Call Of The Dark

The magic that Maeve weaved this time was of a gargantuan scale. She had to cast the spell around the whole palace and a spell that only stopped Emma from leaving the grounds. Suddenly she remembered what if Emma had left. Then she won't be able to come back.

The anxiety coupled with the pain she got was excruciating. She screamed loudly in pain as several places in her skin ruptured. Blood flowed out of her mouth and nose. Veins ruptured on her hands and belly and thighs. With tremendous pain, she succumbed to the floor, her body convulsing.

Yul watched her with indifference. She gazed at him, almost begging him with her eyes to help her, but Yul turned and went out of the door. Her maid rushed in and so did the guards. "C-- call the healer now," Maeve said in a mousy voice, her lips quivering.

The guards ran to bring the healer back to the room while the maid helped her to the bathroom. Maeve couldn't even walk properly now. She cursed Emma all the way to the bathroom. When she reached the tub in which the maid filled hot water, she sagged to the floor. She caught the tub and heaved heavily. "Ailill..." she murmured. If he was here, he would have healed her with his magic. She cursed the moon that it should have been a full moon today.

Maeve would have jumped inside another body by this time had the circumstances been normal. But the problem was that if she possessed another body, she wouldn't be released until it died its natural death.

"M'lady, please get inside the tub. You are bleeding everywhere," the maid said as she helped Maeve up.

With a lot of effort, she got up and got inside the tub. There was a mirror right in front of the tub and she almost screamed when she saw her reflection in it. Her skin was wrinkly. Some hair on her scalp had burnt and there were bald patches. Her eyes were sunken and she looked like a ghost with blood splattered everywhere. Maeve had really abused this body.

She shuddered at the sight and then averted her gaze. When she sat down, she rested her hand on the edge of the tub. Anxiety cruised through her like thorns. What if they never found Emma? What if Emma was already dead? What if Ailill demanded sex with her in this condition?

"M'lady?"

Maeve jumped at the maid's voice. "What?" she snapped.

"Do you want me to scrub you?"

"Why are you asking?" she snapped at her. "Take a soap bar and scrub me!"

The maid cursed her internally and then started scrubbing.

After a few minutes, Maeve asked her, "Are there any hiding places in the palace? Like where will you hide if given a chance?"

"There are many hiding places, m'lady," she said, as she removed the blood from her back. How was she even talking? "I wouldn't hide anywhere. Why will I hide?"

Gods, she was dense. "I am asking, not accusing you."

The maid tilted her head and said, "The palace has many passageways but we don't know where they are. The doors are well hidden in the rooms. Only the royals know about them. I know of one passageway which Lady Gladys told me about. I will hide there."

"Passageways?" Maeve was amused. "You mean there is a passageway in my room also?"

She shrugged. "It is possible."

A hope lit in her chest. Emma could be hiding in the passageways. "Do you know where Lady Gladys is?"

The maid stopped. She lowered her voice and said, "Lady Gladys was in the dungeons, but the last I heard was that she was taken to the torture room by Lord Yul."

Maeve gritted her teeth. Gladys would reveal about her soon. "Do you know where is the torture room?"

She shook her head. "No, it is a secret."

Maybe Maeve had to kill Yul eventually.

"But I heard it is north of the palace."

That was the first good information she got. Maeve became quiet. She was going to ask Ailill to hunt for Emma in the passageways and then ask him to find the torture room.

---

"I am not sure if I heard it correctly," Magnus said. He had come from the cabin along with Olya and they were sitting in Lazarus's chamber.

Olya blushed. "I want to stay here with you," she repeated. "I don't want to go back to the cabin."

"Is that so?" he said with his lips lifting up. "And what am I going to get in return?"

Lazarus was on the bed with Emma sitting on the edge of it. She was watching Magnus and Olya and giggling. They both were like cute lovebirds. He grabbed her hand and tugged her behind to make her sit on his lap, but she refused to sit, not at all bothered about him. That made him all the more irritated. He wanted all her attention.

"Whatever you like," Olya replied.

It was so good to see both of them. Emma had hugged Olya tightly when Magnus brought her with him.

"Okay..." Magnus drawled. "I will get a hundred kisses from you."

"Done," she said shyly.

The door of the room opened and Yul walked in. Both the males immediately grabbed their women and even though they protested, made them sit on their laps. Yul rolled his eyes and walked to the bar to fill wine for himself. He looked at Emma and sighed. She was the only woman he had grown to like a lot. But Yul had moved on. He knew that Emma would never have eyes for him, only sympathy or friendship. He didn't want sympathy and he didn't know how to be her friend.

"There is something very wrong with Maeve," he said, drinking from his tumbler.

Seeing his indifferent demeanor, the men relaxed a little. Lazarus scoffed, "That woman is wrong. No wonder she was expelled from Vilinski."

"No, I mean there is something wrong with her attitude also, besides all the blood that keeps oozing out."

"Like what?" Lazarus asked, narrowing his eyes.