The Phoenix Witch

Chapter 17

Christine's P.O.V

I muttered a soft come-in as a knock sounded, I groaned as I tried to stand up but before I could fall, two slender hands caught me and steadied me, 'Thanks' I whispered still in pain. 'No problem, Your Highness ' a timid voice whispered back, I turned to look and saw a woman about as old as me, with blonde hair pinned up and blue eyes staring at the ground.

I gestured towards the bathroom, and she helped me walk towards it and asked 'Do you want help in changing your highness?', I looked at her incredulously and said 'No, thank you'. I walked in and lifted my shirt to see that bandages covered my abdomen, other than the stinging pain of a hole in my body I saw nothing unusual, no blisters, rashes, or anything red and itchy.

Matthew's blood had worked, but how? I chalked it up to the "mysterious things about Matthew" list in my head and changed into better clothes, I fixed my hair and called out to her, damn I really had to learn her name 'Uh, excuse me, what is your name?. 'Nora, Your Highnesss' she said as I stepped out and walked towards the exit,

'Please don't call me Your Highness, I prefer Christine' I said to her which made her look at me in utter shock before her expression turned mortified and she looked down at her feet again. Afraid? Had the royals become so cruel that the servants were afraid to even look at them? Were the servants so unknown to basic kindness? I shook my head at the absurdity that the royals had become and told her

'Listen, Nora, no matter what the other rules the royals have enforced you have the freedom to be my friend in all this and not my servant'. She nodded at me, her face brightening a little, 'I need words, Nora' I told her in a gentle voice and she said 'Yes, your high- Christine'.

I smiled at her and looked at the door, a nervous expression taking over my face, ' I believe you will be fine, Christine. Do not worry' she said as she gave me painkillers, I smiled at her gratefully, gulped them down, and stepped out of the room.

Standing in front of the ornate doors of the meeting room where they had all gathered was like standing in the doors of hell waiting to be eaten, I stood there frozen for barely two seconds but the feeling of impending doom did not deter me. I took a deep breath, pain flaring up but I ignored it reminding myself how they could all be hearing my rapidly beating heart and how I had to slow it before they got the idea that I was scared, which in reality I was.

I gently opened the door and found every head turned towards me with varying expressions, The Elders in the center of the table, had blank faces but their eyes betrayed them, they were furious. Maximus, at the right side of the table, was angry but his children were another case, Rose had a mix of boredom and amusement on her face while Charlie had a calculating look.

I looked towards the left to see Matthew with his pretty emerald eyes staring at me with a neutral expression on his face as if he didn't know what to feel or didn't care, I couldn't choose. Will, like the sweetheart he was awarded me with a small smile, and Aderyn had a slight look of disgust on her face. Nan was the only one who moved, she led me towards the seat opposite to the Elders and sat down next to me.

I could feel the weight of their stares and their power and said 'So, I've got some explaining to do', Nobodyy uttered a word as they sat down too, and finally Aurora stood up and said ' Yes Christine, you have to explain why you chose the life of a seer over the most important thing the witches have had from over a century! Did you know, that the book has been guarded in The Vihera for more than a century, it is an incredibly powerful book, which in the wrong hands is equally disastrous, they could use it to destroy the lives of hundreds or thousands of innocent people! How could you choose one life over all those people's lives?' She was glaring at me at the end of her speech and I just sat there processing that. 'Well!' She shouted banging the table making me jump a little. Drake immediately held her hand gently sat her down and turned towards me with a pointed look that screamed, speak.

I nodded at him and said ' I know that the book is very important for all of us and I'm really sorry that I lost it, I know that there is no excuse for what I did but at that moment I had to choose and I had very little time so I followed my heart, so I saved the seer' I made sure my voice was confident and that I was looking at them, I didn't want them to think I was lying.

'So you think it is appropriate to follow your heart in a battle? Have you not thought of any strategies? Did you not once think of anyone else?' Maximus shouted at me, his face full of anger.

