Marienne's life was completely undone when her village went up in flames. Badly burned and her eyesight lost, she awakes in a strange place, with no knowledge of how she arrived there. Her savior was the enigmatic and alluring Victor, the Lord of Az...
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Amelia's words held me still in my tracks. I didn't know how to process the information she'd dropped upon me so unceremoniously. The only thing that could escape my lips was a sound of frustration. That, and the most important of questions. "Who is she?" Fear rattled my core, nearly driving me to panic, but under that was a river of rage, simmering now, but threatening to boil. Yet again, what comfort I had found was being attacked.
"Her name is Valentina, at least, that is what she tells everyone her name is. No one truly knows where she originated from. Why she has chosen to come back to the castle now, I cannot even begin to fathom." Amelia heaved a sigh, pulled herself out of bed, and began to dress.
I sat down on her bed again, filled to the brim with questions, and they were ready pouring out of me. "She was here before? What does she want with Victor?" Suddenly, it no longer mattered what little fight we had quibbled over. My foundation would crumble under me without him to support me. I felt a painful squeezing around my heart at the thought of losing him when we had really only just found each other.
Amelia froze for a moment, as if deeply considering her next words. Consternation darkened her brow, then she sighed deeply. "Oh, well, there's no sense in hiding it from you. Valentina and Victor were lovers for a time."
I tried not to feel the blow too deeply. It was one thing when the woman he talked about was decades if not centuries in the grave, but to know one of his previous lovers was alive and well, and felt comfortable coming to the castle was quite another. "Were? Was there a...formal split, or-?" I let the sentence trail, uncomfortable with the unspoken words, but too close to losing control to say them aloud.
"Hm, I wouldn't call it formal, more like...explosive. When she left, I never expected her to return. Victor was enraged at even the barest mention of her name for nearly a month after she left. Needless to say, they were not on good terms when they parted, and if you want to know why, you'd have to ask Victor. I was never privy to the information." She waved a hand when she saw the question forming on my lips, and answered it before I could even speak it.
I suppose it was a comfort to know that he didn't still pine after her, from what Amelia said. "Well, do you know who she might have come here with? Perhaps someone else Victor has made an enemy of." I said sardonically. He seemed to be very good at doing that. I couldn't say that I was surprised, as Victor had the presence of someone who held to his own morals, no matter what others might say.
"From your description? No, it could be anyone." Neither Amelia nor I wanted to dwell on that unknown for very long.
"You don't think...it's..." I started, tension consuming the room.
"Wilhelm? No, I don't think so. I don't think he'd dare set foot into Victor's territory. It would be as good as a declaration of war, if not quite the same thing. They've been enemies for a long time, Marienne." I wondered how many things she had seen at this castle, and shuddered at the prospect. It was good money, to be sure, but I don't know that I would risk my life in the same way. It took a certain bravery to be a human in a vampire's world.
