IMPRESS. [Book 1]

Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Black Crystal.

IMPRESS.

Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Black Crystal.

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Cathryn's POV~

I kept my hand over my mouth, furiously blinking as if my soul had shot out of my body. Thousands of questions and thoughts were circling my mind as I stared at my mother who smirked and sipped blood from her chalice.

"Is it really true that you found Richard Harris' missing, stolen documents about Isabella in Natalya's bedchambers?" I asked for the tenth time and my mother Queen Melisandre rolled her eyes and hummed for the hundredth time.

"Child, why would I tell you a lie? Yes, we found many documents on Isabella in Natalya's room," my mother stated and I gasped inaudibly. "I knew that girl was suspicious of something," she added.

"B- bu- but how can you assume that just because those files were in Natalya's room, she is Isabella's daughter? Maybe there is another reason to it..." I tried to defend Natalya and find reason with my mother who shook her head and immediately stopped me from blubbering.

My mother swallowed the last bit of blood wine she drank from her chalice and pursed her lips momentarily. "No, it makes perfect sense. Natalya always gave me the same vibe as Isabella, but darker. I once questioned her on the fact she reminded me of Isabella and she acted like she had no idea what I was on about. I suspected this for a long time."

I stressfully ran my hand through my hair, "you can't just assume-" 

"-Cathryn, your father was in love with Isabella," my mother exhausted and I stared at her like she was losing her mind, in which she heavily sighed.

"Did you not notice the fact that the first time Natalya was introduced to us by Alaric, your father instantly liked her despite the fact she was human?" My mother pointed out and I shrugged, "yeah so, what about it?"

My mother continued to dish out her theory, "your father hated any human he set eyes on after Isabella left him. When Alaric arrived here for the first time, you were forced to turn him into one of us because he had no chance of survival. So the fact your father didn't show the tiniest bit of hatred towards Natalya on her arrival here, confirms that she reminded him of someone..."

 I rested my chin on my fist and continued to listen, intrigued.

"When we were alone, your father said to me, 'she reminds me of someone' and I instantly knew he meant Isabella. Natalya resembles her mother, and resembles her great-grandmother, Andrea, even more..." My mother spoke more to herself than to me.

She thoughtfully rubbed her forefinger and thumb together.

"You are referring to the history of Andrea Driarco, as in the most powerful pureblood ever, the woman who was central to the biggest war Asten ever saw... The war where we, the vampires, took rule over the witches..." I said waiting for my mother's nod of confirmation.