Silent Mourning: Matayas
Sep. 4th, 2007 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aegrus_letalisHis sullen ochre coloured eyes fell on the cream coloured bedspread first. Holding it up to his nose, he inhaled the scent deeply. It smelled like winter in July, surprisingly cold and crisp, like fresh frost over green grass when the moon was full and mysterious, but with a hint of amber warmth like the fiery sun off of lilacs in the summer heat.
Amelia.
The silk fabric slid against the course stubble of his unshaven cheek. His eyes closed involuntarily as images of her invaded his mind like a ruthless battle he could neither prevent nor escape.
You give breath to life.
The silk bedspread slipped through his fingers and fell back in a heap on the bed as he recoiled as if from a snake. His brows furrowed in an arch of sadness on his chiseled face. Dark purple circles painted themselves his under eye area like little half moons and his eyes no longer held the spark that highlighted them with a warm liquid Topaz. Moving to her dresser, he casually looked at her jewelry dotting the shelf below the mirror which was inlaid with ivory Mother of Pearl and light blue Lapis Lazuli, pearl and diamond earrings set in gold graced the dark wood shelf. Her father gave her those, he remembered. His fingers lightly brushed the edge of her dresser and came to stop at a black suede pouch. Nervously, he ran his fingers over it. He shouldn’t be in here and most definitely should not be rifling through her things. His finger caressed the mouth of the drawstring pouch and it yielded to his touch. A ring. He grasped it in his hand and brought it out into the light. A pained grimace briefly flashed on his dark features as he tried to contain the belligerent emotions fighting to reign freely like a storm across the perfectly flawless canvas of his face.
”Will you walk with me?” That was the first and last time that he saw surprise so clearly written across her face.
“Matayas, I believe that devil has a hold of your tongue.”
“If that is true, my princess, than I must remember to thank him when I go to hell.”
“Don’t dare speak such things.” She was, of course, trying to change the subject. The pained look on her face begged that he of speak of something else, that he admit that he said that in the heat of a passionate kiss stolen when Viktor’s and Marcus’ attentions were drawn to their own tasks and she could afford the time alone in the company of her beloved knight. Matayas’ presence disturbed Viktor, who thought that Amelia was scheming to overthrow one of them. The idea was not entirely preposterous. Marcus’ wrath he had long ago incurred.
“Will you walk with me?” His smoldering eyes didn’t let her go as he reached up to wipe away the unspilt tear building at the edge of her soulful eyes. She wanted to say yes.
“You know that I very well cannot walk with you. Not even if I wanted to.”
“Do you want to?” Relentless. She felt as if she were suffocating. Her heart beat against her chest and betrayed her cool exterior for there was no doubt in her mind that he could hear it.
“Yes”, she whispered back hoarsely, her own unsteady voice alien to her. The moment she admitted that to herself, she regretted it. What good could come from silly dreams? Her destiny did not lie with a single person, she said to him without uttering a word. Her destiny belonged to the entire coven. That was why Marcus chose her. It was who she was from the very beginning. Like her father, she believed that a monarch had a divine duty to their people. She became selfless…and bitter. Especially when she witnessed the illicit affairs that Marcus and Viktor seemed to enjoy to the detriment of the coven. She wanted no part of that. No part of it at all. They all lived too long to make enemies of each other. “I feel like I’m married to Viktor and Marcus already”, she joked sadly. He didn’t seem to find that funny. At all. He rolled his topaz tinted eyes into the air and squeezed them shut before looking at her through brooding eyes that suggested a dangerous dose of hate for the other elders.
“Then why not? You don’t need their permission!”
“It’s not about their permission, Matayas. You know that. It is about upholding the balance and peace within the coven. Viktor and Marcus do not favour you. They fear your power, your insolence and your rivalry.” Matayas scoffed and huffed out lightly under his breath. “Maybe they should.”
