I spent the days that followed Vlad's departure, mostly in my chamber. It kept raining outside, and I felt too tired to venture outside anyway. So I stayed in bed, drifting in and out of sleep, talking to Junior when he came to check on me, eating when Katerina appeared with my meals.

Now that Vlad was gone and I didn't have to defend him from Katerina almost constantly, trying to keep peace between them, I had more time to spend with my old nurse without feeling angry with her.

I recalled with a pang of disappointment that there had been a moment in their relationship when she was treating Vlad more civilly, making me hope that she finally changed her mind about him. It didn't last long, though. Katerina became her normal, annoying self again after the incident with Radu. It was quite relaxing not to hear them snapping at each other for a while.

Despite her being busy attending to all the sick in the castle, before Vlad would fetch Maria the healer with him on his way back, Katerina found some time to sit at my side and talk to me. I guessed she pitied me, lonely as I was without my companions-- Sorina had left the castle with Mihail soon after their wedding, and now even Clara was gone.

Questioning my old nurse was my favourite pastime at the moment. I realised that over the year that I spent here I was so bewildered by everything that was happening around me and worried about what might be happening in my other, future world, that I didn't properly ask Katerina about my past. I still didn't remember anything of what had happened in my life before coming to live in this castle when I was fifteen.

But for some reason, Katerina didn't seem to be willing to tell me much when I asked her now. She carefully avoided most of my questions, and I tried to respect her, her incomprehensible reasons and feelings... I didn't want her to remember things she obviously wanted to keep forgotten. Or hidden. However, my curiosity was growing with each of her vague, mysterious answers. I decided that I would ask Vlad when he returned.

The nurse only told me that my family was from Moldavia, like Vlad's mother, my father's very distant relative. That's how my and Vlad's parents knew each other. My mother-- whom Katerina refused to talk about in detail-- died giving birth to me, and my father loved her so much that he never properly looked at me once I was born. To him, I was the reason why she died. That's probably why I did not remember him at all. Just before he died in one of the battles where he fought alongside Vlad and his father, the two promised him to look after me as there were no other, closer relatives still alive in our family. And so I was sent here to marry Radu...

Katerina was equally vague and mysterious when I asked her about the portal. As the day when it was supposed to open approached, I grew more nervous, not knowing what to expect. But Katerina only said that for once my husband was right, we should walk through and come back, and she didn't know more about it... Somehow, she failed to convince me about her complete ignorance, but I was too tired to fight for her scarce, unclear, and confusing answers.

I was still ruminating about what Katerina had told me before she left me alone again to go to check on her patients, when Junior appeared at the foot of my bed one long, boring afternoon.

"If you get bored and care for a game, I'll be in the library, Human," He announced and disappeared again as fast as he had arrived.

Playing chess with him was better than just dozing off again, I decided. I stood up and wrapped the grey and white, fur-lined blanket over my dress. The castle had definitely been a more pleasant place in the summer. Today, the stone walls seemed to be impregnated with all that cold water that has been pouring outside for days, making me feel chilled to the bones.

I stopped by the fireplace to caress the two sleeping wolves before joining Junior in the other room. I kind of envied them; they didn't seem to have a care in the world. They had enough food, a warm place to sleep, and each other. If you found those, you found your private piece of Heaven on Earth, I mused. When did you become jealous of your wolves? My subconscious asked, making me sigh and finally walk to the library.

Both the chessboard and Junior were ready for the match when I entered the room; of course, he had heard me coming. I sat down opposite him, trying to focus on the game and his clever moves, but after a while, it was clear to either of us that I couldn't concentrate on the chessboard. It only took two games, two swift victories for Junior, before he declared me the most boring opponent ever and went back to writing letters.

I stuck my tongue out at him when he wasn't looking at me and sat by the fire.

Watching the dancing flames, listening to their silent whispers, revelling in their heat, and just trying not to think about anything was more pleasant than playing chess for a while. But as the grey, water infused light creeping in through the windows was beginning to wane, I started to feel uneasy.

