Claimed by the vampire prince

Chapter 255: Chapter 255

When Circe woke up in the cave from her dreams, she found that she was more relieved than anything else. It meant that she would be getting more answers about her strange abilities.

She stood up from the large rock that she had been laying on and wiped off the dirt that clung to her. It always fascinated her how everything here always felt so real, every object she touched, every sensation, despite it all being a dream.

But the woman she was supposed to meet was nowhere to be found.

Circe shuffled on her feet nervously.

"You summoned me here, the least you can do is come out and face me." She said, glancing around the space. She stared at the other side of the cerulean pool where the woman usually stood. freёwebnovel.com

There was an opening there that no doubt led deeper into the cave but Circe didn’t think she was brave enough to wander off that far, especially when she wasn’t sure what she was going to find there. But after a long while of waiting for the woman to show up, Circe grew restless.

Slowly, she took tentative steps towards the opening at the other side of the cave. The moment she crossed through it, she was engulfed by a strange feeling that hung in the air, similar to the magic that reanimated that bird she found.

It curled around her, slowly coaxing out her magic as well.

Glowing lines ran up the length of Circe’s arms. It was such a fascinating sight to behold that she could barely take her eyes off it.

A single beam of light illuminated the space, guiding her farther into the cave like a beckon. Soon, she emerged in a separate cavernous space.

At first she thought that she had somehow gotten lost along the way but her doubts were cleared when she found the woman standing in the middle of the space. But she wasn’t alone.

The woman stood before a stone altar, and upon it lay the body of another woman. She was completely still, her chest barely moving, as though she weren’t breathing at all.

She almost looked dead but that couldn’t be right. Unlike with the bird, Circe could sense the woman’s soul. It was bursting with life, burning like a flame, yet she remained unmoving despite that.

"You asked me before why I waited till now to show myself to you." The woman said without turning to glance back at Circe. "Before you came to Lamora, I did not know you existed. When your mother bound your powers, she also concealed your magical signature so that other powerful beings like us could not track you. But when you crossed into Lamora, a land teeming with magic, the seal on your powers snapped. Only then was I able to sense you, and I recognized the blood flowing through your veins. I knew you were my only hope of saving my sister."

Circe felt her breath hitch at that. Her feet moved before she could even register the action. She stepped closer to the altar and, as she did, her heart pounded violently in her chest. She had not properly seen the face of the woman who lay upon the altar, but now she could see it clearly and it was identical to that of the woman standing beside her.

Identical to Thalora Valdris. And yet, with a single look, Circe knew this was not her mother.

The woman on the altar looked peaceful, her face relaxed and serene.

"She’s alive," Circe whispered, her eyes still fixed on the prone figure.

The woman beside her smiled. "Yes, she is."

"Then why—" Circe couldn’t bring herself to finish the question.

"This is your mother’s doing. She was our center, and she is the most powerful among the three of us." There was a hint of bitterness in the woman’s voice as she said this. "When Thalora first tried to shirk her responsibilities by running away, the two of us tried to stop her because we knew she was making a terrible mistake. In return, she unleashed the full force of her magic and trapped our sister in a state of unending slumber."

The woman paused and, for the first time since Circe had arrived, she glanced away from the altar. "I have done all I can for decades to free her, but all my efforts have been futile."

A note of suspicion crept into Circe’s voice when she spoke again. "What does this have to do with me?" she demanded.

Circe still didn’t believe the woman. She might have learned far more about herself than she ever expected, but she did not think her mother capable of imprisoning her own sister.

"You carry part of your mother’s essence within you. If you fully learn to wield and control your power, I believe that with your help I will finally be able to free my sister."

"Why should I believe you?" Circe asked, her eyes narrowing as she took a step back.

"Because I have been more truthful with you in the short time we have known each other than your mother has been with you your entire life," the woman replied. "I will tell you everything you need to know about your powers, and in return, you will help me free my sister."

Only then did Circe realize, belatedly, that she had never even asked the woman’s name.

***

Something unfamiliar hummed in the air like crackling static. It lasted only a few seconds before abruptly cutting off.

When she looked down, she found that a ring had materialized around her finger, its emerald gem pulsing with an eerie glow. The ring itself was unfamiliar, but the essence trapped inside it was one she recognized intimately. If this could reach her here, then that meant...

The doors to her bedchamber were flung open, and a harried servant rushed inside, panting from the exertion of running all the way here.

He bowed low before her, trying his best to regain his composure.

"Mistress, Elarion is dead," the servant said.

As though the appearance of the ring wasn’t confirmation enough. ƒrēewebnovel.com

The woman glanced down at the ring on her finger once more, and a wide grin stretched across her face.

Without responding to the servant, she turned and stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the grounds.

"What do you plan to do next?" the servant asked from behind her.

Her grin did not falter. "I’m going hunting."