“Do NOT speak like that, do you understand me? Do not underestimate their potential at ending your life, which they could easily do. You are not important to them, not like you are to me,” she finished quietly. She held a quite authority to her voice, which she used to put him in his place.
“That is it then? You will not walk with me because you fear that will upset the balance of the coven?” Amelia sighed sadly. He didn’t understand what that actually meant. No balance meant their destruction. Why was it so hard for this knight to see that? Only because he was so profoundly in love with her.
“Perhaps, my lady, it would be best if I take my leave of you now. If you will it, I will no bother you will such trivial matters.” A hard edge crept into his voice. She winced almost visibly at his words as if he had cut a cube out of her heart.
“Matayas,” she whispered with much strain, “Please…you must understand.” Her head shook as she lightly flattened herself against the wall and took a deep breath. It felt like she was being submerged into cold water and could not fight to rise to the surface. “It’s not as simple as you seem to think.”
He sighed deeply with regret. She was right, of course. Walking over to her, the back of his warm hand trailed over her cheek and throat. Kissing the middle of her forehead, he brought her close to him, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist.
“I can’t stand for you to hate me.” She seemed so close to tears that it pained him.
“That is impossible, my love. I’m sorry, I understand our position, I just wish that-”
“it was different,” she finished.
Looking at her, he took out a gold ring set with a dark ruby and garnet. It was his fathers, and probably his father’s father before that. He carefully opened her slender pale fingers and tucked the ring inside her palm before closing it.
“There is no reason why you should not have this. My heart will never belong to anyone else. I will not want to walk with anyone else through eternity.” He tilted her chin up to him, lightly kissing her soft lush lips, which were flushed red from their previous kiss. She looked down into her hand and her breath caught in her throat. She was holding a declaration of his heart and soul in her hand. Slipping it onto her finger she looked at it wistfully with a secret desire written on her troubled face. Matayas bowed lightly and turned to walk away, his boots scratching against the polished stone floor. Her emotions rolled off of her like waves during a storm but she dared not give voice to them. Yet, as he walked away, she felt like a door was closing on her heart. She looked down at the ring gracing her pale finger and quickly back up at him. “Matayas, “ she called out with a hint of despair, as if she truly believed if he stepped out of the door, she would never see him again. “I will walk with you.”
It was like he had walked into a wall as he suddenly froze and became motionless. Did he hear her or was he projecting what he wanted to hear in his own head? Slowly, he turned back. She nodded her head. “I will walk with you,” she repeated quietly, still he had seen her lips move.
Matayas put the ring back on the dresser as he softly trembled with the memory. She had kept the ring despite the fact that they were never really married. Shame that he didn’t know that most times she wore it under her clothes. Selene knew, although she probably didn’t realize what she was seeing at the time, she saw it through the blood memories, which Amelia had transmitted to her.
”It doesn’t matter what they say.”He said while her back was turned.
Tears streaked down her face this time.
”It does matter. They will kill you and the rest of the knights. I cannot take the risk. I cannot lose you. I cannot lose them. They are the only family that I have left. And I would die if anything happened to you.”
“How did they find out?”
She shook her head and pushed a strand of hair back into place.
“I do not know, but there seems to be someone among us that I cannot trust.”
“Kraven? I would not be surprised. He is always lurking about.”
“We don’t know that, Matayas.”
“I know that,” he countered venomantly.
Amelia turned around and took his face gently in her hands, while holding onto her patience. “My love, I will not lose you to them. Do you understand? I will not.”
“Then marry me in secret, Amelia. They do not have to know. You can tell them that they were right and then we will go off and be married. Once it’s done, what can they possibly do?”
A haunted look passed across Amelia’s face. “What can’t they do?” She crossed her arms against her chest and paced across the room. Her green eyes did not betray the clear anger held within them.
