Lucrezia's heart ceased momentarily, as she stared at those strange gold eyes with familiarity within. No words, no actions, just pure-bred emotions.
M-Madelyn?
Emotions struck her nerves, stirring her body as she marveled in shock and dread. What was she doing here?!
Lucrezia wanted to step out and yell, scream, warn her of the danger of crossing the den of the Devil's Bone, the abode of their enemy, but couldn't. It was as though her body became paralyzed in a spot.
This wasn't Veximoor. This was Dreadwyn, the welcoming path to hell. If she were here, could that mean...
Lucrezia looked behind, hoping to see her father's Betas. Have they come to save her? Have they finally realized their mistake in marrying her to the Lord of Dreadwyn?
The courtyard threshold was crowded with the House's soldiers, their armor glinting dully beneath sunlight, however, not a single familiar face stood among them.
Expecting to see them, Lucrezia was met with the hard faces buried under their helmets. No wolves, no warriors answering to the call to war, and no army marching in defiance of the Lord's reign. Only Madelyn, shackled to the cold stone floor with her wolf form trembling against the weight of the invincible chains that bound her.
Lucrezia's breath caught in her throat. For a fleeting moment, she had dared to hope—had her father finally come to reason, finally sent for her freedom? But as her gaze swept the courtyard once more, the truth sank deep and cruel; there was no rescue, and definitely no rebellion waiting at the gates.
Only Madelyn.
For a strange reason, Lucrezia's heart clenched, and a ghost smile tainted her lips. What did she expect? She was the cursed one. Her fa-King Vladmir, Alpha of the Secktom pack, wouldn't waste a single breath just to save her. This was her life now.
But as reality dawned upon her, Lucrezia finally adjusted to the unexpected scene. Then why was she here?
D-Did she… Did she come all the way here to save her?
Every fiber of her being was interlocked in apprehension and sheer panic at the thought she refused to believe. She wouldn't dare… wouldn't think to disobey her father.
Madelyn's glacial golden eyes softened more, as if she read her thoughts, confirming them. The emotions; relief—perhaps at ease she was still breathing—pain, pity, guilt… it spurted, permeating over her entire body.
When she was fourteen, Madelyn was brought to the Red Keep to watch over her. The young girl was frightened at first, courteous and more duty-minded than friendly. To many, it was a curse and fear to any who stayed, breathed, or walked near the confinement of the witch. Although it was against the young girl's wish to serve, Lucrezia knew she had no option.
Year after year, Madelyn grew closer than an ordinary servant, and more of a sister. She never acknowledged her to be her 'servant' from the beginning but a girl deprived of a choice.
When stones and curses rained down on the Red Keep, when the world recoiled from the blood of the Cursed, Lucrezia was never truly alone. Madelyn's laughter, her steady hands, and her soft words, tethered Lucrezia to the world outside herself, even when boundaries remained, and even when the world was cruel. They bonded like blood, laughed and talked, although there had been too many limitations.
Most werewolves shifted at the age of eighteen but Madelyn bloomed late at twenty-six. It was at that moment she realized the reason young Madelyn was sent to take care of her—because they assumed she was also an outcast.
Initially, Lucrezia held on to that hope that perhaps, she might experience late blooming and prove her father wrong. Prove to the folks and villagers or any who cared to listen, wrong to be a witch but also a late bloomer.
But year after year, that hope flickered, dimmed, and finally faded. Lucrezia lived with the painful knowledge of the curse in her blood, and the torments of every whisper and gossip.
"The witch is here. Cast your eyes ahead, and your mind purified so she may not taint your soul," They whispered warnings in hushed tones when twice in a year, she crossed the roads and headed to the capital.
Lucrezia felt a bit satisfied that she was feared, but the irritation and disgust in the eyes of every mouth saddened her. The revulsion in every face stung more deeply than any curse she could bear.
When Lucrezia faced ridicule, torment, and isolation, it was Madelyn who stood beside her. It wasn't out of duty but of love, but that love would one day demand a price.
Lucrezia remembered the day that it led Madelyn to the chain. It was the last day of visiting her mother, as she walked on the roads that led to the capital but was surrounded by enemies that sought to end her life—the cursed life of a witch.
Madelyn threw herself into the fray, allowing a binding meant to enslave her to strike her instead. From the fatality, it was black magic, and worse of it all, the wielders disappeared, in belief it struck her truly.
The magic was cruel enough that Madelyn remained bedridden for two weeks, and final in the sense that she would never shift again.
Lucrezia couldn't believe her ears and tried so hard to request a presence with her father and beg him for a healer for Madelyn's ailment, but as expected, her request fell the deaf ears.
It also tainted her name in the gossip of several Lords and Ladies, servants, and nobles. Why would someone of royal blood find a filth worth saving?
However, she'd always been regarded as nothing like them.
Because at the end, Madelyn had given up her freedom, her wildness, everything to save her. Lucrezia had never feared for anyone the way she feared when she remained asleep because it was loyalty born of obligation, and maybe even anger at the cruel twist of fate—but not this.
When she found Madelyn caught in her wolf form, restrained by that invincible chain, she felt that memory wash over her and the familiar surge of disbelief, panic, then awe.
H-Her wolf… she breathed in thought, holding the wall firmly for support when her knees buckled. How was it possible?
Lucrezia never doubted Madelyn's strength and endurance, but one thing she knew so well, was the fact that her wolf was entirely gone.
But seeing her here… those unfamiliar red eyes instead of gold, knocked her wholly.
Had her father sent her? For the nth time, that thought crossed her mind and a part of her knew the answer to that question.
She had lived long enough to know this was entirely her choice. Madelyn had come for her—always for her—but this time, Lucrezia feared it was beyond returning.
A painful primal sound tore from the throat of Madelyn's wolf, echoing through the courtyard, breaking her out of her reverie.
For a heartbeat, Lucrezia could not breathe.
Those eyes— glacial red, almost luminescent under the sun—pierced through every barrier she had raised since she'd set foot into Dreadwyn, before looking away. They held animal fury; beneath the feral rage was something painfully human, something pleading, yet something unknown, and her fingers curled against the window frame.
Whatever the magic keeping her captive was, she was in pain.
"Don't…" The whisper escaped her lips before she could stop it but vanished into the nothingness, unheard.
The wolf's chest rose and fell in ragged heaves. Each breath brought a tremor that rippled through the chains as she strained against them again, her muscles taut and quivering with the steel biting into her flesh.
A faint whimper of a beast's snarl followed, but it was fueled in an almost absolute wrath belonging to a deranged varmint, and a cold shiver ran down Lucrezia's spine.
W-Was she wrong?
"Come, Blue," the deep command from behind made her swerve to look up as the hazel-eyed creature stood behind and her heart skittered in full force at his presence.
He was back to wearing his usual golden mask embedded with emeralds shaped like whorls of leaves, and his mouth absent for her to see. But that surge of darkness wrapped his body tighter than she'd ever imagine. This one was cruel, fierce, and merciless.
Like the Devil.
Out of reflex, she used her body to block the view behind, hoping—praying to all the gods that had forsaken her from birth, he wouldn't notice. But she forgot this was his manor, his land, and definitely his world. Nothing goes past his eyes.
There was a glint of pure evil in those eyes when he turned, locking eyes with her. This time around, his intimidation was suppressive enough to knock the air out of her lungs.
For a moment, Lucrezia couldn't breathe against the force of it pinning her paralyzed, until his next words made things even worse:
"You cannot miss the surprise I have for you," he added, evil gleaming in his eyes as his voice lowered a few octaves.