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The woman leads you up a set of stairs, ushering you over to the fire on the right side of the room

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The woman leads you up a set of stairs, ushering you over to the fire on the right side of the room.

It crackles and pops at you, sending a wave of warmth over your icy fingertips. The maiden from before hurries over to you with a large towel, draping it over your shoulders and places a cup of steaming liquid on the little table in the center of the room.

She turns to the taller woman, whose name you have yet to learn, and speaks, "the clothes are in Lady Bela's chambers, as you requested, my Lady."

The sound of her heels clicks against the floor when she walks closer to you, taking a seat in a chair nearby. "I'm surprised, we don't get many newcomers in the village." She informs you, draping one leg over the other. Even the way she sits seemed to hold graceful authority.

"I was trying to get to another town nearby, miss, um, should I call you 'my Lady' like the maidens, or?"

She chuckles. "I am Alcina Dimitrescu, the mistress of this castle. You may call me Alcina, and I wonder, what is your name?"

"That's just like me," you giggle, taking a sip of the warm tea. The taste of herbs and spices fills your senses. "Barge into someone's home and forget to tell them my name. I'm Y/N, thank you for allowing me shelter from the rain."

"Y/N, what a divine name, where were you–

"Mother!"

Both of you turn to look at the source of the voice but find no one there. You raise a brow, confused, but Alcina simply looks back down at her own tea cup, red staining the section she'd drank from.

"Mother," the voice greets once more, a flurry of flies suddenly buzzing around your head. A hand extends from the swarm, and then an entire woman simply forms into existence, right there, walking towards the mistress. "Who is this, an appetizer?"

She giggles, staring down at your bewildered expression. You'd seen a lot of things when you were a little too greedy with drinks but never in your life had you seen a woman morph into existence from a swarm of flies. A strangled choke leaves your throat, tea sputtering from your lips and onto the towel covering you. First a very tall lady and now a woman who could...appear out of thin air?

You laugh, because sure you've lost your mind from being in the cold rain for so long, surely you've developed some form of hypothermia and your mind is playing tricks on you. But the more you stare at her, the more it becomes painfully real. Her lips are painted black like the inky sky, red hair revealing from the sides of her hooded cloak, a sickle in her left hand stained red at the tip.

Alcina begins to recognize the rapid rise and fall of your chest, she can sense the fear bubbling up in you. "Daniela, I told you to wait upstairs, daughter." She places her cup down, "and now you've frightened our guest."

"Guest?" The woman, Daniela, groans, reaching forward with her blade to tilt your chin upwards. "I suspected we would devour her flesh and perhaps make a fresh batch of wine, mother! Ooh, Bela's blood Plăcintă cu ciocolată, perhaps! She smells heavenly."

ETERNAL. 𓄼 𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑢. Where stories live. Discover now