By My Side | The Arcana: A mystic Romance

6:Help

"I'm investigating the mystery behind the late count's death.", she said with a small smile, her gaze locked on his face for some odd reason. "It looks to me that it might have been more than just a simple murder.", Haya explained seriously, a small frown pulling at her placid expression. She was trying to fight the furious blush that would overcome her expression if she continued to look at Asra. Luckily, he wouldn't see it.

Asra's expression seemed to freeze, a glint of trepidation flashing in the deep lilac orbs that were his eyes. His expression was quickly overtaken by a look of morbid curiosity. He was about to bombard her with questions— she could tell— and she wouldn't let him. Once he started there would be no turning back.

"Which brings me to the matter at hand...", Haya began quickly, preventing Asra from talking.

"You worked at the palace back then, so you knew Dr Devorak, because he was also there.", she explained and waited patiently for a reaction.

Asra did not disappoint. He averted his gaze, looking a bit guilty as a blush crept onto his cheeks.
"Were you two an item?", Haya finally blurted. This time she couldn't stop the blush from burning at her cheeks.

"I wish I could answer that question...", Asra trailed off, put off by the bored expression that was on Haya's face. He sighed in resignation. Haya was a tough nut to crack, that's for sure. Sometimes she was difficult to deal with or avoid, once she had her mind made up there was no convincing her otherwise. Just like that, Asra was lodged between a rock and a hard place. With how this conversation was going it looked like he was about to get pulled into the frontline of the whole ordeal. He had to hoped to secretly guide her in the right direction without getting involved. He couldn't even get away if he wanted to, seeing as she had miraculously discovered how to track him down.

"Julian was... a friend, at the time. He just took my friendliness the wrong way.", Asra replied carefully. It was all he could say with how Haya wasn't really giving him a choice.

That was a lousy excuse for an explanation, really, it was obvious that they were more than just that with what Haya had seen. However, that would come to be of use later, Asra didn't need to know it just yet.

"If that's the case you must have known him well enough to know if he could have killed the count. I know you're busy right but, I'm afraid I need your help, Asra.", Haya decided. She needed all the the help she could get since she was trying to avoid implicating innocent people. She wouldn't live with herself if someone died because of her. Asra was the only person that she could think of who was of use, so she couldn't let him get away.

"You know you can count on me Haya, I've got your back.", Asra said with a sigh, somewhat reassuring an anxious Haya. He also worried that she wasn't safe in the palace.

Lucio's death was strange, because nobody remembered or saw exactly what happened. This implied that there was a bigger force at play than what was seen by everyone. That's where the danger was, Haya had put herself in harm's way by accepting this task. She was a moving target. Asra couldn't let her get hurt doing what he should have been doing. That would just be cowardly of him.

A small gasp from Haya brought him out of his thoughts. She was losing energy, by the looks of it. Her vessel was slowly sinking back into the lake. Desperate, she reached out to him. He grabbed her hands, the water sending an ice cold sensation jolting through his arms.
"Asra, I have something to tell you. I—"

With a loud splash Haya was gone, and Asra was covered in water once again leaving him trembling from the cold. The night wind only made it worse, along with the emptiness in his heart from Haya's unfinished sentence.

That night, sleep evaded him completely, thoughts running rampant from worry and longing.

On Haya's end things weren't very good. Her sudden loss of energy had left her completely powerless and laying face down in the fountain.

Although she was exhausted she managed to pick herself up, heavy from her soaking wet clothes. If anyone saw her they would surely question her sanity, so she made quick to get out of plain sight. Under the cover of a large tree, she waited for s while, wringing her clothes until she felt they were dry enough, before heading inside to sleep.

However, sleep was no friend of her's on this night. She was haunted by the anguished howls of a dead man's soul that rang through her mind. It wailed for hours on end, sounding as if it had been terribly wronged. No matter how she covered her ears or tired to drown out its sound, it only got louder. This, coupled with the thoughts of Asra's distraught face when she couldn't finish her sentence, put her in quite the sorry state. Her head was aching, her chest feeling like their was a weight on it. She was sweating, although she was cold enough to pass for a corpse. Her breathing was heavy, it felt like less and less air was going to her lungs with each breath. In the end her breathing became shallow, as if she was dying. She sure felt like she was dying but she knew that she wasn't.

She was confused, scared even, but she had to keep calm in case something else happened. With how things had been going lately, anything was possible.

Just as she finished that thought, the was plunged into a trance.

She was one a desolate island. At least it looked to be desolate. There was life, it just wasn't very alive. It was dark, she could barely make anything out.
"The death of one's self...", a voice said from behind her. She turned on her heel, unsettled. "—only buries their secrets deep in the ground."

It was the hanged man, hanging on his feet what seemed to be a city away. Yet his voice sounded so close that she could have sworn he was right behind her. "Wake up from the dead, time is running out. Before your ashes scatter in the wind..."

Nothing more was said. Suddenly Haya was somewhere else. It was the island from last time, three moons and all. Yet before she could do anything she was plunged into darkness.

Waking up the following morning was a hassle and a half, but she had not much of a choice since she had to meet with the countess' courtiers.

Portia dressed her in a knee length white and purple open neck tunic with long sleeves. The neckline and cuffs were laced with golden embroidered lotus flowers. She wore a long pair of purple pants and slippers that were decorated just like the tunic.

She followed Portia to the salon, where the courtiers were waiting for her. When they reached the door Portia eyed her curiously before bringing something out from her apron.

"You dropped this at the fountain yesterday."

Haya stared at her balnkly; of course this was what she forgot. She had frantically searched the room and her bag mere minutes before Portia knocked at her door, not really sure what it was that she was looking for. She had to be more careful with things. With a sigh, she reached out to accept the trinket, but Portia quickly pulled it out of reach.

She uneasily glanced at the puzzled Haya, who looked at her in askance. Portia shuffled on her feet and looked around.
"I need you to do something for me. I need... a favour, actually.", she said, sounding a bit nervous. Haya raised a brow, but said nothing.
"I don't want to delay you right now. Can you please meet me later on today?"

Haya nodded, causing Portia to release a sigh of relief. She handed the necklace over, which pleased Haya greatly. With that, Portia opened the grand doors of the salon to reveal the countess playing an unfamiliar tune on a large organ. Odd, she hadn't heard of it from the passage, the walls and doors must have been really thick.

"Ah, dear Haya, we were just speaking about you. Please, come in.", the countess said with a grand gesture towards a white couch that was not too far off. Haya took in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She stepped in, ignoring the heavy feel of nervousness that tugged at her heart.