It was a very sudden and unexpected sensation, a sort of a... premonition I could not decipher. Like a dark shadow, the feeling seeped through all of my other thoughts, wrapping itself around them, deepening, growing darker as minutes passed by, making the short hair on my arms and the back of my neck stand to attention. Something is wrong.

I stood up and walked to the window, pretending to look outside but watching Junior instead as I asked, trying to clear the lump in my throat, "When are they coming back?"

"You know that," he replied without looking at me. "You asked the same yesterday. And the day before. They'll be here in two days."

"But what if they get delayed... and your father won't be here when the portal opens?" What if something... bad happens?

I shivered, unable to shake the feeling off anymore. Something was definitely not right. I wanted Vlad next to me and safe. Now. I should have gone with them.

Junior joined me by the window, and I let him pull me in an embrace. I wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my forehead against his chest, sighing deeply. His presence felt good. I was glad he was there with me.

Right until he said, his voice laced with a suppressed laughter, "You are just overreacting, Human. It's normal to feel nervous and anxious in your condition, I've heard. Let me take you back to bed so you can sleep some more..."

"What are you talking about? How dare you suggest... how would you know anything? You are the most annoying person in the whole wide world! You even beat Katerina to that title!" I called, trying to push him away.

My effort only made him burst out laughing and pull me in a yet tighter embrace, making me explode in a fit of giggles in the end. His laughter was too contagious.

The rest of the afternoon passed peacefully enough, but my bad mood returned when I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling cold and frightened. I couldn't remember the dream that woke me, but it hadn't been pleasant. I decided not to say anything to Junior this time; he would only make fun of me again.

The following nights were exactly the same. I would wake up with a nightmare I could not recall and couldn't go back to sleep until dawn.

Then, two days after the day when Vlad was supposed to return, the day when my uneasiness, which had turned to fear, was starting to morph into panic, we got the note.

A few simple lines scribbled hastily in Vlad's hand, addressed to his son.

'Come to Hunedoara as soon as you can. Make sure Samara is safe. Don't make her worry. Be careful.'

Junior only showed it to me after I pestered him continuously for at least an hour.

"What happened? Where are they? What are you going to do? I'm coming with you!" My voice was hoarse from calling, asking, repeating more or less the same things while he was getting ready to leave.

To leave me behind, alone. In the castle full of knights and Guards to make me feel safe, but no shoulder to cry on but Katerina's. And the tears were starting to fall. What has happened?

Junior sighed, then put his hands on my shoulders in an attempt to calm me down and make me stop pacing around the room.

"I only know as much as you. And you are absolutely not coming with me. So please stop crying and try to make this easier." He wiped my tears with his sleeve before he went on. "I have no idea what's going on, but I'll be back to tell you as soon as I find out, all right?"

"Promise you'll bring him back!"

"Of course I will," he said, kissing me on top of my head. "Now let me go. The sooner I leave, the sooner we will all be back."

With that, he disappeared in a blur, leaving me alone in my room.

But I couldn't stay there alone all day. I had to do something, anything, just to distract myself from the torturing thoughts and scary speculations to which they were leading.

I pushed away the feeling of nausea strengthened by my anxiety firmly, and made my bed myself, then proceeded to organize my dressing room. When that was done, I took the wolves down and let them out personally, then went into the kitchen to offer my help to Cook and Katerina with whatever they might need my assistance.

I made myself stick to this routine for two days, but I couldn't manage more than those, as I was still not able to sleep. At nights I woke frequently, in that half-conscious way of utter tiredness, remaining on the verge of restless sleep for hours, then getting up in the mornings feeling even more tired than how I felt when I went to bed.

When will they come back... I couldn't think of anything else presently.

As the hours passed and my expectations faded into hope, I closed myself in my room again. I couldn't do this anymore, I wasn't strong enough to fight off the panic that was growing inside of me, threatening to overcome all my other feelings.

When will they come back...

When will I see him again...

Will I ever...

The unanswerable questions chased each other in my mind, multiplying as I closed my eyes and willed myself to drift off to sleep, to pass another restless night.

They'll be all back tomorrow, I tried to convince myself.