58 -- An eye-opener

Lily rose early in the morning and rushed to the forest. For the past few days she had been waking early and coming to this spot, hoping that the quiet and calm would bring about another transformation for her.
She hadn't transformed since that night after speaking rashly with the high priestess without a clear head and it made her feel incomplete. Like she was lacking something vital that made her her. And she feared that she won't ever be able to transform.
It might be because she had stared in horror the first time. Or maybe it was how she cursed out when the pains came, but the second time hadn't been as terrible as the first and she needed it back. That pain was better than the hurt in her heart.
She sat beneath the tree that she had met the spirit days ago and looked around, wondering if anyone would know that something drastic happened on this very ground in one trudged up here. There was nothing special about this place and yet, she felt like she had truly changed and been born right here.
She rested her head against the tree and stared off into space, unconsciously picking out the weeds that littered around the base of the tree. She had just forced a stubborn root out when she heard the rustle of clothes against leaves and she looked up, preparing to defend herself, when she saw the shocking white hair of the high priestess.
She relaxed and looked away from the woman. Since she had accused her of lying, things have been stiff between the two of them. Things were never at an affectionate level but still, Lily thought they shared some sort of camaraderie, which seemed to be missing between the two of them as of recent.
If Lily was being truthful to herself, the awkwardness came from her alone and was felt by her alone. Infact, the high priestess had made her sole aim in life to seek out Lily daily. She should be put off by the woman's tenacity, but it made her remember that she wasn't alone. And so she permitted her presence.
Especially Seeing as she was the only one that knew of her current wolf problem and it was relieving to talk to someone about it. Even though it was a woman she had slighted.
"I knew that you'd be here." The high priestess squatted and sat beside Lily. Lily didn't design her statement a reply, this was the only place the both of them had been meeting and she had just been stating an obvious fact.
The both sat in silence for a while, Lily continuing with her lackadaisical wedding. Lily supposed that it'll be sensible to connect with a fellow werewolf, someone who would understand her rioting emotions and how she could keep them all in check. Someone who could explain why she couldn't turn yet again.
She didn't know that she had begun to uproot thick weeds furiously until the high priestess placed her withered hands over Lily's busy ones. Lily looked up at her.
"My sweet girl. My sweet, troubled girl." Lily averted her gaze with that. She felt pathetic and knowing that someone else saw her while she struggled to get her emotions under control was humbling. And it made her want to leave her skin.
"You keep a lot of things in your heart, Commander. And you let it fester and pollute your soul. You need to let go of all the reproach you have in your heart."
"I don't hold any grudges." Lily removed her hands from beneath hers, folding them under her thighs. The high priestess didn't know what she was saying, just like most times.
"Oh, you do. With me, with the vampire prince. With destiny." Lily's nose flared with anger. The woman was right but she wasn't going to agree with that.
"I know I haven't spoken to you about how you came to be with us, but even I don't know everything." Lily stared at the woman with disbelief, was she really going to keep lying? The high priestess stared at her from beneath her lashes, looking coy and daring Lily to counteract what she had said.
When Lily kept mute, she continued, "But what I do know is that you've been gifted something that no other person had been. And you should take full advantage of that." She stood and started to walk away, leaving Lily to ponder on her words and realize that she didn't completely understand her.
Lily called her back. "What have I been gifted with?"
The high priestess looked shocked for a while. "Why? You got a visit from fate itself and that is as rare as a good world." She didn't wait for Lily to speak, but instead, walked away.
She stared after her, confused. How exactly did the high priestess know that? She chuckled when she realized that the high priestess was privy to most information and she reclined back against the tree, more at peace after that talk.
This time, Lily didn't wait for the cold to prick her skin before heading back to her room. She had just shut her door and shed her extremely thin robe that she really needed to get rid of, when her doors flew open and Ralph strolled in.
He had been doing a lot of that recently and Lily tried not to make her ire show. It was a lost cause when he shut her door and walked to sit on her bed, reclining on his arms. Lily walked to the doors, pulling them open and staring down at him.
She had seen the way Ralph watched her for the past few days. Like he could see the growing bond between the high priestess and her and somehow, she knew that it didn't sit well with him.
"Please leave, I need to rest." She held her door wide open, hoping that he'd heed to her words and walk out. He didn't do that, instead, it felt like he sprawled on her bed, settling himself in.