Walking over to her dresser, he opened the drawer. A perfume bottle peeked up at him, punishing him for his trespassing with the scent of her. He closed his eyes and felt the small of her back in his hand as he gently guided her through various events and functions that had turned treacherous. Her scent was always more powerful when her hair was pulled away from the nape of her neck, revealing milky smooth skin like an Oleander. And like an Oleander it was poisonous if anyone should lay a finger on her. He saw to that personally. Shutting the draw too quickly, he choked back a sob and replaced it with numbness.
Amelia is gone. As many times as he told himself that, his words sounded empty and hollow, as if he didn’t want to believe them. Because if he did, then it meant it would be soon time to join her. That brought him some comfort. He shook his head sadly. Selene thought that she could bring her back. It was the grief talking. Hopefully, Lothoro had found her by now.
You bring breath to life.
Walking over to her window, he opened the shutters and looked out over the woods and to the sea. His gaze silently seethed as the last minutes of Amelia’s life tortured him over again. Seeing Selene, out of all people, plunge the sword into Amelia, nearly stopped his heart right there. He wished it did.
Selene. His mind called out to her. Softly, he shook his head. There was no way that the girl could be told the truth now. That in and of itself would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Amelia grimaced in pain and arched her back as her face contorted. Squeezing her eyes shut, she cried out and grasped the bedpost in her pale hands. The midwife blotted away the sweat from her forehead. It really didn’t matter; her entire nightgown was soaked with sweat along with the sheets that were wrapped around her in modesty.
“I can see the head, my Lady, you need to push.” The elder groaned as the contractions made her want to pull the child out of her own womb, as long as it was out.
“I do not think I can,” she yelled back in between gasps of air. Matayas paced in front of the door nervously. Five times he tried to charge in, only to be stopped by what looked like a small contingent of midwives with thick scowls and nods that said, ‘how utterly scandalous’. He would have killed them too were they not so many and mortal and if Amelia didn’t need them, which she did. They carried out blood soaked sheet after blood soaked sheet and his disposition went from bad to worse. The last scream that tore out of her mouth reverberated through the stonewalls. Throwing open the doors, he pushed the midwives aside and raced into the room. Everything was so silent that his head spun, expecting the worst. Yet, what greeted him was Amelia’s soft tired smile and the sleepy face of a baby. The midwives looked at him venomously. “It’s alright,” whispered Amelia hoarsely. Her body was already repairing itself but she kept up appearances. Yet, in her eyes was a wild sort of hunger that she was fighting to control. She had lost a lot of blood. “Please leave us.”
They waddled out of the room, tossing him a nasty look as they passed by. He barely saw them. When the door slammed shut, he slowly walked over to the bed with a small smile. She was so small. How would she ever survive? “She is stronger than she looks,” she replied as if reading his mind. “Her heart is strong.”
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, his smiled widened. “Her?”
“Yes. Come. Greet your daughter.”
Carefully, he took the sleepy bundle in his hand. She very nearly fit in one. He cradled her tiny head in the other and looked into her face. “My daughter.” Amelia smiled and leaned into the pair, holding onto his arm.
“What shall we name her, my love?” Matayas gazed into Amelia’s face and out at the moon lingering through the window as if wanting to greet the newborn as well and give her its blessings. He knew exactly. “She is the daughter of the moon, it is only fitting that she be named by it.”
Amelia smile lightly at the compliment he gave them both. “Alright, in that case it is only fitting that she be named…Selene.”
Matayas stood with his daughter in his arms and walked over to the window where the moonlight could bathe her. “Selene, yes, that is most appropriate.”
He crawled back onto the bed to lie at Amelia’s side and softly placed Selene back in her mother’s arms. Leaning back, he took Amelia into his arms and softly kissed the top of her drenched hair.
“You really shouldn’t see me like this. This…weak.”
He scoffed. “Woman, you just gave birth to a child, do not talk to me about weakness.”
The elder laughed then and kissed the top of Selene’s head. Gazing at her and Matayas she smiled happily.
“You give breath to life. Both of you.”
