1. A Secret of Snow and Ruin

Chapter XIV

Alistair Wardwell

Blythe looks different. Her hair was braided into two plaits and her outfit was fit for a professional healer. She had on a long white gown and held a kit that I assumed was full of herbs, potions, and other items. Even though she dressed differently, she also looked at me differently and that strangely hurt. She looked at me with a hatred that swept me off my feet. Her anger didn't look right on her. I was used to her smile lines, full cheeks colored with content and her eyes shining with like and adoration for me.

"Why are you here?" I ask.

Blythe sighs, her shoulders falling with exasperation. "Lycans have gone rabid in The Northern Reach and the outbreak has spread to the other clans as well. Roguerock was hit hard with infected Lycans and so; now I'm staying here for refuge."

I blink a mile a minute trying to wrap my head around the news I had just heard. Lycans going rabid was unheard of and if this was happening; this only meant the structure of their kingdom and country was bound to crumble in the process of this disaster. I began to worry for Elysia because of this. "Since when?"

"Two weeks ago. Everything happened fast, so fast in fact that the borders are now closed. Finding you out there was a miracle." Blythe points out.

I sigh, "Teleportation spell." I grin looking at her. Blythe opens her kit and takes out different glass tubes. She looks over my wounds and preps them with a ripe smelling oil that I assume is Lansoderal; which is a tree sap that helps disinfect bruises and wounds.

"You look terrible Alistair, what happened to you before you wound up on their border?" She asks me as she looks over my wide range of wounds. Blythe then glides a herb called; Helidase over my frostbite with her cotton pad.

I laugh at the thought, "Long story short, I made some people angry." I say keeping it short.

"Though I care about you, I'm angry at you." Blythe switches a flip and looks at me with that same rage; I noticed in her eyes earlier. "You're a thief..." She seethed. "You made me look like a fool."

That's when I saw it.

The necklace was gone from her neck.

"Elysia might not know you're the Alistair that stole her mother's necklace, but she will when I leave! I'm so disappointed in you, you've lied to me...You've lied to me for a year!" Blythe snaps at me as she applies dragon leaf over my wounds. It was a herb known for quickening the healing process. It left an icy hot chill over my skin and I winced every now and then as she continued spreading the congealed herb.

"Blythe...I'm sorry."I say looking up at her.

She rolls her eyes and goes back to dressing my wounds with white cotton pads. "Yeah...sorry isn't cutting it. Our engagement is paused at the moment. At this point I don't care about what my parents think anymore. I will not marry a man who comes from a family full of murders...ones who hurt others...ones who sacrifice others for the greater good of their own. I will not allow my people, and my rich bloodline to be spoiled. What would happen if people found out? How would my family handle this over me being a spinster?" She retorts. Blythe had the ability to overthink but she was right. How would we work together if I was jeopardizing her image?

"When I told you I came from a complicated family; I said that in full confidence Blythe. Look we can salvage this..."

"We can't. Not until you start being honest. If you want to fix this arrangement between us...I need every lie you've said to me to be corrected!" She bargains.