The forest began to be swallowed by the shadows of dusk, filtering through the gaps between the trees and casting a strange light on the three of them–warm enough on their skin, but not enough to warm the atmosphere, which had actually grown colder ever since Lucan had spoken.
“What do you mean?” Kael asked.
His eyebrows furrowed, his jaw tightened–clearly disturbed by what Lucan had just said.
Elara, who had been frozen in place, began to steady her racing heartbeat.
She took a shallow breath before speaking, “Maybe it’s because I got hurt earlier.”
She held out her palm–which had a shallow cut–into the air, showing it to Kael and Lucan.
The blood had already begun to dry at the edges of the wound.
Elara didn’t feel any pain at all.
Kael quickly hid Elara’s hand behind her back and clasped it tightly, as if the small cut could disappear simply by being hidden from view.
“Maybe,” Kael replied, though his tone sounded uncertain.
“No.
No.” Lucan shook his head casually.
That annoying smile was still perched at the corners of his lips, revealing a row of teeth too neat, gleaming in the twilight.
“The scent of her blood is indeed too strong.
You must have been able to track her easily just now, right?
Even I, standing far away from you two, could smell it clearly.”
“Can you stop beating around the bush?
This small wound needs to be bandaged right away,” Kael grumbled, impatient with Lucan’s habit of dragging things out before getting to the point.
“As if a bandage would just make the scent disappear,” Lucan sneered.
He paused for a moment, savoring the silence he’d created himself.
The corners of his lips were still turned up as he continued, “That vampire didn’t come because it smelled her blood.”
Kael fell silent.
His shoulders tensed, as if bracing for a blow that hadn’t yet come.
Lucan pointed his finger deep into the forest, toward the orange-hued trees that were beginning to turn black, swallowed by the darkness.
“I was heading that way earlier, looking for my target.
That’s the opposite direction from where the two of you were.” He glanced briefly at Elara, his gaze sharpening slightly, then returned his attention to Kael.
“Before I could smell her blood, I’d already detected the vampire’s movements.
It was moving quickly from the direction of Lake Tangini, straight toward you.”
“Impossible,” Kael objected in a lower tone, almost like a growl held back in his throat.
Lucan shrugged casually, his thin lips curving into a faint, downturned smirk.
“Whatever.
I’m just giving you the information I have.
I think you, as this human’s bodyguard, should know it too.”
Kael’s jaw tightened until the outline of his jawbone was clearly visible beneath his skin.
Elara was still watching him from the side, trying to read something from that face that was usually unreadable.
Lucan snapped his fingers in front of Elara, his face lighting up instantly, as if he’d just discovered a new toy.
“Exactly!
Turns out you’re smarter than your bodyguard.” He glanced at Kael, who was still tense, savoring every second of that tension the way someone savors a favorite dish.
“What else do you know?” Kael asked, his tone flat but sharp as a knife’s edge.
Lucan chuckled softly.
“So now you believe me?”
“Just answer me, before I snap your neck.”
Lucan chuckled harder, thoroughly enjoying the shift in emotion on Kael’s face.
“After its scent came into contact with this human’s blood, it returned to Lake Tangini.
It came from there, and it went back there.
That’s all I know so far, except–”
Lucan deliberately let his words hang in the air, staring intently at Kael–and Kael did the same.
Their gazes weren’t the suspicious ones they usually exchanged; this time they were deeper, longer–like two people weighing the same risks without needing to voice them.
Elara had no idea what the two of them were thinking.
A few seconds passed, with only the sound of the wind rustling the leaves between them, before both of them nodded almost simultaneously.
The nods were brief, but Elara still caught them.
Elara narrowed her eyes.
There was something she didn’t know here.
“What’s going on?”
Kael pulled his hand away first before answering, “It’s starting to get dark.
We have to go back to the dorm.”
Elara didn’t take her eyes off Kael, then glanced briefly at Lucan, who was still standing in place–his figure slowly blending into the shadows of the trees, only a pair of eyes still reflecting a faint glow of the fading twilight–as Elara and Kael walked away from the forest, heading back toward Ravencrest Castle.
The sky above the castle had turned purple, and the lamps along the stone walls began to light up one by one, casting long, shifting shadows that followed their quick footsteps.
“What’s really going on?” Elara was starting to lose her patience as Kael remained silent the whole way.
“Explain to me what situation we’re facing right now.
I really don’t understand.”
Kael was still silent.
This time it was different–his eyes were fixed on the path ahead, not really seeing the rocky trail before them, as if he were deep in thought.
“Kael?”
“Be quiet for a moment.
I’m talking,” Kael ordered, his voice barely more than a whisper, almost drowned out by the sound of their own footsteps.
Elara looked at him in confusion, then glanced to the right and left–there was no one around them except for the trees and the castle gates that were beginning to come into view in the distance.
“Are you talking to yourself?
Are you losing your mind now?”
Kael didn’t answer.
It took a few more seconds–seconds that felt so long to Elara–before his gaze refocused, as if he’d just returned from a distant place, and his stride once again dragged Elara along faster than before.
Kael continued to drag Elara with quick strides up the stone steps, which were slippery with moss in some places.
Elara did her best not to trip on the steps that had been her arch-enemy for the past few days.
This time, she managed to climb all the steps without stumbling at all–a small victory she unfortunately didn’t have time to celebrate.
Just as Elara thought they were going to take the stairs to the upper floor as usual, Kael instead turned into a hallway she had never walked down before.
“Where are we going now?” Elara asked.
She had never explored this dormitory before.
Of course–Kael wasn’t about to waste time giving her a tour.
The only rooms she knew were on the upper floor, at the end of the quietest corridor, rarely traversed by other students.
Kael led her down a long, dimly lit corridor, illuminated only by a few crescent-shaped wall lamps, until it widened into a circular room.
The rooms encircled the space like flower petals, with a small fireplace still smoldering gently in one corner.
The room was quite spacious–enough for Elara to guess that this was some sort of common room, a place where the dorm students usually gathered.
The moment they stepped in, two doors swung open almost simultaneously, as if timed for that exact instant.
Riven and Xera emerged from behind them and immediately approached Kael and Elara–there was not a trace of surprise on either of their faces, as if they had known exactly that Kael would arrive at that very moment.
Kael released his grip on Elara’s hand and nudged her forward a step, closer to Riven and Xera.
“I won’t be long,” Kael said to Elara, his voice softer than before, though his eyes still held the same tension.
Elara turned her head quickly, still looking confused.
“Aren’t you supposed to explain something to me right now?”
Kael lowered his head and whispered right into Elara’s ear, in a tone she could barely make out; his warm breath brushed against her skin.
“Don’t speak too loudly.
They might hear us.”
Elara tried to match Kael’s volume; she whispered back, “Who are they?”
Kael didn’t answer that question.
He casually pulled a scrap of paper and a pen from the wooden table in the middle of the room.
Riven hurriedly stopped him before Kael could start writing, “Not that one–that’s the assignment I have to turn in tomorrow.”
Instead, Riven handed him another unused sheet of paper.
Kael began writing by the dim light of the fireplace; his hand moved quickly, almost frantically, as if every wasted second were a dangerous one.
There’s a spy in Ravencrest.
I’m going to track down that vampire with Lucan.
Riven and Xera will stay with you.
Seriously, don’t do anything stupid this time, Elara.
You’re being targeted.
That last sentence made Elara’s heart nearly stop.
A power stone would mean the world to me.
Thank you for reading, and see you next chapter!