Conspiracy

Meeting Cora

Regina eyes flicked slowly open as she emerged from her seemingly timeless slumber. Letting her eyes adjust to the sunlight that cascaded through the windows, she gasped as she found herself lying in a room practically identical to the room at the inn, except it was coloured in the deepest shade of blood red she'd ever seen. Her luggage was sat at the foot of her bed, and the tantalising smells of scrambled eggs and bacon wafted their way into her nose, making her stomach roar with a hunger she's been completely oblivious to. With a start, she realised she had not eaten a thing since she left London. Rushing to prepare herself for the day, she removed a simple pairing of a white blouse and crimson skirt that reached the floor. Once she had tied her brunette hair into a neat bun, she approached the table in which the mouth-watering scents were coming from. There, she found a crisply folded note from Andre.

"I had the servants prepare what I recall to be your favourite breakfast this morning. I apologise for not greeting you this morning, but you seemed to be rather enjoying your sleep. You fell asleep on me last night, so I brough you to your room – I do hope you like it. We all chose it for you. Once you've finished, do come and find us in the library. Head left down the hall, and it's the second door down. I'll even wait outside to make it easier and less awkward. I can't wait for you to meet the others, so do me a favour and hurry it along."
- Your ever so loving brother,

Andre"

Regina chuckled as herbrother's informality, but quickly rushed to fulfill his request, for she toowanted desperately to meet the people Andre had been living with this pastdecade. The empty chasm that rested under her ribs grumbled gratefully as she shovelledthe food down in great gulps. At the conclusion of her meal, she sat back witha satisfied sigh and smiled up at the ceiling. How she would have loved to havestayed there and dream as her eyes floated over the crimson shading of the roof.But Andre had requested she make haste, so she rose from the plush confines ofthe sofa and stepped outside. For the briefest of moments, she retreated backinto her room to recover from the shock of the drastic change of setting, hermind whirling with confusion and even wondering if she was indeed in the righthouse. Mustering up her courage, she submerged herself once again into the frigidgloom of the hall. The door closed softly behind, destroying the last of thenatural light and leaving her trapped inan ocean of darkness, save for the sparse sprinkling of torches along the wall.The temperature had plummeted to freezing, made all the more prominent afterthe glowing warmth of her room. The walls were painted black, which gave someexplanation as to why it was as dark as it was. Regina shuddered as her skincrawled, like someone had let loose dozens of critters on her body. She wantedto leave, to retreat back into the warmth and safety of the room, but the coldseemed to have frozen her legs in place; they refused to move.
"Regina?" a voice called, scaring her to such an extent that it brought her tothe edge of tears.
"Andre." She breathed as she saw her brother approaching, trying to hide the dropsof water that threatened to run down her face.
"Is everything alright? We've been waiting for you." he said softly, wrappinghis arms gently around her shaking shoulders. Despite the shock from the nightbefore, Andre's minimal warmth was a welcome reprieve from the icy vice thathad been pressing in around her.
"I just... got a bit of a shock is all. It's so cold out here."
"I know. I probably should have mentioned that to you. It is very cold here,which is why we have some clothes for you."
"But I have winter clothing."
"Yes, but yours are not made for our degree of cold. Trust me. You'll lovethem. Now come to the library before you catch your death of cold." hecommanded, steering her away from the sanctuary of her quarters and into theunknown darkness. He gently guided her down the hall, then suddenly stoppedbefore an ornate door carved from the finest spruce wood Regina seen. He pushedon the door, and it swung open to reveal a library, blood-red in all its décor,with book shelves that lined every wall and reached to the ceiling, which inturn stretched to the sky. In fact, the ceiling was perhaps one of the mostintriguing parts of the room, as it had been painted to resemble the night sky.Along the walls were several metal catwalks that separated the levels ofshelves and gave readers a place to browse. The middle of the room had been pressedin to create an indoor firepit, in which a roaring fire blazed in its centre. Aring of seats had been built into the floor and surrounded the pit, while twolengthy tables sat either side, both laden with papers, books, and bottles ofink. Regina resisted the urge to twirl in wonder as they entered.
"About bloody time." A vulgar voice huffed from above them. Regina whirled tosee who had dared to speak in such a way and gasped as her eyes fell on theface of a young woman, barely into early adulthood. Her skin was of a pale,ghost-like complexion, her expression hard and rigid. Her lips were thinlypressed and red as a rose blooming rebelliously against the white of winter'sblanket. Her whole face was framed by long, straight locks coloured a mixtureof brunette and blood. But Regina was paying no attention to any of her featuresbut her eyes. All she could look at was the piercing gaze that fell upon herfrom the red orbs centred in her face. She felt as though they were burning ahole right through her soul, searching through the deepest, darkest parts of her;the ones she'd never let anyone, not even Andre, see. Regina wished desperatelyto look away, to save her soul from that demonic gaze, but she could not. Onlywhen Andre's voice resonate with in her core did she lower her eyes.
"Alright, Cora. Leave her be."
Regina was under the impression that things could not get any more ridiculous,but then, as if reading her mind, Cora laid a hand on the banister, jumped, andswung her legs over the bar, landing neatly on the ground before them. Reginafelt faint at the thought of a woman doing such things that were so out of thebounds of society's expectations, but at the same time she was thrilled, andbriefly wondered if she'd perhaps teach her that move. Though not wanting toappear weak in any way, she proceeded to assess Cora's clothing, but even thatwas exotic to a degree. Rather than wearing a dress or skirt like a normalwoman, Cora's outfit consisted of a simple, white, long-sleeved shirt tuckedinto a pair of black pants, held by a leather belt, and finished with a pair ofbrown leather boots. But the most interesting and out-of-place object was thesword which hung loosely by her hip. Regina found herself questioning why anywoman in her right mind would be walking around with a sword strapped to theirside.
"Cora. I'd like you to meet my sister, Regina. Regina, this is CoraBloodthorne. Her family owns this estate." Andre introduced the two women witha smile. Cora said nothing; simply stared and held out her hand to shake.Regina took it tentatively and was not at all surprised to find that her skinmatched the temperatures of outside. But what did take her by surprise was thefact the Cora, completely out of the blue, began to laugh. A loud, audaciouslaugh that was like bells in a church. It was beautiful, which confused Reginaall the more.
"I'm so sorry, my dear. Forgive my stand-offish manner; I'm usually quite a bitmore welcoming. Heavens, if myself and our mutual companion, Roman, had notplaced with me a bet of such likings, I would've accompanied your brother tocollect you from the border."
"Bet?" Andre and Regina chorused.
"Indeed." Cora smiled. Then she turned and yelled into the hallway in acompletely casual and drunken-like manner "Hey Snips! You owe me!"
"Yeah, yeah." The ghostly echo of a voice floated down the hall in reply.
"Snips?"
"Our nickname for him. It's just a term of affection."
Regina could not believe it. Just moments ago, this woman before her had burnedstraight through her soul with the most unsettling glare, then leapt off thebalcony and introduced herself as though she was speaking with the Queen ofEngland. And now she was speaking open and freely, in a manner that was utterlyalien to Regina. How quickly her persona had changed. And yet, the penetratinggaze had never left her scarlet eyes. Regina had no clue how she was going tomanage staying here a month when she could hardly bare to be within an inch ofCora Bloodthorne.