Thank you everyone for your warm wishes and helping the book win this years WSA 2022. Thank you for patiently waiting for the updates, which will resume from today <3
Music Recommendation: The Accident at Fox Hill- Hong Dae Sung
Soon after Nerissa bestowed the gift of speech to the black cat, the cat fell unconscious on the cold floor, while the siren stared at the hard wall in front of her, letting her know there was no other way to do this.
After a couple of minutes, two men working for the werewolf's prince, found Nerissa's body on the floor, where her heart had stopped beating and had gone still. They took the body to Erasmus. Carrying the siren in their arms.
"What happened to her?" Erasmus asked the men, quickly coming to Nerissa's side, placing his hand on her neck, and feeling the absence of her pulse. His eyes narrowed like a snake, and he glared at the men with a temper, "I told you to capture her alive, not kill her!" Anger burst through his eyes.
The two men cowered in fear, still carrying the siren's body and one of them spoke with a stutter, "S--sire, she was already dead when we found her..."
"Place her on the ground," Erasmus commanded the two men.
Erasmus then checked to see what happened to the siren, if it was possible to fix her. He ordered, "There's a black box in my room, bring it to me immediately!"
One of the guards quickly bowed and ran out of the place, prince Erasmus to look at Nerissa's body before he found a deep wound on her stomach. Noticing her bloodied fingers, his face hardened. He had taken all the necessary precautions and had also gone as far as to bind himself to this hideous creature of a siren, just so that she would comply. Yet, it had triggered this volatile siren to kill herself? It was because when he picked up her hand, he noticed blood in her nails, and it belonged to her.
The priest with whom Erasmus had earlier spoken arrived at the scene, and he looked taken aback by the siren on the ground. He said in a hurry, "My Lord, what happened to the siren? We need her and the mermaid for the sacrificial ritual."
"You think I don't know that?" Erasmus glared at the priest.
The werewolf prince gritted his teeth because the sea creatures were the one who would lead to his success and the ultimate throne where he would rule through every creature and kind.
"But I have another way to rectify the situation. A gift that the sea goddess had given to my father," Erasmus said, and at the same time, the guard who had earlier left returned in a hurry with a box in his hand. The servant handed it to the werewolf prince with a deep bow.
"What is that?" The priest asked, looking at Erasmus open the box and pull out a colourless vial from it.
"Even though I thought my father preferred me, he chose Acheron to be married to the mermaid. He gave this vial to me. Not because he loved me more and he wanted to compensate for the loss of my marriage to the mermaid, but because the possessor cannot use this liquid for his own benefit. The possessor can use it on someone else, but not for himself," a slow cunning smile appeared on his lips as he remembered his father's last moments.
King Gauntlet had hoped for Erasmus to use the vial on him to save his life and undo the curse that the sea goddess had placed on their lives. But Erasmus was power-hungry and thirsty to take reign of this place and the people all by himself.
But just as Erasmus pulled out the vial and was about to open the lid of it, a sharp dagger flew through the air aimed at the werewolf's hand. This led to the vial being dropped on the ground, that rolled to one side, while the werewolf scowled as he turned his eyes at his half-brother, who stood not far from him.
"You are going to pay for your sinful deeds, Erasmus," Acheron stated, his eyes darker than the shadows cast in the castle. "You killed all of our families, turning them against each other."
"You sully my character and reputation for no reason, brother," Erasmus stated, standing up from where he had been earlier crouching. "You seem to forget that it was Nerhys who brought the curse upon ourselves. In fact, the blame goes to father for his greed. I just happened to take it after him."
"And look where that left him. In his grave," Acheron responded, and the men's nails grew sharp and long, ready to tear each other until one died.
"What did you tell Nerissa that she decided to kill herself? I guess I will just have to kill you and then kill that mermaid of yours. Surely dead can be sacrificed!"
"Eve!"
Hearing her name, Eve looked around the place, wondering where the distorted voice came from. Wait, where was Vincent? She had been following the past story and hadn't realised that she had been away from Vincent for long now.
"Vincent?!" Eve called him, and she tried to follow the voice.
Feeling wetness below her nose, Eve's finger touched the skin, and she noticed that she was bleeding. Her head started to ache. She ran out of the place, where the vampire and the werewolf prince had started to fight each other. As she ran through the corridor, she noticed how it started to turn dark with every step and before she knew it, with one step forward, her foot sank into the floor as if it were sand, and she screamed in the darkness.
Eve's eyes opened to a brightness with a big gasp and her heart beating loudly that she could hear it in her ears.
When her eyes adjusted to the light, she finally saw Vincent sitting next to her with a look of worry in her eyes. They were no more in the cemetery building, but back in the room where the sun had risen in the sky.
"You are still bleeding," Vincent murmured before bringing the handkerchief to her nose and saying, "Lay down for a little while more."
Eve stared at Vincent, who gently caressed her head and said, "I haven't been able to wake you up since last night as you appeared to be in deep sleep. Timotei said your body isn't strong enough to handle such a lengthy time travel to the past. Because your mermaid and siren sides of the soul haven't intertwined, as if keeping a resistance. Let us not travel anymore for now, not when it can cause you harm more than help," he said with a frown.
Eve nodded, and once she felt her nose stop bleeding, she said,
"It felt like barely an hour passed in the travel time, while many hours passed in the present. I thought it was always the opposite."
"It probably is because this isn't a dream but a time travel of memories," Vincent said to her before adding, "At least now we are more well-versed with the history of what happened in the past."
Eve nodded, and she said, "Erasmus had the vial. The vial that your grandmother gifted me, came from the sea goddess. It got lost during the two prince's fight."
"Seems like what originally belonged to your family returned to you," Vincent responded to her, and he said, "You must be hungry. Let me order the servants to bring your meal in the room."
When Vincent stood up from the chair sitting next to the bed, Eve placed her hand on his hand, bringing his attention back to her, and a crooked smile appeared on his lips, "I will be back in a minute. I am not leaving you alone. Cannot break those words that you, as Marina said before you died in my arms."
Eve's eyes widened slightly, and she asked him, "Do you remember everything... from your past?"
Vincent stared into her blue eyes and replied, "I do now. It was probably because I visited the past with you, and it brought in memories... things that my soul had forgotten. I also think we should return to Skellington because there's something we need to talk about. To someone."
She pursed her lips before asking, "Noah?"
Noah Sullivan... or Erasmus Gauntlet. Eve didn't know why, but she couldn't put her finger to connect them both to be one person. It was probably because Noah had always been so gentle and calm, rather than being a crude and wicked person.
"Do you think he is capable of bringing harm to people?" Eve asked Vincent, with a hint of worry in her eyes.
"Anyone has the ability to cause harm, darling. The question is, if they are willing to do it or not," Vincent remarked.
That didn't answer Eve's question, and she wondered if Erasmus's soul was dormant in Noah, which needed to be awakened like Acheron's memories were awakened in Vincent. Their past lives and memories turned into a whole circle that would lead to either peace or destruction.
Eve said in a hurried tone, "What if it was never meant to be Noah? What if it was another male in the family?"
"It could be the father or the uncle," Vincent proposed, then frowned. "It is supposed to be the last descendant though. The soul cannot stay back. It needs to be carried. Noah has been your friend, Eve. For as long as you remember. But he has been hiding something. As if he knows something. We will know for sure only when we meet."
Eve nodded and watched Vincent lean forward and peck her lips. He then said, "I will be back in a bit."
