Chapter 29:

Two weeks had passed in a blur. Dmitry kept away from me if we bumped into each other in the halls; he only greeted and hurriedly excused himself. He avoided me like the plague, he never showed up for dinners nor breakfast, always busying himself in his study downstairs or secured himself in his room late at nights. The air around us two were awkward and tense, neither of us wanting to talk to the other.

Talia had noticed the tension between us and prayed, but I only gave her a short replay of 'he is busy'. I and Talia have gotten closer over the few days, she helped me a lot around the castle and with the understandings of the werewolf population. She provided me with books to read on their history and anatomy, and I was proud to say that I had more in-depth knowledge of them.

Werewolves were strange creatures, their biological needs similar to that of a human. They required food, water, and air. What differed them from humans on I biological scale, was their anatomy. Although they have a human body, that body was still stronger than a human's, their strength, speed and agility much better than that of ours. It was written in the book of Anatomy that werewolves also healed faster, three times to be exact. Then there was the shift and pre-shift, as they called it.

The shift is when a werewolf was in his or her full wolf form. The whole body went through a painful metamorphosis to that of a wolf skeleton. Each wolf unique in its own size to colour. One recognised the wolves colour merely by their human hair colour, meaning that Dmitry would be a midnight black wolf. The thoughts of encountering his wolf at night were a frightening thought, due to wolves' sizes also being determined by their title, the higher the title the bigger the wolf. Alphas were the biggest wolf with Omega's the smallest.

Alpha's were the leaders of the pack, they were in charge of the safety and decision making of the pack, but were under the watchful eye of the King, Dmitry. Then one got the Betas, who were the second hands of the Alpha. Gammas were the ones who directly communicated with the pack and took care of the pack's needs first. They were the ones who made sure the pack was healthy and happy. Then there was Deltas, who were the military heads. They were in charge of the training of the pack and made sure the pack obeyed the rules made by the Alpha. Omegas were normal pack members, which included the humans who knew of their existence too. Omegas were classified as humans, half-bred and purebred. Talia explained this to me as old terms used to distinguish wolves that had either parents werewolves or only had one parent werewolf.

Mates were a different story. Mates were seen as highly important and so the quest to finding a mate was treasured by them. Mates were recognised by a unique smell, tingles on the skin when touched and lastly, they'd immediately feel a connection that was explained as a string. That string connected the two souls with each other and the only thing that'll break the string was death. Mates could never harm each other physically and if emotionally they too would have felt the consequences, due merely, to the fact that mates were emotionally connected meaning they were able to feel each other's emotions. When the book went into mating, the sexual connection to one's mate, I zoned out. Not yet ready to read that part.

I have not studied the whole of the two weeks, I had bonded with some of the other ladies in the castle and granted Talia, Bernice, and Anna as good friends. They made the whole experience much better, especially when the Elders were around.

The Elders despised me very much, they gave me sneers and snarky comments as the days went on. None of them tried to have a conversation with me or when I tried to talk to them, they only left the room every time I stepped in. Not all of the Elders were mean and grumpy, those ones were merely those that consisted out of the council, some were nice and friendly, assisting me when I asked.

Yerik had slowly warmed up to me too, he and his mate Galena had once asked me over for tea. Galena was a very nice lady, who always wore a big smile. Yerik was a part of the council, he maintained the council reports and controls the council's agendas.

Other than socialising, I was locked in my room with my sketchbook, not yet willing to touch the paints Dmitry has bought me. It felt wrong, I went to ask as a mate, starting to accept his claim, but the awareness of him not believing what he has told me so many times made me regret asking him. I explored the hidden passageways too, every time I began in the study until it was locked. I assumed that Dmitry had noticed my consistent presence in the study and has locked it. I did nothing wrong there, I had not touched anything but the switch to the trap door.

I was proud to say that I had found five new hidden doors. One was behind a mirror on the second floor near the staircase, another behind a royal green curtain in the tea room and another in a bedroom. The last two were strange, the one led me outside into a garden that was near the stables of the castle and the last one that I found led me into a church. The church was attached to the castle, on the office's side. It was beautiful with lots of gold trims on the edges of the walls and paintings on the ceiling of the building, similar to the Sistine Chapel ceiling, except it had the moon, a goddess and wolves.

I have grown more curious about the hidden passageways and the little flame that always followed me around when I entered the dark halls. It has become my partner in crime.

I was currently walking in the passageway again. A red marker in my pocket to mark the hidden doors properly. That day, I had worn my own clothes, the castle provided me with clothes. They were mostly dresses, designed by Galena, hence I wore them for her. They were very elegant dresses, fit for a princess and the filth from the passageways would only damage them.

I have strolled through the passageways in search of a new hidden door for about three hours. There had to be more, I refused to believe that there was only seven, but as I strolled the passageway split. The one was dark like all the others with a mucky smell, but the other had a breeze to it with a bit of light. Feeling giddy of my new discovery, I followed the light as it got brighter with each step.

Reaching the end, my mind went blank. It looked like a ruined church that was overtaken by nature. Trees were growing high, forming a canopy above, grass grew long with wildflowers spread throughout the building. A waterfall ran passed me and threw the whole building, forming a small river that was crystal clear. The building had large medieval windows that were seen in castles and a large statue was in the center, the river flowing around it. The statue was made from a stone I did not know, but what resembled the necklace that I had worn. It was a statue of a lady in a toga that fitted her body snugly, she had an angelic face with long curly hair that reached her hips. A crown was centered on her head, that was made from gold. It resembled a halo, but had golden, long spikes on it, it looked similar to the drawing of the sun from a five-year-old. She was looking up with her hands stretched out in front of her. Above her, the canopy was no more, where a lot of light filtered in and illuminated her.

I sat there and stared at the statue for what felt like hours until I noticed it getting darker. Realizing that I had to get back for dinner, I took a last glance at the statue before disappearing back into the hidden passageway.

Once I made it back and ate with Talia and the rest downstairs, I got my sketchbook out and started to sketch the statue. I wanted to highlight her every future, having a feeling that she was very important.

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