324- The Beast and the Blood Price
POV Seraphine Valerian:
“Viktor isn’t unfair, he wouldn’t kill your people for no reason,” Daciana assured me, after leading me to the kitchen and giving me a glass of water, trying to calm me down.
I had no voice. My throat ached, scraped raw from so much crying. My head throbbed.
I was horrified by the beast. Enormous and furious, dripping blood and viscera, those golden eyes shining like a demon’s. Just thinking about what he had done to the gypsies made me want to die.
“Drink some more,” she encouraged, but I couldn’t.
I was afraid of him. I didn’t want to leave her side, imagining what he would still do to me. No longer knowing what to think or if there was any escape for me. Perhaps the right thing was simply to perish; at least then my guilt would end.
“I already know what happened!” Adelina, who had gone out to talk to the other residents, burst into the kitchen. “My father didn’t kill your gypsies!”
“I knew it!” Daciana smiled.
“But…” I stood up, trying to believe, a thread of hope emerging.
“Did you see his torn clothes?” the older woman continued. “Viktor was attacked by wolves!”
“That’s right. Boris explained a little over at the square, and then Lana told me.” She came over to me. “The gypsies spoke with my father, asked him to free you. He just chased them off, only scared them. None of them got hurt.”
“Do you swear? What if it wasn’t like that? All that blood…”
“No one needs to lie, Seraphine. They were chased out safely. Then, out of nowhere, some wolves came out of the forest, in greater numbers than the guards.”
“Lord!” Daciana got nervous, rubbing her chest. “Cowards! Who were they?”
“From Cyndrael Village. Konrad sent them to attack us.”
I sat down again, confused, tense. The relief that no gypsies were dead hit me fully, although I was still suspicious. I couldn’t trust those creatures. And about Konrad, I immediately thought the obvious: he came to save me.
“Did we lose any of ours?” Daciana pulled up a chair, settling in.
“No. But twenty of them are out there in the forest, torn to pieces. Not one was left to tell the tale. They’re saying it’s war now. And that it’s all because of you, Seraphine.”
I stared at Adelina, shaking my head.
“No… I didn’t even want to be here.”
“My father should let you go.” She sighed, irritated. She turned to the older woman. “Daciana, so what now? If I couldn’t leave here before, I’ll never have a chance to find my destined one now! Lucian might become my father’s enemy for good!”
“Forget that murderer! So many things to worry about and you’re just horny, girl!”
“But it’s the truth! No one listens to me!” She paced back and forth. “It’s the law! One alpha can’t fight another!”
“Konrad attacked us!”
“Yes! The meeting with the Elders has to happen soon, so this can be cleared up.”
I didn’t understand much of what they were saying, but my mind was working, searching for answers. I thought about the blond man, wondering if I was leaving, him even seeming to insist on it. What did he know? For what purpose did he approach me?
That couldn’t be a coincidence; everything was interconnected. In a crazy, confusing way.
Maybe Konrad was a friend of my father’s, helped protect the village all that time. And he assured him he would take care of me. That’s why he told me it was better to go back to Germany. Now he risked himself fighting against Viktor, just like the gypsies. They must have been together.
I wasn’t very convinced that there weren’t any of my people dead, alongside the hybrids. Surely the beast tore everyone apart; they just didn’t want to tell me.
Nervous, I didn’t know what to think. And it got worse when the cursed man entered the kitchen, impeccably dressed in those old-fashioned clothes like a European noble, all in black, a brocade vest appearing beneath his jacket. Hair neatly styled. Totally different from the beast from moments before, drenched in blood.
His eyes were black, his posture cold and controlled.
“Are you alright, son?” Daciana immediately got up, running to him, sniffing him. She ran her hand over his chest. “Fully recovered?”
“It was just a scratch. It’s gone.” His tone softened as he spoke to her.
“Good. Do you want something to eat?”
“No. I need to go out.” He served himself a drink from the sideboard.
I didn’t move, shaken, gripping my trembling hands under the table.
Viktor took a long drink, his penetrating eyes fixed on mine. Attentive, serious. Focused.
My heart raced. I wanted to demand the truth, but he filled me with dread.
“Father, what happens now? Will you go to a meeting with the Elders?”
“No.”
“But… if Konrad wants Seraphine, why not give her back to him and the gypsies? Everyone will understand, after all, you were attacked. Then things can go back to how they were.”
I held my breath in his silence. Unable to face him, I lowered my gaze. Almost to the point of begging, a small hope wanting to be born.
“Father…”
“She stays.” He put the empty glass down on the table.
My heart stopped. I bit my lip to keep from screaming.
“But if all of this is because of the…”
“It’s much more than you imagine, Adelina.” Without another word, he left the kitchen.
I let out my breath, as perplexed as they were. I didn’t know my role there, nor my future.
The older woman smiled at me, as if to guarantee everything would be fine.
The girl seemed irritated with me and left as well.
It was only the first day in that place, and everything was already chaos.