dabbing a crimson smudge on her scarlet sleeve with a lace handkerchief.

“I am… fatigued, Cordelia,” I replied.

“However, I would be remiss if I didn’t offer my gratitude. The brown wolf’s timing was… impeccable. Without your intervention, my throat might be decorating the cobblestones.”

Cordelia gave me a thin, predatory smile, eyes glinting with a sharp, amber light.

“The Northbrook line is far too precious to let it perish at the hand of common curs, Adrian. It was a matter of territorial integrity.”

A sharp, ragged breath left Vivian, who stood at the edge of my desk, the shadow of my study partially hiding her.

She looked between us, her fatigued face wearing a mask of confusion and modern horror.

“Wait… what did you just say?”

My eyes met Vivian’s. “I was thanking Lady Cordelia for her assistance in the fray, Vivian. She is quite… formidable when she gives in to the helplessness of the moon.”

Her brows furrowed, grip on the edge of the desk hard. “Assistance? Adrian, I saw you out there. You were alone with that… whatever that thing is, until a second wolf appeared. It practically saved your life. How is it…”

She trailed off, her gaze snapping to Cordelia and back to me.

“She wasn’t there at all. She wasn’t in this house at all. You were nowhere to be found.”

“You must understand, Vivian, that I have a penchant for the gift from the moon… well most like to consider it a curse, but I… dare to consider it a gift.” Cordelia said.

“No way… No…” Vivian’s voice dropped to a whisper. “You’re saying you’re that wolf? That massive, snarling beast that knocked that monster over? That was you?”

“Snarling is such an ugly word,” Cordelia mused, her hand smoothing her skirts. “I prefer to think of it as a spirited defense of my future… interest. You see, unlike you, I do not need a history book to understand the power of this land.”

Vivian stepped back, her eyes as wide as a platter as she looked at Cordelia. “You’re… You’re like him.” Her finger moved between Cordelia and me.

“Both of you… you’re the same. Is this like… a club for monsters?”

“We are the Peerage, Vivian,” I came in, voice steady. “The responsibilities of our station often require a… more visceral approach than you might find palatable.”

“This is crazy,” Vivian breathed, her strange accent flattening in her agitation. “I’m in a room with two people who literally turn into apex predators, and you’re talking about territorial integrity like a zoning board meeting.”

While she snapped, the door opened with a soft click and I turned. Edmund stepped through the door, dressed in his usual black ensemble.

“A zoning board,” he joined the conversation as if he left a moment ago. “A fasinating term, Miss Vivian. Though I fear the current zoning of the courtyard is rather… messy. Adrian, Cordelia, I trust everyone survived the little… excitement?”

The wolf in me lurched, a snarl vibrating in my chest. “Where were you, Edmund? That feral breached the inner gate. A baron might have been expected to hold a blade, if not a claw.”

“I was in the West wing, my dear friend,” he replied, crossing the room with unnerving grace. “I ensured the servants didn’t burn the house down in their panic. Not everyone has the luxury of a… hide as thick as yours.”

“You were conspicuously absent, Baron,” Cordelia noted. “Almost as if you knew when the attack would begin and when it would end.”

Edmund shot Cordelia a warm smile. “I merely have a talent for avoiding unnecessary unpleasantness, my lady. Though, I find it curious that the feral seemed so… focus. He didn’t go to the stables nor the kitchen. He came for this wing, crashing into the carriage.”

“They are after me,” Vivian said, her voice certain with a slight tremor. Her eyes glided between the three of us. “They don’t want the duke. They are coming after a certain witch who broke their mirror. They think I am that witch.”

I do know why she came to that assumption, but I didn’t know why she had the confidence to admit it before everyone in the room.

“A witch?” Edmund said with a soft chuckle.

“A bit dramatic, don’t you think? But a village… Well, Cordelia has been quite industrious with her rumors. They don’t need magic to fear you, Vivian. They only need to know that you’re different.”

Vivian turned sharply to Cordelia, and so did I. I narrowed my gaze at her. “Do you admit to his claims, Cordelia?”

“I will do no such thing,” Cordelia was quick to answer. “Though I fear that my strained relationship with the baron must have inspired him to think of such foolish… claims.”

“The rumors end now!” I growled. “I do not want to know who inspires such foolish talks, but it is now your responsibility to ensure that the people of the village no longer spread such, or I might be compelled to take some… drastic measures. Now, why are there sudden attack of ferals, Edmund?”

“I cannot come to such a quick conclusion,” Edmund said carelessly. “But I believe nature is changing, Adrian. Perhaps the void you mentioned didn’t just reject Miss Vivian. Perhaps, it let something else in.”

I blinked at him, and he pulled out a small, heavy object rapped in velvet, placing it on the desk before Vivian.

“I found this near the gate,” he said.

Vivian reached for it slowly. As she pulled the velvet away, a strangled cry left her. We stared at a black object, the face twisted into the shape of a screaming face.