Matayas shook his head, trying to drive the memories away. Pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, he shut his eyes to clear his head. It was futile, really. The only way to stop thinking of her was to stop breathing. He thought of the ghost of Viktor that had possessed Selene. He had one last thing to do before he would join his soul with Amelia’s. He had to honour that one solemn promise he made at the edge of the cliff when his blood raced down to the deep waters below.
I will avenge your death, even if I have to resurrect Viktor to do it. Whatever it was, wherever I have to go my love, I will not fail you. It will suffer in my hands; it will be committed to oblivion. And I shall leave the coven strong, even if it means that I have to forge it in the fire of my own hands. It will never be as you would have done, but it will be something you still would have been proud of with your being.
He regretted making the last promise knowing how much time it would take to rebuild Amelia’s vision, whatever that really meant. The woman was cryptic and secretive, never giving away too much before it was well in reach. That meant that he would have to wait to join her in her eternal slumber.
Walking over to the giant bookcase, he was perceptive enough to notice a book whose binding was bursting with unnatural thickness. Sliding it out, he found a thick envelope stashed in it. On it was Amelia’s official golden seal.
“A document?” He turned the elegant cream coloured envelop in his hands and debated whether he should open it, as Amelia’s immediate representative, it only seemed right. Picking up a letter opener he slid it nervously under the seam and ripped it carefully open. Pulling out the papers he noticed that this, a copy of an original, was initially addressed to Council Member Soren back in Hungary.
His eyes grew wide as they perused the contents of the documents and the schematics.
Amelia had been busy making plans to reconstitute the coven in Hungary, even rebuilding Ordoghaz. Taking out the diagram his eyes suddenly fixated on the elders’ chamber room. His breath froze in his body as the paper crashed back onto the desk. Doubling over, he held onto the antique desk as he tried to catch his breath. Her plans left no detail unanswered, and it seemed that she had designs to, in a few short centuries, anoint Selene and Lothario as the elders of the New World coven and him and Amelia as the elders of Ordoghaz.
Her and I?
All of her quiet plans suddenly came to light and he couldn’t stop his heart from thundering in his chest. Without putting the letter back, he stormed out of the room, chased out by the ghost of a future that would never be.
Amelia.
The silk fabric slid against the course stubble of his unshaven cheek. His eyes closed involuntarily as images of her invaded his mind like a ruthless battle he could neither prevent nor escape.
You give breath to life.
The silk bedspread slipped through his fingers and fell back in a heap on the bed as he recoiled as if from a snake. His brows furrowed in an arch of sadness on his chiseled face. Dark purple circles painted themselves his under eye area like little half moons and his eyes no longer held the spark that highlighted them with a warm liquid Topaz. Moving to her dresser, he casually looked at her jewelry dotting the shelf below the mirror which was inlaid with ivory Mother of Pearl and light blue Lapis Lazuli, pearl and diamond earrings set in gold graced the dark wood shelf. Her father gave her those, he remembered. His fingers lightly brushed the edge of her dresser and came to stop at a black suede pouch. Nervously, he ran his fingers over it. He shouldn’t be in here and most definitely should not be rifling through her things. His finger caressed the mouth of the drawstring pouch and it yielded to his touch. A ring. He grasped it in his hand and brought it out into the light. A pained grimace briefly flashed on his dark features as he tried to contain the belligerent emotions fighting to reign freely like a storm across the perfectly flawless canvas of his face.
”Will you walk with me?” That was the first and last time that he saw surprise so clearly written across her face.
“Matayas, I believe that devil has a hold of your tongue.”
“If that is true, my princess, than I must remember to thank him when I go to hell.”
“Don’t dare speak such things.” She was, of course, trying to change the subject. The pained look on her face begged that he of speak of something else, that he admit that he said that in the heat of a passionate kiss stolen when Viktor’s and Marcus’ attentions were drawn to their own tasks and she could afford the time alone in the company of her beloved knight. Matayas’ presence disturbed Viktor, who thought that Amelia was scheming to overthrow one of them. The idea was not entirely preposterous. Marcus’ wrath he had long ago incurred.
