At eight years old, Cerno Angevin was ripped apart from his twin sister, ultimately saving his life as the rest of his family and their mansion was destroyed by a fiery explosion. Now, as his grandmother grooms him to take his father's place as the...
"Samuel..." Cerno groaned as he slowly stirred. "...Samuel?" he repeated as he slowly tried to sit up and look around his room. It was dark with only the moonlight peaking through his window. At the foot of the bed sat a small glass vial of liquid and a note. He recognized Samuel's handwriting.
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The liquid in the bottle shimmered a soft blue, even in the darkness of the room. Cerno took the cap off and gave it a sniff, realizing it had no smell. With a sigh and knowing no smell did not mean no taste, he tilted his head back and downed the contents in as few swallows as possible. He instantly retched, the taste almost like sour milk. "What are you trying to do, poisonme?" he complained loudly as he glared at the empty vial. Even though there was a horrible flavor that he couldn't rid himself of even after drinking some water from the bathroom tap, he realized a warming sensation spreading through his body starting from his abdomen. Slowly, every little ache and pain from his head to his toes was easing up.
There was a soft knock on the bedroom door.
Cerno grabbed his robe and slipped into it as he walked over and cracked the door open. A younger housemaid smiled at him. "Yes?"
"Good evening, Master Cerno. I could hear that you were finally awake as I was passing by, I figured I would stop and ask if you would like some fresh linens for a shower?"
Cerno scratched the back of his head as she said 'finally' but then he nodded. "That would be great, thanks." Leaving the door cracked, he walked back over to his bed and sat down for another moment as he waited. She was quick to leave the linens in his bathroom and he realized she was rather beautiful, but a soft smirk lined his lips as she made her departure. There was someone he found much more beautiful than the young maid.
It was late in the evening, but Cerno quickly showered and dressed in a set of casual jeans and t-shirt, pulling a black hooded sweatshirt over his head before he slipped quietly from his room. The lights in the hallway were dimmed, telling him it was later than he thought and he paused in the service stairwell. She's probably not even awake, he thought to himself. Against his better judgment, he pressed on and half-jogged his way out to the Shallows and sighed seeing Kinsley's house completely dark just like he figured it would be. After a few moments of standing and staring at her house wishing so bad that he could see her, he started to turn to slowly make his way back but quickly froze in his tracks.
A growl rolled through the night air. A deep, guttural, beast-like growl.
The hair stood up on the back of Cerno's neck in fear. His mind couldn't piece together what kind of animal could make this deep and dangerous of a growl. Slowly looking back over his shoulder, he saw a huge wolfhound with glimmering white fangs snarling at him from the entrance to Kinsley's garden. It's fur went wild in every direction and it's eyes which were pinned on him glowed in the moonlight. His heart raced as the wolfhound stood staring at him hungrily.
"Gritta?" a sleepy voice called out softly.
The wolfhound instantly stopped growling and licked it's jowls, it's whole demeanor becoming gentle even though it still stood it's ground, staring at him almost defensively. A dark cloaked figure got to it's feet and walked up behind the huge dog.
