Chapter 271
CASSANDRA
After what felt like an eternity of hearing about the event, Ronald and Helene’s wedding day came.
Aside from the new guests who had arrived early in the morning, everyone was invited to visit Ronald’s residence and have lunch with the happy couple.
Just as I had yesterday, I’d decided to take a walk around the castle grounds, and as I roamed about, I shivered. The weather wasn’t ideal for a wedding. It was incredibly dismal and cloudy, not to mention windy, with no sun shining through the thick layer of clouds. It looked like it could rain at any given moment. I doubted there would be a visible moon in the sky when the night came.
In the South, werewolf couples had to make their vows beneath the moon, otherwise, it was believed the marriage would be doomed. It was a superstition, most likely, but still, it was an important thing to my people.
But the Northerners didn’t seem to care about such traditions. I heard no mentions of the moon at all amongst the guests or anyone else in the castle.
When the sky grew darker, the guards approached me and recommended that I go back to my room, but I wanted to stay. I hadn’t brought Finnick or Lila with me today. I needed some quietness to contemplate my next moves and my son had been overly excited from the moment he’d awoken. Though he liked nothing about the North, he was very much looking forward to the wedding.
I couldn’t blame him. Every kid loved big events with colorful balloons and joyful people, and Finnick was no exception.
Ms. Benn hadn’t brought Lila to our room this morning since we’d all be attending Ronald’s wedding tonight and she would be on duty until very late. Her daughter had been placed under the care of a maid who wasn’t going to serve tonight. I supposed it was an excuse. Ms. Benn was probably afraid I was going to do something bad tonight and didn’t want Lila to get involved.
I didn’t blame her, but I couldn’t care less about any of them now. The only thing that occupied my mind was Asher’s condition.
The Alpha King’s condition had raised a serious new issue. I had planned to gather
Dreame
enough information and get the antidotes before finding a way to leave Yurenee, but now,
all I could think about was his disease. I wasn’t sure if the antidotes would be useful to Asher, but I was certain that if anyone could cure him, it was Raven.
That’s why this had been so complicated and difficult.
I needed to change my plan but I honestly didn’t know if there was another plan I could come up with. I needed Raven to help me. If the sorceress was unwilling, I would have to kidnap her. I would do anything necessary to help ASher, even if it was completely unwise or crazy.
I had been thinking all night, trying to figure out a feasible solution, but things were complicated, to say the least. Asher told me that he had only brought six soldiers with him to Yurene. That wasn’t nearly enough to go up against Kaleb. Not only that, but the only weapons I had were Helene’s needles and my little self- made one. While they could do a decent amount of damage, there was only so much they could inflict if necessary, and I wasn’t sure if this would be enough to get us out of Vlokwell.
I had a strong feeling that we could get away from here if we were smart enough, but taking the most important sorceress in Yurene with us… was another story completely. I had no idea how we could sneak Raven out of here, especially with how she tended to run her mouth. How could we get her quiet enough to sneak away? Especially if she didn’t want to go with us willingly? This text is © NôvelDrama/.Org.
Then there was the matter of Finnick and Erika. I couldn’t leave them behind, but could I help them get away? I knew that Erika could handle herself perfectly well, but Finnick was just a little boy. He was serious and intelligent, but he was still a child, and he wouldn’t understand what was happening. I knew him well enough to know that he would be too frightened to get away, and I couldn’t risk letting him fall behind.
As I stared up at the terrible, cloudy sky, I wanted to let out a frustrated scream of anguish. There was so much to risk here and I didn’t know what to do about any of it. Things felt even more impossible than usual, and I was failing to find a solution to solve all of the arising issues.
Asher had told me that it was alright. As long as I no longer wanted to send him away, as long as we were together, there was nothing to be afraid of. He would love me for the rest of his existence and he didn’t care about anything else so long as I was by his side.
Dreame
O
15:16 Mon, 11 Mar 0
As loving as the sentiment was, I hadn’t allowed him to speak of death. He wouldn’t die. He must not die. We still had the rest of our lives ahead of us. We were so young and had so many more years to come. I would do anything to save him so that we could live out those years together, but as I stared up hopelessly at the sky, I began to doubt myself. How could I save him from such a miserable, premature fate?
I knew that Raven would surely be present at the wedding banquet. She was an important figure here at Vlokwell, so her attendance was probably necessary. Maybe I could take the chance…, ask her to have a conversation with me in private, pull her aside and take her where no one could see us, and then have Asher’s soldiers subdue her. I could administer anesthesia and perhaps it would take effect quickly enough to pull this off.
But how could we pass all the necessary checkpoints if we carried an unconscious Raven with us? Her limp body would attract too much attention for us to sneak her past the guards, and I could think of no reasonable explanation to offer them if we got caught.
My head started to ache as my thoughts swirled around in my mind. I stopped in place and took a few deep breaths as I tried to collect myself. This seemed impossible, but I needed to stay as level-headed as possible if I wanted to survive.
Just as I did, I noticed that someone in the distance was trying to catch my attention. A man was standing beside a huge wooden box similar to the one I’d seen yesterday. He was dressed in a uniform
I didn’t recognize, and it wasn’t until I took a few steps forward that I began to recognize him. When he waved at me excitedly, my lips parted in surprise, and I let out an involuntary gasp of complete surprise.
It wasn’t just any man standing there in the garden.
It was Rayden.