Free Web NovelChapter 400: Chapter 400
"She will need warmer clothes," Circe added quietly as they began making their way toward the inn. "And a proper pair of shoes as well."
Her words were meant for Casilo alone, and he gave a short nod of understanding.
Casilo was nothing if not efficient. Circe had no doubt that before long, the items she requested would already be procured.
By the time they reached the inn, the last traces of sunlight had vanished entirely from the sky.
Casilo spoke with the innkeeper while Circe waited nearby. Within minutes he had paid for a room and arranged for a warm meal to be prepared for Cornelia. Up close beneath the lantern light, the woman looked even thinner than Circe had first thought, gaunt and hollow-cheeked, as though she had not eaten properly in a long while.
After ensuring that Cornelia was settled comfortably for the night, Circe realized with a growing sense of unease that she still knew almost nothing about the woman’s situation or what circumstances had led her to wander the road alone and barefoot.
A faint crease formed between her brows as she began walking toward where Cornelia stood near the corner of the room, clutching the borrowed coat tightly around her body. But before Circe could take more than a few steps forward, Casilo extended an arm across her path to stop her. "Your Highness?"
"The woman appears to have endured some unpleasant circumstances," Circe said quietly, her tone filled with sympathy. "I believe she may be more comfortable speaking freely with another woman rather than while surrounded by a group of men."
Casilo considered her words for a moment before inclining his head in agreement. "As you wish."
Still, his gaze remained watchful as Circe walked toward Cornelia.
There was a small private sitting area located away from the main area of the inn and the innkeeper’s busy work station. Circe gently guided Cornelia toward the quieter corner, where the noise of the other patrons faded into the background.
They both took their seats across from one another, the soft glow of the lantern light flickering between them.
"I wanted to thank you again for your help," Cornelia began softly. "I have been wandering around on my own for days now, and barely anyone has offered me even a second of their time." fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"You are most welcome," Circe replied, her tone polite but thoughtful. "But I must admit that I am left with a few questions I would like to ask you, if you do not mind. After all, I cannot say that I have ever come across someone in a situation quite like yours before."
Cornelia dipped her chin slightly in acknowledgment. "I suppose you must be curious then."
"Quite," Circe said with a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Where are you originally from?"
"Kezar," Cornelia responded. "From one of its fishing villages along the coast."
Circe had made it her personal mission to learn as much as she could about the kingdom. Many long evenings had been spent poring over the leather-bound books that lined the shelves of the manor’s vast library, studying maps and histories until the candlelight burned low. Now she searched her memory, carefully retracing the geography she had memorized.
Kezar was a province located in the far south of Lamora. It was a harsh coastal region known for its rough waters, fishing communities, and cold winds that blew inland from the sea. More importantly, it was also one of the first places where the strange disappearances had begun to occur.
"Then what are you doing here in Amris?" Circe asked, folding her hands lightly on the table. "You are quite a long way from home."
Cornelia’s gaze drifted downward to the scuffed wooden surface of the table where her clasped hands rested uneasily. Her fingers tightened slightly together.
"I know," she murmured. "But I do not remember leaving."
Circe leaned forward a little, her interest piqued.
"I only recall hurrying back home from work late one night," Cornelia continued slowly. "There had been a thick mist that evening. It rolled in from the water and covered the entire path. I could barely see where I was going, even with a lantern."
Her brows knitted faintly as she tried to remember. "After that... there was nothing but darkness. I remember hearing a woman’s voice just before I lost consciousness, though I cannot say for certain that it was real. It might have been my imagination. There had been no one else on that path that night but me. The next thing I knew, I woke up inside a cave of some sort several days ago, and I have been trying to return home ever since."
Circe felt a quiet chill settle in the pit of her stomach. It meant that Cornelia might have been one of the vampires who had reportedly vanished in the dead of night.
Circe leaned back slowly in her chair, studying the woman sitting across from her attentively while she processed what she had just been told. She turned the words over and over again in her mind, examining every detail. Yet no matter how she tried to analyze it, her thoughts kept returning to one particular part of the story.
"A cave, you say," Circe repeated after a moment. The steady thump of her pulse began to quicken. She began drumming her fingers lightly against the wooden table in an attempt to mask the sudden tension creeping into her body. "Would you mind describing it to me?"
Even as she asked the question, Circe did not entirely understand why that single detail had seized her attention so fiercely. There had to be countless caves scattered throughout Lamora’s vast lands. The chances that the one Cornelia had woken up in was the same cave that Circe had visited again and again in her dreams were almost nonexistent. And yet her instincts refused to quiet themselves.
"I cannot remember many details about it," Cornelia admitted apologetically. "But I do remember that it had several narrow passageways that branched off like tunnels in different directions. The walls were damp, and the air inside felt unusually cold." She paused again, her eyes narrowing slightly in concentration.
"And at the very center of the cave, there was a body of water. It shone with an unnatural light... almost like a pool filled with blue glowing crystals beneath the surface."
Cornelia gave a small, regretful shake of her head. "That is all I can remember."
She had been disappointed by how little of that strange place remained clear in her memory. When she had finally stumbled out of the cave and into the open air, she had been shocked to find the world outside blanketed in snow. The sight had left her deeply confused. The night she had disappeared, it had been late summer.
Circe had gone utterly still on the other side of the table. Her fingers abruptly ceased their tapping, freezing where they rested against the wood. The silence that followed made Cornelia glance up at her.
It did not matter that she had been unable to recall many other details. The few fragments she had shared were more than enough. Circe knew with absolute certainty that the cave Cornelia had described was the very same one that had haunted her dreams.
That realization did nothing but open the door to even more troubling questions.
If Cornelia had woken up there... did that mean there were others like her? Other vampires who had vanished without a trace and somehow ended up in that place? And more importantly—how had Cornelia survived? ƒreewebɳovel.com
Circe had felt the cave’s magic. She had been told how violently it reacted to intruders. The energy that pulsed through that place was powerful enough to tear a person in half without hesitation. Yet Cornelia had walked out of it alive.
Her mind drifted unwillingly to something Dena had once said. Her aunt had claimed that she could feel the moment anyone or anything breached the wards guarding the cave’s entrance. Which meant she would have known if someone had entered it.
If that was true, then Dena must have been aware that Cornelia had been there.
And perhaps not just Cornelia.
Circe felt an uncomfortable weight settle in her chest as a realization slowly began to take shape in her mind. She thought back to all the times her aunt had spoken about vampires, the sharp disdain that always laced her voice and the quiet hatred that lingered beneath her words.
For the first time, a troubling possibility began to surface. Perhaps this entire situation—the missing vampires, and even Rowen’s sudden disappearance—was far more connected than she had initially believed.
"Do you remember your way back to the cave?" Circe asked at last.
Cornelia looked slightly surprised by the question, but after a brief moment she nodded. "I believe I could find it again," she said.
Circe held her gaze steadily.
"Then take me there," she said. "And in return, I will personally see to it that you return home safely."
