Lady Dhampir
Chapter 115

No matter what, Milena still couldn't bring herself to trust the Oracle. That would have been too easy. So far, she had given clues, but avoided answers, and that was not what the Dhampir Lady was expecting from an ally. The Oracle wasn't clear on her intentions. The silver-haired woman glanced towards Blanche with a sigh and walked over to finally undo that collar. Milena was confused for a second, wondering why she wasn't affected by whatever had burned her, until she realized she was. The Oracle undid the lock quickly, but she still retrieved her hands red and with a grimace. The metal fell loudly, and Blanche retreated towards Milena. She didn't trust the Oracle either, from her defensive position.

"What is that?" Asked Rayan, glancing at the two young women's burnt hands.

He walked over to the closest window, and grabbed a bunch of snow, bringing it to Milena for her to cool her injury. The bite of the cold was even worse than the actual burn, but she took it without complaining, only a grimace. She needed that to make sure she could use her fingers again in the future... and remember her anger.

The Prince looked upset about that the injury as well, his eyes fixated on it, watching the ice slowly melt in Milena's hands. It was still deep red underneath, as the water was dripping on the carpet below.

"They most likely used some sort of acid..." sighed the Oracle, taking some ice for herself.

"Blanche wasn't affected," noted Milena, looking down at the wolf.

"It probably only affects skin. She didn't touch that with anything else than her fur, most likely. Our hair is particularly resistant... didn't you notice. Moreover, that man knew it too. They know. They wouldn't hurt their new toy..."

That sentence made Blanche growl even more, but she was probably mad at the Church, not the Oracle. Milena shook her head. So that's why Blanche had avoided shape-shifting, she probably felt she'd get injured if she made a wrong move or picked an animal too small. Milena grimaced again. How would they dare go as far as injure them with some acid. Most products like that were even f*******n to be sold except to professionals.

Her hands were hurting, she was upset at what had happened to Blanche, and what they had just learned. Milena wanted to vent and complain, but not now, not when she wasn't alone. The Oracle was her main priority for now. "What are you doing here?" She coldly asked.

"You are not the only one wondering what happens in the back scenes," said the Oracle.

"You're strangely always in the right spot to be."

"It is my prerogative."

Milena squinted her eyes, only half-satisfied with that answer. So the Oracle was using her powers to investigate? It didn't explain how she had come here, and accompanied too. Milena knew she had come with a group. Even with the Queen gone, the Oracle was still an influential character of the Kingdom. She'd had many years to establish herself among the nobles...

"Are you looking into my mother's assassination?" Asked Rayan.

Ora raised an eyebrow, looking surprised.

"I didn't expect you to call it an assassination, young Prince. But, yes."

Milena and Rayan exchanged a look. So the Oracle had the same train of thoughts as they did, someone had deliberately done this to the Queen in order to get rid of her. However, Lyriana's death couldn't be directly related to this auction, at least not yet. As Rayan took her hands in his to rub some of the ice gently and make sure they stay cold, Milena turned her eyes to the Oracle again.

"You led me to that maid, and she led me to here... I'm getting tired of you handing me clues like one would send a dog to go fetch. What else do you know about my k********g as a child?"

The Oracle sighed and shook her head.

"I am not that omniscient, young Lady. If I could tell what happened to you, don't you think I would have given all clues to your Family fifteen years ago?"

Milena suddenly realized. She always forgot because she looked so young, but the Oracle was at least thirty or even forty years old, if she had been by Lyriana's side all these years. She was probably in the Royal Castle as well at the time of Elizia's death and Milena's disappearance...

"You knew about the maid who had found me!" Retorted Milena. "How could you know about that woman otherwise?"

"If she worked in the Castle long enough to recognize you, whom do you think she was working for?"

Milena remained quiet for a few seconds. That was true. That maid had recognized her the minute Milena had appeared in the kitchen. It wasn't just about her eye color. At that distance, no one would have been to tell her irises were purple. Yet, the maid had panicked and ran away, as if she knew exactly who Milena was.

Moreover, why would that woman be stupid enough to stay around the Royal Castle if she had known about Milena? She had sold the Duke's child to traffickers. What kind of insane person would stay around after doing that? Some things just didn't add up. The only reason that maid would have stayed as if she had no choice. If she was working for someone here, someone that would have been high-ranked enough to protect her...

"...Queen Lyriana," gasped Milena. "She knew, didn't she? My connection to that maid."

The Oracle slowly nodded.

