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THE OATH OF VERIDIAN

Also known as the OV. A blood oath vowed by the houses of Fang. To serve and protect with undying loyalty, the House of Veridian.

Archives of History

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[SILVER RAYNE WILLIAMS]

"VELLA HEY, I'm about to leave now," I announced, drawing her attention away from her new friends.

We were currently in the garden, and I stood by the roses watching them play.

It was nice to see her finally being around people her age. I knew she missed Aria and Kiesha. At least she had three new friends in return.

She stood and walked to me leaving her playmates by the swings, a deep frown wedged against her lips. "So soon?"

I chuckled at her expression, "We came in the morning and the sun will be setting soon."

She glanced in the direction of the evening sun pursing her lips. "Why can't you stay? Why are you going back?"

"Hey- it's okay," I eased, kneeling before her, "I'm just a garden away, like literally," I showed her, pointing to the looming Fang Court.

She glanced at it for another second. "Just stay Silver, please."

"I will, but not today. West House was created for Sworn and Sworn only. Now, Lady Beatrice has agreed to let me stay here but she has to convince management, and soon after she'll let me know and I'll be right back. It will just be for a few days till we know for sure," I tried to be reassuring.

Her eyebrows remained arched unconvinced.

"I'll visit every single day, I promise," I added, "I'm sure I'll only be in Fang Court for another week or so."

She looked back at me trustingly at those words. "So you'll stay here then? After Lady Beatrice finds you a place?"

"Absolutely. You think I want to stay in Fang Court with a bunch of stuck-up Fanged?" I gagged.

She chuckled at this.

I smiled drawing her in for a hug. "You'll be fine kiddo. I'll check on you tomorrow when I come to visit."

She nodded a hum at this. I glanced over her shoulder, watching her new Sworn friends for a moment.

"Meanwhile," I hummed, "do me a favor and make a lot of friends. You can't trust everyone but that doesn't mean I want you to be alone," I stated, glancing at her.

I tugged a lock of hair behind her ear, "You, my dear, will be fine. Dad knew it and I know it too."

Pulling her in for a final hug I let go, pushing her closer to her friends. She gave me a final smile before darting back to them.

I watched for a few more minutes until I felt she was more incorporated, finally slipping away when she wasn't looking.

I passed the magnificent arch finding myself on Fang Court grounds, on a pathway winding into the garden. I watched as the Magnificence of Fang Court drew closer.

It was beautiful but yes, I certainly did not want to stay here amongst the fanged. With a mother I couldn't trust, a brother I didn't know, monsters, and a king who outright threatened me-

I shivered when I remembered his stale words. He never wanted to set eyes on me again. The chances of that happening whilst I was in West House were slimmer than if I stayed in Fang Court.

With this in mind, I gave a quiet prayer to the heavens.
I prayed Lady Beatrice would send for me soon. Letting out a loose breath, I walked past the guards who merely glanced at me.

I was surprised they didn't stop me. The only logical reason I could come up with was that somehow, they knew who I was. My best guess was Lord Graydon told them or the guard from before had relayed the news to others so they wouldn't make the same mistake.

Either way, I was not complaining.

Walking up the grand stairs, for the first time, I felt truly alone and even more out of place now that Vella wasn't here. She was the whole reason I even got here in the first place.

It was almost like I had no place here. This was shocking since my literal mother and brother lived here-

Brother-

I scoffed at the term. Hunter was a Fanged. I knew absolutely nothing about him.

I stopped in the hall of royal portraits once again, just studying them to kill time. I knew there wasn't anything else I would be doing when I got to the room.

When I got bored of that, I finally continued my journey, my footsteps slow trying to delay the inevitable.

I turned the corner to my room and stopped in my tracks when I spotted someone. Speaking of the devil.

Hunter stood outside my door studying it for a moment. He pursed his lips stepping away from it in what looked like a disappointment.

"Vella isn't here," I stated, dryly.

He immediately spun to face me as if thrown out of his thoughts.

His gaze shifted away from me momentarily, "Uh- I know." He visibly gulped, "I came to see you."

My gaze narrowed on him, eyebrows drawing in, "What for? Does Lord Graydon wish to see me?" I grunted, my heartbeat picking up at the thought of his confrontation.

"N-no," his eyebrows arched for a bit as if confused I would ask that. "Its Mother." He stated, "She seems to be quite... upset since the ball."

