Chapter 2 Aftermath
CHAPTER 2: Aftermath
Seraphine’s POV
“She’s gonna be okay… poor kid saw her whole family massacred by the damn Lycans.”
I heard the voice before I even opened my eyes. The crazy part? It sounded far... like outside-the-building far. No way I should’ve heard it that clearly.
My eyelids fluttered. A bright light hit me first and then the smell of medicine and herbs. I was lying on a bed with white sheets and a cold pillow. A woman in a white apron moved beside me with her hands busy with some cloth on my forehead.
Then it hit me.. the flames, the screams, my mother’s voice... cut short, my father falling and that howl.. a sound no human throat could ever make.
A whimper slipped out of me before I could stop it and the nurse looked down quickly.
“Oh... she’s awake! Sweetheart, hey, easy, you’re safe. You’re in the infirmary.”
Safe.
The word kicked something loose inside me and suddenly I couldn’t breathe.
Another flash and I saw blood on our doorway and a shadow taller than any man with yellow eyes. I let out a broken sound and pushed myself up quickly.
“Wait... no, no, relax...!”
“I... I need... my parents... my... ”
But the pictures kept coming as my heartbeat went crazy. My fingers shook and then the shaking turned into something else... strength.. a hot wild strength I’d never felt before like my blood was on fire.
The nurses held my shoulders, trying to keep me down.
“It’s okay, Seraphine...”
But it wasn’t. It wasn’t okay at all.
“Don’t touch me!” I cried.
Something exploded inside me and the next thing I knew, two grown nurses flew backwards like leaves in a storm. They hit the wall with a loud thud, sliding down with shocked faces and my eyes widened.
“What... what did I just…?”
Before I could even understand it, the door slammed open and Baylor rushed in.
He was the man who had dragged me away from the burning village last night. I recognized his voice first... the same deep tone I heard while drifting in and out of consciousness. He looked huge in the doorway, all broad shoulders and messy brown hair and with his eyes locked on me instantly.
“Seraphine,” he said, hands lifted like he was calming a wild horse. “Hey. Look at me.”
“I... I didn’t mean to...” My voice cracked. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
“You didn’t hurt them,” Baylor said softly. “They’re fine. Everyone’s fine.”
I didn’t feel fine. My whole body trembled and I felt too heavy and too light at the same time like I didn’t fit inside my own skin anymore.
One of the nurses staggered back toward the bed.
“Hold her steady... quick!”
“No!” I tried to push myself away but Baylor gently caught my wrist.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “You need to rest. Just breathe.”
I knew the nurse was coming with something... something sharp.
“Please... don’t...”
But Baylor kept saying, “It’s okay. You’re safe. I promise.”
His voice pulled my eyes away from the needle. I was so tired.. my arms went limp and that was when the sting hit my skin.
Warmth flooded me, the room blurred and voices turned soft and far away.
“Never seen anything like that,” one nurse whispered.
“She threw us like we weighed nothing.”
“That strength… are we sure she’s not a Lycan hybrid?”
“I’m telling you, she isn’t,” another voice... Baylor’s... said. “Her parents were well known. She’s a normal girl. This isn’t… what you think.”
Normal. If only I believed him. Everything went dark again.
AUTHOR’S POV
The nurses exchanged worried looks as Baylor stepped away from Seraphine’s bed. His jaw was tight and his brows were drawn together with concern.
One of the nurses approached him carefully.
“Sir Baylor… are you absolutely sure? Humans don’t throw full-grown adults across a room. Even Lycans barely do that at her age.”
Baylor shook his head.
“I’ve known her parents for years. I’ve known her since she was born. There’s nothing hybrid about that child.”
“But what she did...”
“She’s traumatized,” Baylor cut in. “Fear makes the body do strange things.”
The nurses didn’t look convinced but before Baylor could say more, a soldier stepped inside the infirmary.
“Baylor?” the man said, bowing slightly, “the king will see you now.”
Baylor glanced once more at Seraphine’s unconscious form, then nodded.
“I’m coming.”
King Greyjoy sat on his throne with a restless tension vibrating through him. His dark hair hung over his forehead with his fingers tapping the armrest as if he were holding back a storm.
“Speak,” he ordered the moment Baylor entered.
Baylor bowed and began recounting everything... the attack on Red River village, the screams, the smoke and the Lycans tearing through homes without mercy but he carefully left out Seraphine. He didn’t mention the small girl he had carried out of the flames and particularly not the strength she had shown this morning.
When he finished, the hall grew quiet and King Greyjoy let out a low groan, rubbing his forehead.
“These Lycans grow bolder by the day. They attack our villages now? Slaughter families? Children?”
“Your Majesty,” said Rowan, the king’s second-in-command, “we must consider that peace may still be in our best interest...”
Greyjoy slammed his fist on the armrest.
“Peace?” he snapped. “They’re killing innocent men, women and children! Peace? No! I will not sit here while my people are butchered in their homes.”
Rowan opened his mouth again but the king cut him off with a glare.
“I vow,” King Greyjoy growled, “that I will deal with the Lycans myself if I have to. They want war? Then war they will get.”
Baylor bowed his head silently but his stomach twisted as he thought of Seraphine.. of the look in her eyes and of the strength that came out of nowhere and he prayed the king would never find out.
SERAPHINE’S POV
Three days had passed since the massacre. Three days and it felt like three years.
I sat outside the infirmary on a wooden bench with my legs dangling because my feet didn’t reach the ground. I was wrapped in a thick blanket the nurses forced on me, even though I wasn’t cold.
Baylor sat beside me with his arms folded and his eyes watching the courtyard like some guard dog.
He looked tired. Probably because he kept hovering around me like I was going to explode again.
The nurses peeked at me every now and then too, whispering behind their hands. It was awkward.
“So,” Baylor cleared his throat, “the nurses say they might discharge you today.”
I nodded slowly.
“But they’re worried,” he continued. “They think you might still be… dealing with some physical issues.”
His voice tried to sound gentle but even he sounded unsure.
I stared at my hands. They didn’t look different. Just… hands. Small, pale and normal but I remembered how easily those nurses had flown so yeah… normal felt like a lie.
I hadn’t spoken in three days. Not one word and my throat felt locked shut but Baylor didn’t push me. He just sat beside me, always close enough that I could lean on him if I wanted.
I didn’t want to. I didn’t want anything. Except...
I finally opened my mouth and Baylor’s head snapped toward me like he’d been waiting for this moment.
“I want one thing,” I said quietly.
My voice sounded strange.. croaky and rusty like it had been buried under rubble all this time.
“What’s that?” Baylor asked softly.
I looked up at him and my chest burned but I didn’t cry and I didn’t tremble.. I just spoke.
“I want to tear out the Lycan King’s heart…!”