FOURTY-FOUR

The maid guided my mate and me to the dining hall the next day to eat breakfast.

The warriors will be eating respectively in their assigned rooms while the witches have the decision to come to eat with us if they want to.

The handsome man whose name I learned from the maid, Ryder, was seated in the dining hall.

A rectangular table with chairs tucked in and different foods placed on the table.

Ryder sat at the front of the table while Conrad and I sat at the side, beside each other.

The witches entered the dining hall after we settled and sat on the other side of the table, facing Conrad and me.

Ryder kept on smiling and said, ''We can start eating.''

Conrad removed the plate covering my food before he did his own, and we started eating.

We kept eating in the awkward and tense silence before Ryder broke the silence still with a smile on his face.

''So... Can Miss carmen and the Lycan king tell me why you visited the vampires?'' He said, dropping his cutlery.

Conrad had stopped eating while I dropped my cutlery on the plate to stare at the smiling man.

'Sometimes I feel behind that smile is a snake looking for where to strike,' I thought, calming whatever uneasiness in my heart.

''I thought you knew?'' I asked.

''No, I did not,'' He said, still smiling.

''I would like to see your oracle,'' I demanded, not wishing to play whatever games he had in mind.

He stared at me with the same smile that was getting annoying and replied, ''Okay.''

The maids cleared the tables as they appeared the minute we finished our meals and disappeared.

''This way, please,'' Ryder said, standing up.

I wondered if rose and the paled Amelia would follow.

It seems rose knew of my thought and smiled at me, ''We won't follow you.''

I nodded and left with Conrad.

Ryder guided us deeper into the castle and stopped in front of a big two-black-colored door with one black bat wing on each side.

Immediately we stepped in close to the door. I felt something weird about this area, like protection, but I didn't think much about it.

The door opened when Ryder stood in front of it.

We entered the room, and the door closed immediately.

Conrad and I looked at the closed door before glancing at each other and looking forward.

Ryder stood in the empty room before speaking.

''I brought her.'' He said in the empty room

Immediately he said that the empty room changed into a very dark room with strange red symbols lighting the dark room on the wall.

I looked at the symbols and felt they were similar.

'Ambrogio,' I thought as I read the symbols on the wall.

A memory appeared when I said the name in my mind.

A place with this symbols and myself held in chains appeared in my memory.

I felt a stinging pain and held my head with furrowed brows.

Conrad noticed and held my hand, looking at me worriedly.

''It's nice to see you again, Artemis.'' An eerie voice said in the dark room.

I looked at the black hooded creature with the same bat wings I saw as the design on the door on its back.

But this time, the bat wings are big and black with red symbols in every part.

''Absalom,'' I muttered, a name that came to mind when I saw the wings.

The creature chuckled creepily, saying, ''I didn't expect your host would awaken your memory. It seems Selene did a good job this time around.''

I looked at the creature I knew as Absalom through Artemis's memory and then at the smiling Ryder, asking, ''Where is your oracle?''

No one answered for a while before Absalom chuckled, ''I applaud Selen for choosing well for the sacred beast.''

''Why are you here, Absalom?" I asked.

Absalom is the vampire god messenger, according to Artemis's memory.

I looked at Conrad and saw he was okay with a messenger in his front.

'He is okay?' I thought, remembering what Artemis said about messengers.

''To answer your questions and solve your mysteries. Like Nyctimus the Lycans' oracle said, it is taboo for him and the others to know the secrets of the gods.'' He said, staring in my direction and breaking me from my thoughts.

He looked like the Lycan's god messenger apart from the wings. I couldn't see any face from the hood apart from darkness.

''And I can know? Are you sure I won't tell anyone?'' I asked Absalom, finding it funny that the gods were the ones who created this mess, and we are cleaning their mess up.

'Why would they forbid us to know when we are solving their issue?' I thought.

''Unless you want Typhon to come after your mate,'' He said.

I looked at Conrad, who stared at me, reassuring me by squeezing my hand.

''I am sure Nyctimus and Selena told you before, but let me tell you, don't underestimate Typhon.''

''Yes, he is a demon, I know,'' I repeated what I had heard many times.

''But it sounds funny coming from you, I mean, the gods were the ones who created this mess, and you expect your species to clean it up, but I am not talking about that. what I want to know is why the gods chose me to deal with him?'' I continued impassively.

What I hate most is not knowing what I am doing.

I got my beast when I had no one. I thought I would live a satisfying life, fighting rogues and living with the millers in the goldmoon pack, but now I am thrown into the battles of a banished god and the gods. And the worst part is that everything is a mystery not solved when I thought it would.

After understanding one, another mystery will come, and I am back to square one again.

'It's getting annoying,' I thought, clenching my jaw in anger.

''Nyctimus told me that everything Artemis and I knew was lies, so what is the truth?'' I said, looking at the messenger.

There was silence after my long speech before Absalom said, ''Let me show you what I know, but I won't be able to unseal Artemis' memory.''

''Who can?'' I asked, watching the symbols moving from the wall to the ground surrounding me.

I felt the dizziness in my eyes as one of the symbols appeared on my hand before moving upwards.

''The moon goddess,'' That's the last thing I heard before my eyes closed.