“Will you walk with me?” His smoldering eyes didn’t let her go as he reached up to wipe away the unspilt tear building at the edge of her soulful eyes. She wanted to say yes.
“You know that I very well cannot walk with you. Not even if I wanted to.”
“Do you want to?” Relentless. She felt as if she were suffocating. Her heart beat against her chest and betrayed her cool exterior for there was no doubt in her mind that he could hear it.
“Yes”, she whispered back hoarsely, her own unsteady voice alien to her. The moment she admitted that to herself, she regretted it. What good could come from silly dreams? Her destiny did not lie with a single person, she said to him without uttering a word. Her destiny belonged to the entire coven. That was why Marcus chose her. It was who she was from the very beginning. Like her father, she believed that a monarch had a divine duty to their people. She became selfless…and bitter. Especially when she witnessed the illicit affairs that Marcus and Viktor seemed to enjoy to the detriment of the coven. She wanted no part of that. No part of it at all. They all lived too long to make enemies of each other. “I feel like I’m married to Viktor and Marcus already”, she joked sadly. He didn’t seem to find that funny. At all. He rolled his topaz tinted eyes into the air and squeezed them shut before looking at her through brooding eyes that suggested a dangerous dose of hate for the other elders.
“Then why not? You don’t need their permission!”
“It’s not about their permission, Matayas. You know that. It is about upholding the balance and peace within the coven. Viktor and Marcus do not favour you. They fear your power, your insolence and your rivalry.” Matayas scoffed and huffed out lightly under his breath. “Maybe they should.”
“Do NOT speak like that, do you understand me? Do not underestimate their potential at ending your life, which they could easily do. You are not important to them, not like you are to me,” she finished quietly. She held a quite authority to her voice, which she used to put him in his place.
“That is it then? You will not walk with me because you fear that will upset the balance of the coven?” Amelia sighed sadly. He didn’t understand what that actually meant. No balance meant their destruction. Why was it so hard for this knight to see that? Only because he was so profoundly in love with her.
“Perhaps, my lady, it would be best if I take my leave of you now. If you will it, I will no bother you will such trivial matters.” A hard edge crept into his voice. She winced almost visibly at his words as if he had cut a cube out of her heart.
“Matayas,” she whispered with much strain, “Please…you must understand.” Her head shook as she lightly flattened herself against the wall and took a deep breath. It felt like she was being submerged into cold water and could not fight to rise to the surface. “It’s not as simple as you seem to think.”
He sighed deeply with regret. She was right, of course. Walking over to her, the back of his warm hand trailed over her cheek and throat. Kissing the middle of her forehead, he brought her close to him, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist.
“I can’t stand for you to hate me.” She seemed so close to tears that it pained him.
“That is impossible, my love. I’m sorry, I understand our position, I just wish that-”
“it was different,” she finished.
Looking at her, he took out a gold ring set with a dark ruby and garnet. It was his fathers, and probably his father’s father before that. He carefully opened her slender pale fingers and tucked the ring inside her palm before closing it.
“There is no reason why you should not have this. My heart will never belong to anyone else. I will not want to walk with anyone else through eternity.” He tilted her chin up to him, lightly kissing her soft lush lips, which were flushed red from their previous kiss. She looked down into her hand and her breath caught in her throat. She was holding a declaration of his heart and soul in her hand. Slipping it onto her finger she looked at it wistfully with a secret desire written on her troubled face. Matayas bowed lightly and turned to walk away, his boots scratching against the polished stone floor. Her emotions rolled off of her like waves during a storm but she dared not give voice to them. Yet, as he walked away, she felt like a door was closing on her heart. She looked down at the ring gracing her pale finger and quickly back up at him. “Matayas, “ she called out with a hint of despair, as if she truly believed if he stepped out of the door, she would never see him again. “I will walk with you.”
