Blood Bound to Drathmor

Chapter two

I walked behind MaryAnn silently with the towel still wrapped around me. I held onto it so tight like it would take me back home.

This time we didn’t walk into Xavier’s room. We walked into a different door from his. She pushed the door open and my eyes met with the three maids standing at a corner. They looked away immediately, because they didn’t have the right to look me in the eye,or so I was told.

“Where is this place?” I forced the words out of my mouth.

“This is your room my lady.” She replied.

A snort escaped my lips. My heart burned with all kinds of resentment and sadness. It sounded as funny as it was stupid.

“If you don’t mind, my lady,” MaryAnn said. “Can we step into the dressing room?”

The dressing room. Right. To prepare me for a wedding that I had no idea of until a few minutes ago. I swallowed hard. With four maids present in the room, I couldn’t think of breaking. If a wedding is happening, mother should be here. Thalia should be here too. They would make things clearer to me.

I released a heavy breath, almost as though it was my last. Then I nodded and walked towards the dressing room. MaryAnn followed silently behind me and I could hear her shaky breath, I could sense the tension, not only in this room, but everywhere.

The dressing room was carved from dark stones—just as the rest of Drathmor, lined with tall mirrors and crimson drapes. Black wood wardrobe stood with dark gowns and jewels. The air cool, perfumed with iron and roses.

But there in the far end, below the window, was the dress. It hung alone, separated from the others, as if it did not belong with anything else. Black silk, darker than the stone walls, catching the light like a held breath. I stared at it for a long time, knowing it was not just a dress. It was my fate waiting patiently.

MaryAnn carefully pulled it from the hanger. She held it like it would break if she was any less careful.

I stood there, silently, as she fit the dress into my body. She pulled, layer by layer. Every corset felt like the air was being sucked out of me.

“The dress fits just fine.”

I finally lifted my head and looked at the mirror in front of me. I saw her. She stood there in a black wedding dress, waiting to be tied in a forbidden nut that could cost her life. Her eyes looked tired and she hated the fact that her warm-toned skin matched the dress. It fitted just fine, like it was made for her, or on her. She wasn’t me. Her thick dark hair flowed loosely.

I tore my gaze away from the mirror and walked out of the dressing room. The maids were no longer there. It was just me and MaryAnn. That tired smile full of pity never left her face. I sat in front of the dressing mirror. My eyes fell on the mirror and I caught a glimpse of her again. She wasn’t me.

She dried my hair quickly. I expected a bun, but she let it loose. She let two small chunks on the left and right side fall on my face. Then took similar chunks from above my ear, using them to tie my hair in place.

She didn’t layer jewelry upon jewelry on me, as it was done to every bride in Varkyrr. But she placed a single necklace on my neck. It was embedded with onyx rhinestones.

“You look stunning, my lady.” MaryAnn said.

I said nothing. Just looked in the mirror again.

“How many more minutes to the wedding?” I asked.

“Twenty, my lady.”

“Take me to my mom.”

“I’m sorry my lady,” she began. “You cannot see any family members before the wedding, it's forbidden.”MaryAnn said.

Whether it was forbidden or not had nothing to do with me. They are already breaking the most forbidden act which is a werewolf mating a vampire, and they expect me to be worried about the bare minimum. How did The Veiled Three even allow this marriage to hold? Were they even aware?

I swallowed hard and stood up from the chair. My feet were shaky, about to give me away.

“MaryAnn take me to my mother. Now.” There was nothing soft about my voice. I sensed the fear in her and I felt sorry but I just have to do what I have to do.

“But my lady…….”

“ NOW!”

She was taken aback. Fear covered her entire being as she nodded twice. It wasn’t a scream, it was a howl I was pretty sure nobody would hear since I knew this room was pretty much sound proof. I couldn’t sense any life outside here.

“We have to be descreet.” She said, her voice shaky.

She led me out of the room into the bath chamber. She took a peek in Xavier’s room but he wasn’t there.

“Come on.” She whispered.

I followed silently behind her. She pulled the door open and we stepped into the hallway. There were no guards, it was quiet and dark.

“Your mother’s room is in the west wing.” She said, almost whispering.

“Then take me there.” Impatience rising in my voice as my legs felt weaker.

“The only way we could go is through the garden so that we don’t get caught.”

“I don’t care if we get caught.” I replied sharply.

The hallway was long. I couldn’t even see both ends from where I was standing. So this is what they did with all the stolen land.

“Come on.” MaryAnn’s voice interrupted my thought as I followed quickly behind her.

I didn’t have time to admire the walls and paintings, I could only think of ways to get out of here.

MaryAnn stopped in front of a wooden door. It creaked loudly as she pushed it open. Even if I would never abide by their rules, I still wished nobody would hear the sound.

We walked into a pathway as the smell of a black calla lily filled the air.

I stepped into the garden. Black flowers, all of them stared at me. I knew each of them by their scents. We walked further into the garden. One could rot in this garden and no one would have a clue. It felt like years before we got to the other end of the garden.

We entered another pathway, identical from the previous. At the end of the pathway was another wooden door. It didn’t creak and there were no guards.

The air here is colder, sharper, as if the stones remember every visitor. Heavy velvet curtains block most of the daylight, leaving everything muted and gray, and the faint scent of candle wax mixes with something metallic, like blood. I feel like an intruder in a place that doesn’t want me here. Everything was carved to perfection but it wasn’t home, it was a beautiful cage for honored guests.

I inhaled deeply as I placed a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

The sound of my mother's voice made my heart skip. But nothing could replace the rage and pain inside me which I was trying my hardest to conceal.

I pulled the handle and walked in.

She sat in front of the dressing mirror, her light brown hair flowing behind her.

“Raven..”

“Mother, what is going on?” I didn’t need courtesy from her. I needed answers.

She didn’t turn around. Her head tilted at the sharpness in my voice.

“Mother, what is going on?” I asked again. “I demand an answer.

“Raven,” she said, her voice smooth, almost gentle, but it carried a weight that made my chest tighten. “You’ve always been… weaker than the others. Fragile in ways that will never change.”

I swallowed hard, my hands clenching the edges of my dress. “Mother…” My voice barely rose above a whisper.

She finally stood up and walked towards me. Her eyes met mine, cold but unyielding, studying me like one might examine a flawed gem.

“That is why I am offering you to Drathmor. Perhaps here, in the cold, in the harshness of their world, you will grow stronger. You need it… more than anyone else.”

Her words stung.

“I am not an object to be traded!” The words stumbled out of my mouth loudly. Before I could take another breath, her palm met with my face. The pain grew quickly and traveled all the way to my head.

“Never yell at your mother.” She said calmly as if she didn’t just slap me.

She placed a hand on my shoulder, light but firm, as if she could mold me with her touch. “You’ll see, my child. Strength isn’t always gentle. Sometimes, it comes from the cold, from pain… from survival.”

I wanted to hate her. I wanted to scream. Instead, I felt nothing but the icy knot of inevitability settling around me, suffocating and inescapable.

“It’s forbidden mother,” my voice caught up in my throat. “The Veiled Three will send punishment sooner.”

“No they won’t, honey.” A smirk appeared on her lips. “They only get attracted to forbidden children.” “As long as you don’t conceive ,you are safe.”

“They will kill me.”