Olivier never shifted, and rather than staying in a place where she would never see freedom, she ran away to live in the human world. During her time away from the supernatural world and it's' politics, a new threat emerged that disrupted her peacef...
" Here you are Athan, now back in your cage you go." Henry said as he threw the doors to Athan's suite open and grabbed his arm.
" Hey, careful with the clothes, those are - " Athan was cut off when Henry unceremoniously shoved the witch back into his suite and slammed the doors.
I should have disemboweled that insolent mutt in the woods when I had the chance. Athan seethed to himself as his body shook with volatile magical power.
He'd been on edge since being tasked with babysitting Mia's headache of a mate. Having to constantly travel between Allard's cell and the castle was becoming a nuisance, and a drain on Athan's magic power.
Athan busied himself with flattening the creases Henry had just put into his shirt and muttering curses about wolf-kind when he was interrupted by someone behind him.
" Care to explain your little adventure to me ?"
Athan spun around to see Celia sitting at his desk. Her hair was in a sleek ponytail. With her hair out of the way, his eyes focused on the large sapphire earrings she wore. They were similar to her eyes, but that only seemed to exaggerate how dull her eyes were in comparison to the gemstones. She wore a black button up shirt, buttoned up all the way, and loose black slacks. Athan's room was one of the largest in the castle, but her presence made it feel infinitely smaller.
Athan tapped his foot," I went for a walk."
Celia narrowed her eyes at him," Don't lie to me. I know you went searching for Olivier."
Athan pursed his lips," Fine, you caught me." He shrugged his shoulders," What can I say, I was curious."
" You were curious ?" Celia hissed as she slammed her right fist on the table. Though the table was still in one piece after impact, it now had a large crack that ran from where Celia's fist was down to the front of the table," Your curiosity doesn't take precedent over the plans!"
" Oh, come on! Do you really think anything is going to change just because Olivier knows I'm here now ? That girl can barely see past her own nose." Athan hissed back.
" Yes, and I prefer that she remain that way until I have her under my control."
" Why do we even need her ?" Athan groaned," It's such a pain to do all this work. Remind me why we can't just kill your hubby ourselves and be done with it ?"
" Because that would be utterly pointless." Celia growled.
Athan shoved his hands into his pockets and grumbled under his breath. He had decided to help Celia because their goals seemed to align at the time, but he didn't realize their methods were so different. She was a planner, he preferred a more . . . in the moment approach to things. She was level-headed and calculating, while he was pure chaotic emotion.
" I still don't see the difference." Athan jumped up to sit on his bed," He dies either way, right ?"
" You promised to help me do this my way, so whether you understand the difference or not doesn't matter. You just have to do what I say."
" I suppose that's true." Athan said as he placed his hands behind him to lean back," Well, whatever. Just don't forget what you promised me in return."
" I haven't." Celia replied as she stood up from her desk," Next time you want to pull something like this, consult me first."
" Whatever you say." Athan replied sardonically as he rolled his eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by Celia.
" I'll be busy for the rest of the day, so don't draw any more attention to yourself, okay ?" Celia said as she walked to the doors to Athan's room.
Athan closed his eyes and tossed around whether or not he should tell Celia about the interesting things he found out about Olivier. He wasn't exactly in a sharing mood, but if it helped even a little, perhaps the plan wouldn't take as long and he wouldn't have to spend much more time in the werewolf kingdom.
His connection to the source of his magical powers was significantly weaker on the wolf lands due to the nullifying magic barrier they had put up. Each of the four races had some variant of this barrier in place for protection, it blocked the magical powers of unwelcome guests. Of course, the barriers did not cancel out magical powers entirely, because some races - like the vampires - relied on their magical power to stay alive. But so long as he remained in the werewolf kingdom, he would fatigue much faster when he used his magic - especially with the amount of power most of his spells required.
" Before you leave, I noticed something off about Olivier."
Celia was holding the door knob when she turned around to face him," If it's about the binding spell, I already know about it."
" Then you know she's useless to us so long as the binding spell on her stomach remains." He replied.
Athan withheld the fact that he recognized the magical fingerprint of the caster when he noticed the binding spell. Bringing them up would only cause issues, and delay Celia's plan even more.
Celia smiled and placed a hand on her hip," Well then, isn't it lucky that I happen to have a meeting in an hour with someone who can break it ?"
Athan furrowed his brows in absolute confusion. There was no way to break a spell casted by someone of their level.
Only the original caster could undo something like that. Athan felt his heart pounding in his chest. She has to know that.
" Who are you meeting with ?" Athan asked, his voice wavering.
" That's quite a face you're making right now." Celia said," You look like you saw a ghost."
Athan blinked," Ghosts aren't nearly as scary as the monster I'm thinking of."
" Well, it's a good thing for you that I'm not meeting with whomever you're so scared of."
" You aren't ?" Athan asked, desperate to know if Celia knew about them.
" While I can't say with confidence that I know who you were thinking of, I know that you can't possibly be thinking of the person I am meeting with. He isn't exactly what you'd call scary." She turned around to reach for the door knob once more.
" Who are you meeting with, Celia ?" Athan asked, this time his voice didn't waver.
Celia opened the door," My step daughter's mate, of course." She stepped into the hall," Gregory Waters."
1155 words
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:) Heyy it only took like 15 chapters, but he's baaAAaack! With this, we have officially reached the halfway point of Arch 2: The Castle, and :) I :) can't :) wait :) for Arch 3: Rogue Epidemic :) because that's where I get to write more adventure-y things and do more world building. Side note: Anyone remember Nathan at all ? because :). Thanks for reading, commenting, anything, it all warms my heart <3