It was like he had walked into a wall as he suddenly froze and became motionless. Did he hear her or was he projecting what he wanted to hear in his own head? Slowly, he turned back. She nodded her head. “I will walk with you,” she repeated quietly, still he had seen her lips move.
Matayas put the ring back on the dresser as he softly trembled with the memory. She had kept the ring despite the fact that they were never really married. Shame that he didn’t know that most times she wore it under her clothes. Selene knew, although she probably didn’t realize what she was seeing at the time, she saw it through the blood memories, which Amelia had transmitted to her.
”It doesn’t matter what they say.”He said while her back was turned.
Tears streaked down her face this time.
”It does matter. They will kill you and the rest of the knights. I cannot take the risk. I cannot lose you. I cannot lose them. They are the only family that I have left. And I would die if anything happened to you.”
“How did they find out?”
She shook her head and pushed a strand of hair back into place.
“I do not know, but there seems to be someone among us that I cannot trust.”
“Kraven? I would not be surprised. He is always lurking about.”
“We don’t know that, Matayas.”
“I know that,” he countered venomantly.
Amelia turned around and took his face gently in her hands, while holding onto her patience. “My love, I will not lose you to them. Do you understand? I will not.”
“Then marry me in secret, Amelia. They do not have to know. You can tell them that they were right and then we will go off and be married. Once it’s done, what can they possibly do?”
A haunted look passed across Amelia’s face. “What can’t they do?” She crossed her arms against her chest and paced across the room. Her green eyes did not betray the clear anger held within them.
Walking over to her dresser, he opened the drawer. A perfume bottle peeked up at him, punishing him for his trespassing with the scent of her. He closed his eyes and felt the small of her back in his hand as he gently guided her through various events and functions that had turned treacherous. Her scent was always more powerful when her hair was pulled away from the nape of her neck, revealing milky smooth skin like an Oleander. And like an Oleander it was poisonous if anyone should lay a finger on her. He saw to that personally. Shutting the draw too quickly, he choked back a sob and replaced it with numbness.
Amelia is gone. As many times as he told himself that, his words sounded empty and hollow, as if he didn’t want to believe them. Because if he did, then it meant it would be soon time to join her. That brought him some comfort. He shook his head sadly. Selene thought that she could bring her back. It was the grief talking. Hopefully, Lothoro had found her by now.
You bring breath to life.
Walking over to her window, he opened the shutters and looked out over the woods and to the sea. His gaze silently seethed as the last minutes of Amelia’s life tortured him over again. Seeing Selene, out of all people, plunge the sword into Amelia, nearly stopped his heart right there. He wished it did.
Selene. His mind called out to her. Softly, he shook his head. There was no way that the girl could be told the truth now. That in and of itself would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Amelia grimaced in pain and arched her back as her face contorted. Squeezing her eyes shut, she cried out and grasped the bedpost in her pale hands. The midwife blotted away the sweat from her forehead. It really didn’t matter; her entire nightgown was soaked with sweat along with the sheets that were wrapped around her in modesty.
“I can see the head, my Lady, you need to push.” The elder groaned as the contractions made her want to pull the child out of her own womb, as long as it was out.
“I do not think I can,” she yelled back in between gasps of air. Matayas paced in front of the door nervously. Five times he tried to charge in, only to be stopped by what looked like a small contingent of midwives with thick scowls and nods that said, ‘how utterly scandalous’. He would have killed them too were they not so many and mortal and if Amelia didn’t need them, which she did. They carried out blood soaked sheet after blood soaked sheet and his disposition went from bad to worse. The last scream that tore out of her mouth reverberated through the stonewalls. Throwing open the doors, he pushed the midwives aside and raced into the room. Everything was so silent that his head spun, expecting the worst. Yet, what greeted him was Amelia’s soft tired smile and the sleepy face of a baby. The midwives looked at him venomously. “It’s alright,” whispered Amelia hoarsely. Her body was already repairing itself but she kept up appearances. Yet, in her eyes was a wild sort of hunger that she was fighting to control. She had lost a lot of blood. “Please leave us.”