She sighed, resigned and walked to her vanity, donning her robe again. She turned back to him and saw him staring at her, a sharp glint in his eyes. He definitely hated that she was spending time with his mistress and she wondered again if he knew who she was. What she was.
"What do you need? How may I be of service to her." She drew out her chair and sat, keeping a level gaze with him. She watched how he shifted, maybe realizing that she wasn't a commander just for show. Good, he had to remember that they were civil and on even ground, but that it didn't give him the reason to walk over her.
"Well, it's about your prince." She looked at him dumbly, she was about to refute him and tell him that Nicholas wasn't hers, but she held back, staring at him in a way that she knew unnerved him.
"You know, the one who you brought into our midst and mopped over after he was gone." He was baiting her. Lily knew it now. The reason why was still a mystery to her but she was sure of it. He wanted to rile her up.
"What happened to him?" She placed her fingers on her temples. Thinking about Nicholas hurt her head and she could feel the migraines coming on again.
Ralph smiled at her question and leaned forward, his arms on his spread knees. "Well, we just got wind of it now, but we're very sure about the sources. And it's the truth."
"Just spit it out." She rubbed faster on her temples and it felt like the pain spread from within her head through her pores till she could feel the skin on her temples throb.
"He's a really vile and wicked man. I can't believe he's that good at acting that no one here realized his true motives. We even let him close to our children. My God, Peelah followed him everywhere, even when we didn't notice."
She was tired of him beating around the bush and was about to tell him to speak or leave her room when he finally said it. "The vampire prince compromised the mating ceremony the werewolves held and now has total control over their kingdom."
What?
She was sure that she hadn't heard him correctly.
"What?" She voiced her shock this time. Surely, this must be false news? Nicholas hadn't told her about his fiancé but that was understandable if you look at the circumstances surrounding their meeting and how she had captured him, but he wouldn't overthrow a full species.
"You're lying." It was a fact. She felt it in her bones that this wasn't the case. Ralph might've been lied to and he was telling her what he had heard, but she didn't believe for one second that Nicholas was capable of such.
"It's everywhere, Lily. You would've heard it soon anyway. He got his men to mate the females that participated in the ritual, they were all on heat and somehow overpowered the men and then the king. He reigns over the kingdom. Although, I don't know what happened to that werewolf wife of his." He scratched his chin and looked deep tight.
"Leave me." Ralph didn't put up a fight this time, obviously having done what he had come to do. To wreak havoc in the calm she had just created for herself. She became so mad at him for sharing this news and poured it out on him.
"Get out!" She screamed when he continued to stroll to the door and she watched with dry amusement as he made a mad dash for the doors, shutting it behind him.
Lily couldn't breathe. Everything was stifling and it felt like the walls of the room wanted to cave in on her. She pulled her robe off and walked to the decanter of water placed on her side table. She poured a little water into her washing bowl and splashed water on her face, needing to cool down immediately.
She looked up, boring a hole in the wall. The prince had used her. Was that why he came here? Because he knew that her library would have the book he so sought? Was that why he needed to know about the werewolves? So he could take control over them all?
Was what he had seen in the book? How did the Mating work? Lily didn't still understand because it wasn't supposed to be a big deal, the werewolves would somehow get over this and take their throne back.
It didn't click right with her and she rushed out of her room, going to the library. She searched frantically for the book he had asked her about, not remembering the name but knowing that she'd know it once she saw it.
She searched for a while and came up empty. She laughed as it dawned on her then. Nicholas had taken it with him and the information to why he had made such a plan. She laughed again, sitting on a couch. He really was despicable.
She couldn't believe what he had done. He had betrayed the trust of his marriage and also ordered his men to rape women. This didn't sound like the Nicholas she had gotten to know and she felt terrible because it was sure at that moment that she never really knew him and that he most definitely played on her and her emotions.
The guilt made her want to tear out her hair, to peel off her skin. To just get out of this life that she lived. He had come to her home and taken information that he had used to destroy the werewolves. Her people. And she hadn't even reconnected with them yet.
Once again, her chest felt constricted and she knelt on the floor of the library, clutching her hand to her chest and wheezing. It was the thoughts and self judgment that did her in.
She could feel the change coming on, after all these times. And she made a mad dash across the library, throwing open its balcony doors and jumping out to the forest. Just in time.