Chapter 65

**Merianna**

My eyes flew open as my body jolted. For a second I thought that I was stuck in the ether, waiting to go down into another body. Until I felt a squeeze on my hand.

“Meri, are you okay?” I heard Nelia ask worriedly, then her face appeared in front of mine as she gazed down at me. For a second my mind swayed as I noted that she looked different from before.

Blinking, I tried to ground myself in my body and the sensations that were running through it. “Yeah… just give me a second.” I whispered, then closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Now I was able to make out small sensations again. I felt that I was lying on a stiff bed, my magic was whirling around in me uncomfortably but at least it wasn’t painful. Lastly I could feel my hand being gripped tightly by big, warm calloused hands that had to be Thyrion’s.

“What century are we in?” I muttered. My body felt sluggish as I felt my magic slowly settling down and my mind hazily trying to bring memories back up to the surface.
“We’re in the 21’st century.” Thyrion answered as his thumb gently rubbed the back of my hand.

*Wow*… I thought to myself. So much time had already gone by… so I really did die. My free hand subconsciously came up and touched my chest, right on the spot where the blade had pierced through. I felt Thyrion’s fingers still as his grip tightened on my hand. I opened my eyes and looked over at him. He looked so worried and scared at the same time. He might not like what I was about to say though, so much time had gone by but I did promise myself to tell them who had done it when I came back.

I tapped a finger on the spot close to my heart where I had been stabbed. “Dermon did it. He was the one that got me. He hid in between the Hunters that attacked.” I muttered. And as I spoke Dermon’s name, a bunch of memories came flooding back. My birth as Clary, my dreams, my old memories that had nearly split my head open, the rotted fae that attacked me, Hezerial finding me, Thyrion finding me, then Noch bringing me back to the Order, and everything else that had followed up to this point with me lying on an infirmary bed.

Thyrion’s grip on my hand trembled with both worry and fury as I saw his face darken with this new revelation. Nelia had looked shocked at first, but now she looked furious enough to run head first into enemy lines. Now it all made sense as to how the soul spell had gotten placed on me in the first place. It had been set and activated the moment he stabbed me. And clearly by their reactions they knew exactly what I was talking about.

“Ah, right. That all makes sense now.” I muttered with a tired sigh.

“So that was how the spell had been placed on you in the first place?” Nelia asked darkly.

I nodded in answer. “Yes, it makes sense. He had run me through with a blade that had the spell inscribed on it along with a healthy dose of Witch Bane. It’s likely he activated it the moment he stabbed me. There was nothing anyone could’ve done by that time. I wasn’t even able to call for Hezerial, but I bet he also wouldn’t have been able to notice my state with everything that had been activated along with that spell.”

I glanced over at Hezerial and gave him a smile. He seemed sad but resigned, there was nothing anyone could do to change the past. Dermon was one hell of a crafty bastard. We just weren’t prepared for exactly how crafty he was back then and probably was now.

Squeezing Thyrion’s hand reassuringly I heaved a heavy sigh. “So, how long was I asleep for?”

“Only a short while, not even half an hour.” Thyrion answered as he kissed the back of my hand.

“Really? Wow, it felt like so much longer. At least you guys didn’t have to wait all that long.”

“We don’t mind waiting, as long as you get proper rest and are fine, that’s all we hope for.” Thyrion said with a smile.

My heart melted a bit when he said that, but I knew that it was inconvenient on a practical level. Especially since we had 2 Dark Warlock prisoners in the Castle’s dungeons, and still needed to find out where the hell the main culprit for all this grief, Dermon was hiding.

“How facinating…” Olga said from the side.

“So when are we going to point it out?” Hilda asked close by.

“Soon most likely.” Helga added just after.

I turned my head slowly towards the three of them with a raised eyebrow. They were looking at me like I was some sort of interesting biological experiment. Was it just because of the whole change my body was going through while adjusting to my magic and memories?

“What on earth are you lot talking about?” I asked, perplexed.

“They mean to say that you need to dye your hair to match your new roots.” Nelia explained helpfully while tapping the top of her own head.

I blinked at them in confusion for a second. “Dye my hair?”

“It seems like your hair has gone through the same kind of change as your eyes had.” Thyrion grinned.

It still took a few more seconds for their words to really sink into my mind. Then I quickly shot up from the bed and scanned the room for any kind of reflective surface. Nelia, who clearly knew exactly what I was thinking, shoved a hand mirror into my face without so much as a word.

Glancing at my head, I frowned for a moment because I couldn’t see what they were talking about. Then Thyrion stood up and parted my hair for me to see my scalp.

“Oh! It’s black!” I squeaked in surprise. My roots were surprisingly pitch black! The same black that I had always dyed back in the day whenever my blonde roots had reappeared. “But how?”

“We assume that your magic followed your aesthetic preferences as well this time around. It’s rare for a magic re-awakening to change more than just eye colour, so this is a fascinatingly nice change.” Nelia grinned happily.

“Very fascinating indeed.” Helga piped in.

“Do you think we could run some tests?” Olga asked, looking at me like I had suddenly turned into a lab rat.

I instinctively dived behind Nelia’s back for cover. “No thank you, I like having all my parts attached to me, and prefer not to get poked and prodded.”

“Oh come now, there will be nothing of that sort involved… right?” Hilda raised her eyebrow and looked over at the other two for confirmation. They raised their eyebrows in reply and simply shrugged.

“No, no and no. She’s my sister and only outside observations are allowed on this case.” Nelia crossed her arms.

“Fine, we’ll observe from afar.” Olga pouted like she just had a favorite toy stolen from her.

“Thank you.” I whispered in Nelia’s ear as I gave her a hug from behind.

She giggled and bumped her head into mine. “You would look absolutely fantastic if you can get a proper hair dye done though. With your eyes being grey now, you’d look nothing like your current self at all. I’d say that you’ll look a lot more like your old self after that.”

“Well, come to think of it. You did win our earlier bet.” Thyrion smiled and gave me a wink.

I didn’t understand what he was talking about for a second, then I remembered the bet we made about Noch when we had captured the first captive.

Turning my full attention to him, I beamed. “You owe me a spa day.”