'Please, Maximus this is not a discussion in which speaking out of anger or shouting is going to help, The princess made a mistake and she is regretful, I am sure that she will be willing to help get them book back' Matthew said and looked questioningly at me, I nodded at him and Jordan asked ' why are you advocating for her, Matthew?' Curiosity and apprehensiveness on his face.

'I am not advocating, Jordan, all I want is peace within us and the book in safe hands. We can not accomplish anything by accusing each other, what's done is done, strive to fix it and not dwell on it' Matthew said, his voice diplomatic and his tone persuasive, he was always like this, I noted, always the middleman, the peacemaker which was ironic considering he drank blood to survive. His words made everyone put aside their anger and consider the proposition and for that, I was, thankful to him. 'I think that is best for all, do we agree?' Drake queried, I hoped I could say everyone agreed but alas I would be wrong.

' Shouldn't she be punished for this?' Aderyn spat out. 'I think going on this extremely dangerous mission with all of you and acquiring the book back is punishment enough, agreed?' He said looking at everyone, we all nodded and he continued 'alright then'.

Before anybody could say anything I asked 'Do you have any information on where they could've gone or where their base is?' Aurora stared at me for a second as if offended by my speaking and then swiped her hand in the air, her red magic sparkled and a file appeared on the table. She slid it across the table and said 'This is all we have on him, we have had a suspicion that he could be trying to rebuild the Red Circle, and now that he has what he wants it shouldn't be too difficult', giving me an ice cold glare as she finished.

I ignored the jab at the end and looked through the file, They didn't have much but it was a start, 'And what about the death investigation?' I asked, she sighed, glanced towards Drake, and said
'Since we now know that Gallimore orchestrated the king's death, he will be punished for his crimes after you have found him'
'Didn't you want is to kill him there?' I asked tilting my head towards Drake, ' Yes but after discussion it has been decided that he is much more useful to us alive' he said
' did the king go to Cadrill for the Esecta?' Will asked.
'Yes we think so but we don't know what he wanted from the Esecta' replied Aurora.

I sighed, so this Red Circle killed the king because he was in their way? Maybe he knew something about The Esecta that no one else did. How could they have known where he was going to be and the existence of his secret study? The seer! I realized she was the only person who could know things no one did, I had to talk to her and get that book back at any cost I concluded and asked 'What happened to the seer?' Fearing their answer in case they killed or worse tortured her.

'She is fine now but she had a lot of untreated wounds' Will said, I nodded and asked 'Has she said anything about them or given any information?', he shook his head in a no and said 'She has been adamant in not talking to anyone but you and we didn't push her since she is in a fragile condition'. My eyebrows raised in surprise and I said 'Okay then what are we waiting for?'.

We all glanced at The Elders and Jordan said 'This meeting is over, After the seer has been interrogated we will commence with the scheming on the retrieval of The Esecta' We all stood and they vanished. 'Could they always vanish like that?' I asked in slight awe and Nan chuckled as she said 'Yes and that was teleportation honey, not vanishing', 'Oh' I said and nodded at her, 'be safe' she whispered to me and walked away. 'It's this way, Christine' Will said as I turned to him.

I nodded and followed him and Matthew towards the guest rooms in wing C, 'They gave her the fancy rooms, how shocking!' I exclaimed sarcastically as we paused before a room, 'Why do you hate that The Elders?' Matthew asked with a hint of curiousness in his voice,
' I don't hate them, I just dislike them a little bit' I said and he gave me the "I don't believe any of the crap you just spewed" look and I said 'Fine, I dislike them a lot, okay?', he shook his head at me with a small smile and said 'its better if you go in alone, she might not be comfortable with us around'. I nodded at him, staring at that tiny beautiful smile but before I could dwell on it I heard people screaming, We all looked at each other in shock and thought about what the hell was wrong now.