I scoffed at this rolling my eyes. I approached him standing a good few feet away from him folding my arms.

"And she sent you here to be her little lap dog?"

"I'm a wolf," he grunted with disgust, "And that's insulting."

"What does Eden want?"

He pursed his lips for a moment, his gaze shifted to the ground sending his long locks tumbling forward.

He looked up at me, his tone quiet, "Nothing. She doesn't even know I'm here." I studied his face and found honesty.

"She's sad and I, I think it's because you won't talk to her." He confessed.

"How is that my problem?" I countered.

"She's your mother," he huffed, eyebrows arching.

"Well, she didn't seem to care much about that for the last 12 years now, has she?"

"That's not fair."

"No- it's not. It's not fair to me." I rephrased.

He pursed his lips holding mine for a bit. "Could you forgive her then? I just don't like to see her upset."

I scoffed at this, brushing past him, "Goodnight, my lord."

I moved toward the door, my shaky hands prying it open whilst fury raced in me. I could feel his eyes studying me intently.

"Silvon." He stated.

I froze at the name.

"Hunter Silvon Veridian. She named me after you."

My jaw clenched and I willed my heart to not fall for this stupid stunt.

"Sounds like Lord Valcon got a piece too," I muttered, opening the door wider with a yank.

"She told me stories about you, you know."

I found my body refusing to move. My heart was a hard beat within me.

"Every single day..." he trailed off taking a step closer, "And when father banned stories of you, she would tell me stories of a cupcake."

Tears threatened to sting my eyes and I blinked them away, finally looking at the boy.

He stood posed but earnest, dressed in the signature royal tunic. His green eyes never left my face.

"I loved them." He added with a shrug, "I-I uh, I've always wanted a sister. Knowing I had one somewhere out there, I felt like I wasn't truly alone growing up in a palace."

Oh, for the love of the heavens.

"It gets kind of lonely here." He added in a short whisper.

Shit.

He pursed his lips for a moment, "She made me promise to find you. She said she knew she would never get the chance to look but, she made me promise as soon as I could leave that I would find you."

I watched him carefully as he grinned softly-

"And I would have. I wanted to meet you. You just seemed so wonderful in every story she told."

I looked away my jaw ticking, my hand tightening against the doorknob, "And I guess I'm not all you imagined judging from the fact that you haven't acted like you wanted to meet me."

"Only because I think you hate me." He confessed, his gaze falling to the floor.

He stared at it for a second, "A-and we didn't meet under the right circumstances, far from what I imagined," he stuttered, "I didn't come sooner because- "

He paused, biting at his bottom lip, "I just feel like every time you look at me, you'd rather I disappear."

Guilt roamed within me for some reason as I watched him.

"A-and I get it." He added quickly, "I scared Vella, and I forced her to dance with me when I could tell she didn't want to. I just, I was eager to spend a bit of time with her and I asked mother to"

He paused. "It's not her fault," he finally stated, eyes meeting mine honestly. "I was greedy and mother was just trying to make me happy."

I couldn't get a word out as I studied him.

"You don't have to like me. I-I'm not asking that you do. I know what my father did. And I can't imagine it's easy for you to even look at me knowing I stole mother from you."

Did he steal mom? Is that what he thought?

"I just- I want you to know that despite everything, you cannot doubt her love for you." He nodded at this statement for a bit before stepping backward.

"Goodnight, Silver." He bowed.

I watched him leave still frozen, my eyes slowly drifting back to reality. I pursed my lips, finally walking into the room, and closing the door.

Leaning against it, my gaze trailed to the ceiling thinking about all he had said.

Sure, I disliked that he got to have mom to himself but even I knew blaming him wasn't right despite how much I did want to.

It was Lord Valcon that took her from me. He stole her from us.

I shut my eyes letting out a shaky breath. All of what he had said had me thinking about Eden again.

Perhaps I just wanted to build those walls back up again so I didn't have to face losing her all over. How long would having her have lasted? As soon as they thought Vella was all right, they would send me back to Crescent.

And then what? I swallowed dryly at the thought. Yes, nothing was fair.

My body rattled at the sound of a steady posed knock.

My eyebrows drew together. Had Hunter forgotten to say something else?

I turned around, swinging open the door again. The first to come to vision was the familiar royal tunic Hunter wore, but something was off.

My gaze slowly trailed upwards freezing in a stale saltwater gaze.

Holy shit.

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Word Count–1863