Chapter 28:

"Morning, my Lady." I was currently sitting at the dining hall table downstairs with Talia and a few other people. There was Bernice, who was the Gamma's mate and her sister Anna. Anna and Bernice were both Russians with blonde hair and blue eyes, but very friendly. I met them that morning and they have welcomed me with open arms, unlike some of the elderlies that were having breakfast with us. Not all of them were dismissive when I greeted them, some smiled and others greeted back. A few had made conversation with me, asking me where I was and if I was settling in.

The breakfast was starting to be served, a lady with green eyes serving me with a smile. She looked around the same age as me, "Morning, thank you very much." She served me some orange juice after placing bacon pieces on the table with the other foods. The table was filled with eggs, bacon, toasts and fruits, a breakfast for royalty.

"Miss, you should get something to eat before it is all up." She smiled before moving back into the kitchen.

"She is richt, we werewolves eat a lot, especially Anna's kids." Talia laughed at Anna's kids who were hitting each other.

"Yeah, honey. You should eat up, my kids don't joke with food." Anna had two extremely naughty boys. The one was three and the other four, both in the very energetic stage of their lives.

The dining table was empty, only half full. Dmitry and most of the Elders were apparently in an emergency meeting since the early hours of the morning. I haven't seen Dmitry since I had asked him for the paint. He escorted me back to my room and left suddenly when his phone rang. It saddened me that he had to go, I was hoping that he would have stayed for a few minutes with me. I wanted to get to know him more. It was rational of me to want so, I was to spend in time in his home, I was to be his mate and spend my life with him.

After breakfast and light banter, I excused myself from the table wanting to go and explore more of the castle. I was going alone at that time due to Talia having to be at her family today. Everyone had their own activities for the day and I don't need a babysitter. I can explore on my own the castle, it would probably be better that way. I will be more focussed to remember where I was going and what passageway I was walking in.

I went to the offices first, noticing people buzzing around. It looked similar to a home affairs building, just faster services. People were sitting around waiting for their turn while having conversations with each other. Afterwards, I went up to the second floor, noticing more elderly strolling around threw the passageways. I felt uncomfortable with them around as some glared my way, so retracing my steps back to the staircase, I went up to the third floor. Strolling around the third floor, I explored the Beta wing. There was a private lounge area, the same as in the Alpha wing. The Alpha wing, however, was less homey. I assumed that it was due to it only housing one person. I wanted to explore Dmitry's room, see what he was hiding and get to know him more, but I knew that that was wrong. I passed his room with a heavy heart, seeing that there was a new door that I haven't noticed before.

Opening it, I saw a dark study. Strolling into the study, I searched for a light switch and moved my hands around the walls. Feeling a switch, I pushed and the lights went on. The walls were covered in books like a personal library, in the middle stood a dark oak desk with many papers on them, they all were neatly packet into heaps.

"Left side, top-shelf." A whisper echoed through the room. Silently praying that I was not going mad again, I moved to the left side of the room and gazed up at the top shelves. My eyes caught a strange figurine that held a few books up in position.

"Look closely at the figure." Listening for some stupid reason to the voice, I screeched a chair near the shelve and stood on it. The figure was made from pure glass of a lady who reached up with the moon in her hands. Stretching up onto my toes, I touched the moon, the pressure of my finger causing the arm to drop down and a rumbling sound rolling next to me.

Getting off the chair, I swept the royal rug away from the door, to be welcomed by an opening. The air smelled muggy and bits of dust floated around, but no light was in sight.

"Light the chamber, no darkness seen. Make the journey a greater scene." The voice whispered before a flame suddenly appeared before me, lighting up the dark hallway. Behind the flame stood a shadow, the same shadow as before in Fortbridge, but this time in more detail. It appeared more person-like, with a black dress and black veil covering most of it.

"I will not harm. Come, seek the answers you so much crave." Looking back behind me, I stupidly followed behind it inside. The trapped door closed behind me and the only way to go was forward. My heartbeat quickened, fear settled in stomach, the weight of my decision sinking in. The shadow began to move with the fire, me helplessly following behind.

If I thought the castle's hallways where a maze, the secretly, dark halls topped them. Moving around the dark with a floating flame and a strange figure in front of me did not help too. I was helplessly strolling behind them, moving right then left, cutting corners. The halls were eerily silent, sometimes I heard a patter of footsteps next to me, but there was never anything. It was cold, which was understandable, there was no light coming into the halls for heat.

We came to a stone staircase that led downstairs, slowly, not to fall, I trotted downwards after the shadow. Suddenly, voices were echoing into the halls. Looking around me, I noted that the voices were not coming from within, but somewhere else. There were tiny holes for ventilation cut out within the walls. We did not stop, however, the shadow led me further forward, when the silence of the cold halls was filled with chaos. Many voices echoed around me, bouncing off the walls in agitation and stress.

The shadow stopped with the flame hovering over it, it lifted an arm pointing in the direction of the opposite wall. Walking to the wall with my nerves on edge, the fire followed me. As it lit up the wall more, I noted a peg in the wall. Sliding the peg to the side, it opened a small area for me to peak through to the other side.

On the other side, many Elders were sat, discussing and arguing with each other. It appeared to be the Council room, gazing a bit to my right, I saw Dmitry on the high chair. His eyes gazed onto everyone as he examined the council. He was eerily quiet as he sat on his chair, seemingly in deep thought.

