The Cursed One ✔ - Book One of the Phoenix Trilogy

Six ~ Welcome to Phoenicia

Lord Ronheild's laughter vibrated through the thin walls. He was both amused and worried at the same time. Amused because of her unfazed reaction like she just heard a weather report. She listened to him without even flinching. It might be caused by the pull-the utter sense of familiarity, but still. He couldn't stop himself from being worried because he wasn't expecting her to agree right away without asking any questions. The girl was too trusting and naive. What if it wasn't someone like him who came?

"Dear, you should not trust a stranger without proper investigations," he warned her.

"Oh, so are you saying that I shouldn't trust you?" Vee retorted with a raised eyebrow. She was cringing a while ago, worried about what her neighbours might be thinking after hearing a matured man inside her apartment. As fast as the thought came, she brushed it away. She was leaving anyway. Be it to another city or another realm, it all depended on the outcome of the conversation. The point was, she wouldn't be there long enough to care about what her neighbours might think.

She looked at the hooded man with narrowed eyes. Venus wasn't shocked at all. She couldn't care less if other realms existed. He could even tell her that pigs did fly and she wouldn't care.

Lord Ronheild chuckled once again, "All I'm saying is, be wary of everyone and that includes me. You should ask questions before agreeing to anything. Other than that, your reactions are indeed interesting, my dear. Honestly, for a human being informed that other realms exist, you reacted quite the opposite." He didn't hide the amazement in his voice.

"Should I feel ecstatic then?" she sarcastically asked, ignoring the trust issue part.

"No need for sarcasm here, young lady," he reprimanded her, getting serious all of a sudden. "How do you know realms exist anyway?"

"I actually don't. Well, as a human you say who happens to have magic, what do you think?" she hissed.

Grrr! She inwardly growled at him. He was slowly getting on her nerves.

"I see you have a typical Phoenician temper. Anyway, according to your file, your home in the village was burned down to the ground six years ago? Care to tell me who did it?"

"I..." She nervously bit her lip then continued, "I don't know," she stammered. She was surprised by the sudden inquiry. "The people said I did it though." She added in a small voice.

"It's impossible dear," the Lord said softly. "We do not create fire until the age of maturity, which is the eighteenth year of age in a human cycle. It's the very reason why I'm here now. It matters on each realm. The cycle of maturity, I mean. Like, for example, for a vampire it's their hundredth year. For faeries, the fiftieth and so on and so forth. You will have a lecture about it in Phoenicia."

"Really? Well, I blacked out in the doorway when that happened. The sheriff was there to give me the news about my mom so when I came about I couldn't remember anything and the whole house was gone, burned to the ground. Soon the sheriff came back with burn marks all over his body shouting at me that I burned the house, accusing me of practising witchcraft," she narrated under one breath.

She paused for air when what he said slowly registered to her fuzzy mind.

Her mouth fell open, pupils were huge, "Oh my goodness! So vampires, faeries and all that shit really exist?" She blabbered incoherently.