Wasn’t there soone among the envoys who ca from the neighboring country using that sa na?
A woman with striking beauty, her face unforgettable... Yes, Arabella rembered. That woman had once been nothing but a poor peasant who lived beside Xavier, hadn’t she? Her eyes weren’t green, so she couldn’t be a witch.
But what if that had been magic? A trick to veil her true nature?
It made sense... far too much sense!
"As expected," Cassius murmured, leaning back in his chair. When Arabella’s gaze darted to him, she found him already watching her. He smiled faintly, knowingly. "I heard whispers she was no true princess. They say the real Wendy died long ago, and the kingdom sent another in her place, anything to avoid Versailles’s wrath for refusing to et the Crown Prince."
"But the envoys all returned to their holands," Arabella pressed, confused. Normally, Cassius would never have delayed exposing such a deception. Yet the sly curve of his lips told her he was still holding pieces of the ga close to his chest.
"Except her," Cassius replied smoothly, tapping his elbow with one finger, "and a handful of others. I found it curious how eager she was to remain in the castle. I saw her slithering up to ministers, flirting, slipping under their blanket and bed, desperate to extend her stay. It was almost pathetic... so I dangled a lure, sothing irresistible, and watched her cling to it."
Arabella’s brows drew together. "You an she is still here? Inside the castle?" She hadn’t seen the woman in days, where could she be hiding?
Cassius’s crimson eyes glead as he looked down into his tea, a low hum escaping him. "Don’t you think it strange?"
Arabella’s breath caught. "What is?"
"Alice was the only witch there, aside from your sister. And your sister, by no ans, would ever harm civilians. So she could not have been the one to plant those explosive spells outside the door," Cassius said, his gaze drifting toward the window. A crow perched on the sill, and his eyes narrowed. "Other than Alice, there were only skin walkers, and no one expects a skin walker to use magic beyond potions crafted by sorcerers."
Arabella’s breath quickened as her thoughts unraveled. Her lips parted. "The witchcraft outside the door... it was planted long before the incident. Which ans, unless soone had already entered the castle, walked its halls, drawn those sigils themselves, none of it could have happened."
"There you go." Cassius snapped his fingers, the sound sharp in the silence.
Her head whipped toward him, eyes wide with shock. "Then if you knew, why didn’t you tell ? Why didn’t you apprehend her?"
Cassius smiled. It was a soft smile, almost gentle, so out of place it felt like mockery. "Because, my dear, I have a far better plan than simply locking her away." His tone dripped with indulgence, as though he were about to present her with a gift wrapped in ribbons. "But enough of that. Let’s return to the imposter. Now, show us your power, won’t you?"
Though the words sounded almost courteous, Xavier stiffened. He knew that smile. That kind, rciful smile was nothing but a death flag. Whenever it curved Cassius’s lips, sothing worse than death awaited.
He rembered the warning well, the woman’s voice whispering in his mind even now. Cassius might stand with them, yes, but never fall to his bad side. Because if one ever dared to touch his happiness, he would not rest until he dragged them to Hell itself. To the very depths of Hell.
Arabella watched as Xavier reached for a quill, dipped it into ink, and retrieved the crimson gem from Cassius’s doll. Setting the jewel atop a sheet of parchnt, he began to write.
The symbols were jagged, curling in unfamiliar strokes, witch’s letters, she realized with a jolt. Only now did their aning take shape before her eyes.
In lines that read like a poem, she whispered aloud what he penned:
"Dark in the night, moon above the sea,
a wish behold, a wish is made.
Beyond the sky’s knowledge,
borrowing the omnipotence of the World Tree,
tell us thy truth."
Xavier faltered when he heard her voice echo the words, but his hand did not stop until the final rune was inked.
When he set the quill aside, silence fell. The parchnt lay inert, as though the spell had failed. For a long mont, Xavier sat motionless, as though his task had ended.
"Was that all?" Cassius drawled, his tone thick with sarcasm.
"Pardon , I need courage for the next step," Xavier murmured.
He lifted the paper toward the gem, whispering a final incantation. At once, light burst from his palm, so fierce and sudden Arabella winced, shielding her eyes from the brilliance.
When the radiance dimd, the parchnt had vanished. The crimson gem, however, now blazed as though a fire roared within its core.
Without hesitation, Xavier raised the jewel to his lips, and swallowed it whole.
Arabella gasped, her stomach tightening at the thought. The gem was far too large, surely it would lodge in his throat, suffocate him, tear him apart from within. Yet he took it down in one smooth motion, his throat working as though he had done it a hundred tis before.
And then, silence. Xavier sat perfectly still, his expression unreadable, as though the very act of swallowing had stilled sothing deeper inside him.
By the ti he lifted his head again, his eyes had gone white, glowing from the inside. And as though he was possessed, his fingers began to grab the pen from the side of the notebook, letters and more letters turned into paragraphs, filling the entire page almost in a blink. As if that wasn’t enough, Xavier flipped the next page, continuing the rest of the story he was writing in such speed of seconds until it filled the entire three page of the notebook.
When he was done, a troubleso fit of cough slipped from his throat and he closed his eyes, thumping at his own chest.
Worried, Arabella was about to help him but with ease, Cassius marched forward and drop a chop on the back of his neck, enough for the large crimson gem to quickly fall with a plop on the table.
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