"Council, come to rest." He stood up, his powerful aura radiating from him. Everyone inside went silent, all looking up to him in anticipation. "I understand the circumstance is absurd at best, but I can assure all of you that I have felt the signs."

"The signs? My Lord, we are not judging your ability to notice if someone is your mate or not, what we are saying is that it is impossible. The facts are in contrast to each other. The signs may say Hope is your mate, but, My Lord..." an old lady with pepper hair stood up, her stance was confident and filled with authority, "The fact is that she cannot be. You can't have a mate."

Dmitry signed, taking deep breaths in and out. A golden crown sat on his head, displaying his authority, but it went crooked as Dmitry rubbed his face in frustration.

"I understand that Wynona," he addressed the standing lady.

"My King, this could all be a hoax. A spell could have been placed on her, so you would think that she is." She argued further.

"I agree." Another man bellowed from the opposite side of the room, a few others nodded their heads in approval, "My Lord, has explained that the circumstances were at best suspicious. The necklace being the source that gave you pain and hiding the fact that she is your mate."

"The fact that My Lord felt pain from that necklace too, is a worry. The necklace had to be enchanted, but not by just your ordinary witch. Power of that caliber is rare." Another man spoke up, but he was much younger.

"All your points are valid and have accepted them. I too believe that something was going on behind this whole situation, hence why I am taking caution." That was why Dmitry was acting cold towards me, he was scared that I was there for the wrong reasons. My heart began to have an aching feeling. Did he truly believe that I was there to hurt and manipulate him?

"I do not know what to do, hence I ask for your patience. Hope shall stay near me so that I can have a close eye on her. If she is here as a threat, it shall be dealt with," My heart felt as if it was being ripped into pieces, was a such a burden to them all. Did Talia too think I was a threat? Dmitry told me that mates were the most special part of life, that mates would always look after each other, yet Dmitry seemed to place me in a bad light.

"So My Lord agrees with us." The same peppered hair lady voiced again.

"No! Hope may be seen as a threat now, but we could all be wrong. She may just as well be an innocent victim here, chosen by the sorceress without her knowledge." Tears threatened to roll down my cheek, my heart felt broken. Dmitry claimed to be my mate, yet before his council, he made no such claim. He placed me as either a threat or victim, neither his mate, just a simple human girl that did not belong there.

For the first time in a while, I was feeling anger. My arteries felt on fire, them boiling with rage like never before. I haven't felt this much anger ever. Closing the opening, I passed forward into the dark hallway, the fire following closely behind. My mind was racing from thought to thought, me questioning my decision of walking into the hidden passageways.

Why did I have to see that? The feelings of regret strongly moved threw my body as I felt like I wanted to have stayed in the dark about Dmitry's true feelings. At least I would not have felt the rage that pulsed threw me, I disliked rage and anger and wanted to keep away from those feelings as far as possible. Maybe it would have been better living in a sweet lie than the bitter truth I felt at that moment.

The fire within me led me further down the darkness, it was not me to be so irrational and furious. I had no idea where those feeling where coming from, but soon I found myself lost. The shadow figure was gone, leaving me alone with my grief, the anger gone, but replaced by sadness. The threatening tears were then rolling in streams down my cheeks. My heart ached as if it has lost an important piece of itself. I placed my back against the rough wall and slowly slid down to the cold, slightly wet ground and cried. All the emotions and stress from a couple of days getting to me or that was what I wanted to blame the tears on.

After the little episode, I decided to try and head back to my room, at least there I would not be cold and so miserable. Standing up from my fetal position, I put my mind to the task ahead. Finding my way back. One foot after the other, with the magical flame beside me, I tried to retrace my steps back.

What felt like hours, I finally noticed a pattern, some parts of the wall looked different than others. Looking out for another strange pattern against the wall, I found one. It was small, probably half my size, but nonetheless, I began to examine it. Running my hand over the rough stone boulders, I felt large carvings in the wall. It had to be a hidden door, I failed trying to push and slide it, it was clearly too heavy.

Sliding back down on the opposite wall, I stare at the hidden door in frustration. Another few seconds of staring and silently cursing in my head, I noticed a strange rock that stood out from the right side of the wall. It was well rounded and smooth, different from the other rocks and boulders on the wall. Pushing myself up to my feet, I moved closer to the wrong. I slight red mark was painted on it, pushing the rock inwards, the wall groaned and parted open. I was sadly met again with something in my way, but this I knew. It was the back of a frame, the wooden exterior I could recognize within seconds.

Pushing and failing, I decided on sweeping it to the sides. The frame moved smoothly to my left side, the castle's art gallery coming on display. Quickly, I hurried out and slid the painting in position again. Gazing at the painting, I made a mental note of it. It was one of the paintings of the war against the strange creatures.

Running out of the gallery and up the stairs, I slammed my bedroom door closed. The adrenaline pumped threw my vines as I started to laugh. The rush of getting out of those secret passageways and my success in finding a hidden door, still fresh in my mind.

I laughed to myself, the laughs bouncing off the walls. Finally catching my breath, my eye caught an easel in the corner of my room. It was placed near the window with canvases and paints scattered around it. My heart swelled at the thought of painting again, but it quickly went away as it reminded me of Dmitry.

Walking closer to it, I picked up a canvas and set it in place, but I could not get myself to paint. Moving away from the easel, I got out the book Frigg gave me and draw. Letting out all my emotions into the blank page in front of me.

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