Selah’s POV
Lord Garrick told me to stay indoors, and I fully intended to.
But this new body was much sharper than my old one.
As I laid down on the large bed, my senses were going haywire.
I couldn’t understand why I was hearing hushed conversations happening several rooms away through the thick stone, or how I could smell the morning woodsmoke being lit in the distant kitchens.
I could feel the ancient magic woven directly into the castle walls.
And right now, my stomach was making its presence known.
I was starving.
I had slept straight through whatever meals had come and went during the day, and no one had thought to bring me food.
Not even Vera.
I would just find the kitchen, grab a piece of bread, and run straight back to my room before Lord Garrick noticed.
Pushing the blankets aside, I stepped out into the corridor, following the scent of roasting meat and fresh bread down the long hallway.
But halfway down the corridor, I stopped.
Underneath the smell of food, I heard something else.
There were raised and angry voices coming from behind a door that was ajar at the very end of the hall.
I knew I should mind my business, but the voices were too loud to ignore.
I tiptoed closer, holding my breath, and peered through the narrow opening.
I saw Lord Garrick standing by a large stone table.
And standing directly across from him, looking severe and achingly familiar, was Ashen.
Oh, God!
What was he doing here?!
He looked exactly the same, from the silvery eyes to the dark hair, and the serrated scar running along his jawline.
He was wearing the deep blue colors of the Umbra Pact.
He had to be related to Lord Garrick, because the resemblance was uncanny.
“The Umbra Pact had had a prior arrangement with the warden,” Ashen told Garrick.
“The Oracle was meant to come directly to us. But upon getting to the Blood Moon Market….”
“That’s right, I killed that foul-mouthed warden.” Garrick replied.
His voice was still calm, but there was an edge of coldness to it now.
“Whatever shady arrangement you had with a black market worm means nothing to me, Ashen. She belongs to me now, I bought her fair and square.”
Looking at them, it was clear this was not just a disagreement.
The hatred oozing from them was strong.
Ashen’s eyes flashed a haunting red.
“I’m warning you, brother. You don’t understand what that Oracle really is, or what keeping her in this castle will eventually cost you. But then again, you’ve always been such a stubborn old goat, haven’t you?”
“Get out.” Lord Garrick snapped suddenly.
“And never come back here again!”
With a satisfied smirk, Ashen turned away to leave, but stopped short when he saw me.
“Well, well, what do we have here…?
I didn’t have time to turn around and hurry away.
Ashen walked toward me slowly and stopped just a few feet away, studying my face intensely, like he was trying to place where he had seen me before.
Something subtle moved in his hard eyes. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
It wasn’t recognition exactly, but a deep unease.
“You look familiar,” Ashen murmured as he peered at my new face.
“Have we met before?”
I shook my head quickly, keeping my lips pressed firmly together.
He did not believe me.
I could see it plainly in the way his eyes traveled over my features, probably cross-referencing my face with something in his mind that I could not see.
But he did not push for me to speak.
Instead, he leaned down close, his breath brushing against my ear so that only I could hear his words.
“I’ll be back for you, little Oracle,” he whispered.
“Whether he likes it or not.”
He straightened up and made a move to walk past me.
As he did so, my eyes caught something on his waist.
Hanging directly from his leather belt was a small wooden neckpiece.
It was carved with two small letters: S.S.
Those were my initials from my old life—he had taken the neckpiece from the body I had died in, right after killing me.
My mouth opened in a silent gasp.
After formally severing our bond, after killing me in cold blood and walking away without looking back, he had kept a piece of me.
I did not know what that meant, and I was not sure I wanted to.
Be honest: what’s your first impression of Garrick?
Monster or misunderstood?
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