They waddled out of the room, tossing him a nasty look as they passed by. He barely saw them. When the door slammed shut, he slowly walked over to the bed with a small smile. She was so small. How would she ever survive? “She is stronger than she looks,” she replied as if reading his mind. “Her heart is strong.”
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, his smiled widened. “Her?”
“Yes. Come. Greet your daughter.”
Carefully, he took the sleepy bundle in his hand. She very nearly fit in one. He cradled her tiny head in the other and looked into her face. “My daughter.” Amelia smiled and leaned into the pair, holding onto his arm.
“What shall we name her, my love?” Matayas gazed into Amelia’s face and out at the moon lingering through the window as if wanting to greet the newborn as well and give her its blessings. He knew exactly. “She is the daughter of the moon, it is only fitting that she be named by it.”
Amelia smile lightly at the compliment he gave them both. “Alright, in that case it is only fitting that she be named…Selene.”
Matayas stood with his daughter in his arms and walked over to the window where the moonlight could bathe her. “Selene, yes, that is most appropriate.”
He crawled back onto the bed to lie at Amelia’s side and softly placed Selene back in her mother’s arms. Leaning back, he took Amelia into his arms and softly kissed the top of her drenched hair.
“You really shouldn’t see me like this. This…weak.”
He scoffed. “Woman, you just gave birth to a child, do not talk to me about weakness.”
The elder laughed then and kissed the top of Selene’s head. Gazing at her and Matayas she smiled happily.
“You give breath to life. Both of you.”
Matayas shook his head, trying to drive the memories away. Pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, he shut his eyes to clear his head. It was futile, really. The only way to stop thinking of her was to stop breathing. He thought of the ghost of Viktor that had possessed Selene. He had one last thing to do before he would join his soul with Amelia’s. He had to honour that one solemn promise he made at the edge of the cliff when his blood raced down to the deep waters below.
I will avenge your death, even if I have to resurrect Viktor to do it. Whatever it was, wherever I have to go my love, I will not fail you. It will suffer in my hands; it will be committed to oblivion. And I shall leave the coven strong, even if it means that I have to forge it in the fire of my own hands. It will never be as you would have done, but it will be something you still would have been proud of with your being.
He regretted making the last promise knowing how much time it would take to rebuild Amelia’s vision, whatever that really meant. The woman was cryptic and secretive, never giving away too much before it was well in reach. That meant that he would have to wait to join her in her eternal slumber.
Walking over to the giant bookcase, he was perceptive enough to notice a book whose binding was bursting with unnatural thickness. Sliding it out, he found a thick envelope stashed in it. On it was Amelia’s official golden seal.
“A document?” He turned the elegant cream coloured envelop in his hands and debated whether he should open it, as Amelia’s immediate representative, it only seemed right. Picking up a letter opener he slid it nervously under the seam and ripped it carefully open. Pulling out the papers he noticed that this, a copy of an original, was initially addressed to Council Member Soren back in Hungary.
His eyes grew wide as they perused the contents of the documents and the schematics.
Amelia had been busy making plans to reconstitute the coven in Hungary, even rebuilding Ordoghaz. Taking out the diagram his eyes suddenly fixated on the elders’ chamber room. His breath froze in his body as the paper crashed back onto the desk. Doubling over, he held onto the antique desk as he tried to catch his breath. Her plans left no detail unanswered, and it seemed that she had designs to, in a few short centuries, anoint Selene and Lothario as the elders of the New World coven and him and Amelia as the elders of Ordoghaz.
Her and I?
All of her quiet plans suddenly came to light and he couldn’t stop his heart from thundering in his chest. Without putting the letter back, he stormed out of the room, chased out by the ghost of a future that would never be.