"That maid came to work in the Royal Castle not knowing who you were a few months ago. Only then did she hear about you, the Dhampir girl who had been retrieved from an auction. It was right at the start of the bridal selection. She told everything about her connection to you and her misdeeds to Lyriana, but strangely, the Queen didn't seem to care. She refused for that maid to leave and, on the contrary, had them stay around..."

"It's as if she was hoping I'd find that maid," whispered Milena. "It makes no sense. Why would her Highness even allow herself to be involved with this? If she didn't want it to be known, she would have sent her away, but she knew that if I met that maid, it would..." Milena went silent.

Her brain was running like crazy, trying to undo that knot of questions. She hadn't read very far into Queen Lyriana's previous actions. No, it was even more accurate to say Milena had never been able to understand her. They were never close, and since she had found that little bill with Philomenie, she had assumed the Queen was rooting for someone else; Yet, Milena had always had that feeling that this little piece of paper didn't match with the impressions she had of Lyriana. The Queen had always been a cold woman, even from their interactions during her childhood, that impression had stuck with Milena about the Queen. Yet, something had felt wrong lately. She had noticed, too. The Queen had suddenly changed her allegiance and taken sides. It was strange, a bit too strange,

even.

However, now, of all people, Lyriana had left clues with Milena. Moreover, all were somehow linked to her past. That maid, and the Oracle, too. Why were they still around, why would have Lyriana allowed that? What was the Queen trying to accomplish by doing so? It was as if she wanted Milena to get here, to get to that auction and uncover something by herself, but... what was it? Milena turned her head towards Rayan, who looked baffled too. Her fiancé was smart enough to have caught up, but he was most likely reaching the same questions as she did...

"Could it be... She was trying to lead us to the ones responsible for her death?" He whispered.

Milena thought the same. There wasn't any other reason Lyriana would have suddenly worried about Milena, so close to her death and after she had obviously changed sides to support Philomenie. Moreover, the Oracle was here too. Milena thought, if she wanted someone to uncover the mystery behind her death, she wouldn't have picked Philomenie. She would have chosen someone smart and determined, like Milena, or Rachael.

The dhampir lady shook her head.

"If she knew what happened to me, that auction and her death were linked, then..."

"Then we know who was behind it," whispered Rayan, glaring at the door.

Milena slowly nodded, but it didn't make her feel any better. Actually, she was a bit disheartened. They weren't facing an enemy they could simply kill and get rid of, but a whole entity... The Church itself. At least, that was their current conclusion. They were yet to gather any proofs, and even the Oracle didn't have anything concrete to help them with that.

Rayan put his weapon away, and gently pulled Milena for her to sit. He was obviously worried about her injury, but the young Princess-to-be didn't care much about the pain as long as Blanche was safe. The silver wolf came to sit at her feet, but she was still defiant of the Oracle.

"What is your aim?" Asked Milena. "You didn't seem to want to take any sides, but if any, I would have thought the Church was behind you..."

"Oh, I do not think so," whispered the Oracle. "You and I aren't so different, Milena. I don't like to be used by others for their ambitions. I do not belong to those people."

"You weren't saying that when you went along with my mother's whims," retorted Rayan.

"We had more of a... mutual relationship that benefited the two of us," explained the Oracle. "Your mother was one of the very few people who could protect me from them, and she did so as long as she was able to. Lyriana had her own ambitions, but for a long time, she wasn't the Church's favorite person to interact with, and that kept them at bay..."

Milena suddenly understood. It wasn't by mere chance that Blanche was with her, the Oracle with the Queen or the Saint with Philomenie. Each Silver One had attached themselves to a figure of a higher power, someone the Church couldn't touch easily. She glanced down at the wolf. Blanche had been lucky, in a way, to be thrown into that cage with a young Duchess. The Oracle and the Saint, however, had most likely chosen their masters wisely.

However, that also meant there was a high possibility that the Saint had been placed into the De Winter's family on purpose, by the Church itself. After all, unlike the Queen, Philomenie probably had everything to attract the Church: she was human and had deep connections with the religion.

The more she thought about it, the more Milena didn't like what it meant. The Church was behind everything. The Wendigos, the Silver Ones, Lyriana's horrible and cruel death. How deeply were they implied in the Royal affairs? She looked up at Rayan, their eyes meeting immediately. They stayed silent, but they were thinking the very same thing. If the Church was backing Philomenie, it was going to back Ellias too. Which meant not only they would be at a disadvantage, they were going to be in that race with a heavy extra weight on their shoulders, and a target right on their backs...

