Forest of Lies

Chapter 19-What Lies in the Shadows

I hope y'all enjoy this chapter, sorry that it took a bit, but it will be worth it. I promise. 😁♥️✨

🎃Also Happy Halloween, all Hallows Eve, Samhain, and so forth!!!😈

🥰Enjoy yourselves and be safe tomorrow guys!
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Nyx was exhausted. It was evident as she pulled away from the doors. Her mask of strength, of determined iron will, beginning to slip away. Aoulette and Celeste already have found the room containing a massive bed, Amira already blowing out the candles except for the large bedchamber and the main room. A room so large, that an entire Tenebrae family could live in just this single section of the Queen's quarters alone.

I go to Nyx, forcing my footsteps to not be so soft. Slowly aproaching my dearest friend, gently laying a hand upon her slim trembling shoulder. "Tis time to rest," I utter, slowly turning her towards me, cupping both sides of her face in my small hands. "You most of all."

"Of course Ersa," she whispers, her eyes all but glazed over in a daze of relief and worry. "Best join the others, I see they have already found the bed."

Nyx walks past me as if she were a wraith. It unnerves me how much she has changed since we set out to uncover the source of the howls that interrupted one of our most sacred ceremonies. Her flame of surety tamped down to a mere flicker. Her eyes haunted and wary, the circles under her tired eyes ever deeper. She has yet to tell any of us why. The only things she said to us, to explain to us why we still remain with her. Why our own garments have not been burned. Why I and the others have not been forced to bed our monstrous captors, was that she made a deal with the Alpha King.

A deal she did not elaborate on, but one we all have noticed has taken its toll upon her.

I follow in Nyx's wake, trodding with slow steps towards the second largest of the five rooms we have been granted. I took the liberty of looking at all of them while Nyx was in conversation with the werewolf king and the others fascinated by the luxurious furniture in each room.

The main area was a reciving room of sorts. Like the one in the village hall before one stepped in to the main part of the largest hut in our village. But unlike the dirt floor and smoke covered stone walls, the floor here is layered in plush rugs and denoted with softer chairs and a large low circular table. The three smallest rooms were what I would assume to be a small eating area with small sodden table and chairs. A reading room filled with shelves of books, and a bathing room complete with a large curving tub of smooth marble.

Then there was last room. The bedroom. As it was with the other rooms, tapestries and rugs detonated the wood floors and smooth stone walls. Soaking up the cold permeating throughout the room. Frosting the glass windows on the left side of the room. Large curved double doors led to a darkened balcony between the two windows. Outside, one could see the darkened figures of trees and bushes nestled within the royal gardens.

The others already had stripped down to their travel worn dresses. Maneuvering fine pillows and silk and fur blankets into the center of the humongous bed. Large enough to fit ten people comfortably. Big enough for us five Marked to settling onto the bed. Backs to each other in a circle of limbs and clasped hands.

Not even in the depths of sleep would we allow the others to feel unprotected or alone. Not with the iron chains and curved pendants I have given each of us to wear. My brother, as I requested, will give Orlan his own to wear the moment they are out of sight of the king, and then my brother shall don his in turn.

Pendants of iron forged by my own two hands. They were meant to be gifts for my dearests friends the moment Amira's ceremony was over. Fine gifts, the pendants made to resemble a tiger's sharp lengthy claw. The top of each pendant crowned with rare red rubies that cost me months of scrounging through nearby villages. Trading my best furs and weapons to gain each thumbnail sized gem.