The Unmarked Mate

Chapter 40

Elestren

I spent the next day training. We started new tactics with Cat and Serena and trained some more. I learned the sneering blond guy was called Oswald, his father used to be chief of the elite guard and he resented the fact that the title was not passed down to him and went to Catriona. The day after that, I went to the garden to join Jessamine and Sibyl, I had seen them, but I didn't have the chance to spend time with them and we needed to talk. Jessamine had started speaking again when I came back.

I walked up to the garden. Everything was leafless, the winter solstice was in eight days, and the days were shorter now. The both of them were already waiting for me. I entered the garden and the air wasn't cold anymore. I smiled at their magic, enjoying the beauty of a cold morning without freezing. I sat on the bench across from them.

"Good morning Elestren, I had missed you. You look much better." Jessamine smiled.

"Thank you Jessamine. I'm glad you're feeling better yourself. I have some questions for you, for you both, but only if you're feeling up to it." I gently asked.

"Ask away darling, that's why we're here!" Jessamine answered. I wondered how old she really was, she looked to be twenty, but she looked like that ten years ago...

"When you were at Crimson Moon Pack, apart from Lucius'... incapacity, did he ever ask you anything else?"

"What do you mean?" she asked surprised. I guessed she didn't think that would be my first choice of questions.

"Did he ever ask you to brew things like a concoction for wolves to be immune to wolfsbane?"

"Ah, that! He asked, but I didn't do it. I lied and said I didn't know how to. I figured he wanted to use it against you somehow, so I didn't do anything. He believes me to be a shy and weak little thing, I'll confess I'm not strong like you, but I'm not that stupid." I was perplexed, my hint was half right... But if it wasn't him, who gave the potion to the rogues, who could it be?

"Did you ever witness him or Alfred talking about people called the Spider and the Huntsmen?"

"No, sorry, I don't recall anyone mentioned by those names."

"How about the Thistle?" she moved her head sideways when I pronounced the name.

"Maybe. Wait, let me think... Yes, I heard that name once. But I couldn't tell you anything about who it is. Not even if it's a man or a woman."

"Did they seem afraid or in awe or impressed by this person in any way?"

"Yes, very much. It was mentioned in hushed tones, as if they were terrified that someone would hear them talk about them, why do you ask?"

"That means it's a man, Lucius is an idiot and a misogynistic prick, he will never be afraid of a woman, he believes women to be weak and useless."

"Oh he's going to learn the truth the hard way." She and Sibyl smiled carnivorously. I liked where that was going.

"How did he keep you all this time? The first time he injured you by surprise, but this time, he kept you for several weeks, months even."

"Iron... Iron is to witches what silver is to werewolves you know." She pulled on her scarf and showed me burn marks on her neck, she wasn't a wolf, they wouldn't have healed like mine. I touched my own neck, where the two white circles were. "Same treatment you and I, different metal." She said with a grim laugh. I growled when I saw the marks. I'll kill that prick. I'll make him pay.