Awakened (Bloodline, #1)

Chapter 18

18: I Saw a Familiar Face

There was a cumbrous silence after Kei regained his consciousness. Irus' words lingered in my head.

Starting today, you have his absolute loyalty, he said.

For anyone, be it humans or supernatural creatures, their free will is as important as their lives. Taking that away from someone meant disregarding their own principles and rights to decide for themselves. And looking at Kei now, even if I wanted to deny it, at the back of my mind, I knew everything that Irus had said were true.

Kei just felt different.

Bigla naman siyang tumayo at naglakad papunta sa akin. His gaze landed on my wrist and he knelt in front of me.

"My deepest apologies, lady," he said while slowly pulling his djall out of its holster. "If you'll allow it, I will behead myself for this insolence—"

"No!" I interjected. "Please, no."

He immediately stopped moving and put back his weapon back to its place without any protest. Agad akong napatingin kina Moria at Irus. Like an obedient and mindless hound, huh?

It was the truth. For Kei, my words were absolute.

Napabuntonghininga na lang ako habang taimtim na nakatingin sa kanya. Somehow, I felt guilty. Out of the three, he was the most doubtful when it comes to my decisions. At times, he would be more levelheaded than Moria, probably because as a tracker, he could sense the danger around us easier. Looking at how he sat right in front of me as if waiting for my orders instead of the other way around, I knew he must absolutely detest it if he still had the free will to talk against me.

Maging sina Moria at Irus ay hindi pa rin makapaniwala. They seemed to be lost in thought. I would not be surprised if they were visualizing themselves in Kei's position. If they did not have enough will power to restrain themselves from drinking my blood after it gushed out upon Kei's actions, they would have suffered the same fate.

They would have lost their freedom, too.

"Can't we do something about it?" tanong ko sa kanila.

Her head drooped in shame. "Sorry, lady. For now, there is nothing we can do, but once we reach Vrivarya, then maybe they . . ."

Even hope was dwindling down from her voice. Kahit na gusto kong bumalik si Kei sa dati ay wala naman kaming alam sa kung ano ang dapat gawin. She was right. We needed to accept his situation right now and look for treatment later. What we needed to do this time was to get into Vrivarya safely.

Because Kei's consciousness had returned, we would be able to cross the border. The problem was the mages waiting in ambush.

The three made me walk inside their defensive zones. Kei positioned himself in front of me. Tamihik lang akong nakatingin sa likuran niya at umaasang babalik siya sa dati. Moria said there might be someone who knows more about this kind of situation so I was holding on to that tiny hope.

Moria started picking up the pace, and I almost gasped when I saw the border they were talking about. It was literally a range of snow-capped mountains, dotted with white pine trees. Winter clouds hung low overhead. As we got closer, the fog also got thicker, reducing the visibility by at least half. But what convinced me that we were nearing the border was the dense amount of defensive barrier surrounding the mountain ranges. I knew the pressure of being enclosed in one as Moria always uses it to protect me. Walking toward the border now felt like I was pushing the weight of the mountain itself, thereby proving that the barrier was encapsulating the whole country.