"Looks like we haven't seen anything yet," whispered the Prince with a bitter smile.

"I won't let them get away with this," hissed Milena, decided.

Blanche's capture had her determined.

There was nothing that triggered the young Duchess more than seeing her loved ones harmed or threatened, and Blanche was on top of that list. Milena blamed herself for being so careless and letting such a thing happen, adding to the hurricane of anger that was in her mind at that moment. She kept seeing the scene, over and over, of Blanche trapped, something she had never thought possible since she was nine.

Yet, it hit her like lightening. That old man sitting right next to her cage just minutes ago was basically a warning. They had created the Silver Ones, and they could retrieve them anytime. However, Milena wasn't going to allow that; She turned towards Ora, still defiant but determined.

"Tell me what you know. About you, Blanche and the Saint. About the Silver Ones. No empty clues and no running around this time."

"Milena, we need to take care of your injury," said Rayan, looking concerned. "I don't want to leave it like this."

"I'm fine."

The Prince frowned, and grabbed her chin gently, having her turn to him and listen, instead of focusing on the Oracle. This time, he was looking very serious.

"No, you're not. You're burnt, badly. I don't have anything here to treat you, and that snow is probably not even clean enough to apply on your wound. I get that you are upset, and I am just upset as you to hear those bastards orchestrated my mother's death. I may not have been her favorite son, but she was still my mother, and I..."

He interrupted himself for a second, glancing towards the Oracle. Ora wasn't saying anything, standing aside without intruding. Unlike Milena, her hands had strangely started healing at a scarily fast pace. Rayan frowned some more upon discovering this, but the Prince made no comment. The Silver Ones were obviously created to be different from both humans and vampires, and this may not even have been the tip of the iceberg of secrets those strange creatures hid. He glanced towards Blanche. He had thought he had seen enough about her, but hearing Milena and Ora hint at a human transformation had seriously woke him up.

The vampire Prince took a deep breath, putting all those questions aside for now. His concern for his fiancé came before all their little quest for answers. He knew Milena well, and at times like this, her emotions came first, discarding everything else, including her own safety.

"I want those answers as much as you do, but the Oracle isn't going anywhere. That man was probably only some pawn, too, and I doubt he left any clues. If we leave now, we can see a doctor at the De Crescent House within the next hour and treat your injuries." "I'm fine! Rayan, if we leave now, we will miss half of the auction! What if they really have another Dhampir, like me? What if we miss something really big that could save our lives later? We are just at the beginning of this, I do not want to miss an opportunity because of something as ridiculous as..."

"This is nothing ridiculous! Look at your hands! Can you even hold a pen like this? What if you lose the use of your hand? Writing, holding things, horseback riding, hunting, you won't be able to do any of that. You can't even pet Blanche, or take my hand. Are you fine with that?"

Milena suddenly went silent, a bit shocked. Rayan's words had dragged her out of her hurricane of questions and emotions. She looked down at her hands and realized he was right. They did not look good. Some parts were white, abnormally white, and some were red, even tainted with blood. She gasped. Once she stopped ignoring it, the pain was intense indeed. So bad, it suddenly hit her, to the point of making her want to cry and scream in pain. She was too proud for that, but she still gasped, opening her lips and breathing a bit harder.

She looked at her prince again, seeing the worried expression on his face. As always, he was more cool-headed than her... She slowly nodded.

"Alright..." She whispered.

"Good," he sighed in relief. "Blanche, you won't mind sticking to us like glue this time?"

The wolf growled a bit, but she did hope down the couch, her fur not leaving Milena's dress. Just as they moved, the Oracle strangely moved too, coming closer. Ora actually reduced the space between them to an intimate level, so quick neither of them had time to react. Actually, Rayan took off the silk handkerchief of his pocket to cover and hide Milena's hands with it. He didn't look worried about the Oracle at all, probably not thinking she was any sort of threat. Milena was the one to stare at the silver-haired woman with defiance.

"What now?" She asked, her voice a bit raspier.

"You said you wanted answers, didn't you?" Said Ora. "I will come along with you. I'll feel better once I see you healed, and I do have things I've been wanting to discuss with you." "...Now?" Said Milena, surprised.

Until now, it felt as if the Silver One had been avoiding her on purpose, but now she wanted to tag along for a talk? Milena was surprised. Yet, Ora gently smiled under her mask. "Better late than never, right?"