Dark

ROSALIND’S POV
I had to find it this time. I couldn’t afford to lose sight of it again. But I had linked for just a second and it was gone. I marched straight into the dark alley, determined to find what I had been so careless to lose. I searched every corner of the alley but found nothing. Absolutely nothing but scrambling rats.
It was totally dark but I could see. I could see very clearly. I left the alley, disappointed. There was only one option.
The forest.
It was much wider and bigger than the disgusting alley. But it was also more dangerous. I didn’t have much of a choice though.
There was an ominous feeling seeping from the core of the forest. I felt it and I knew I would find what I was looking for. A mixture of dread and relief was mounting in me.
The river looked very silky in the darkness. I was inexplicably drawn to it.
I walked toward it and looked. What I saw made me gasp.
My eyes were two bright blue stars shining in the darkness. They were so bright that they turned the entire water body to a shining stream. It was scary yet beautiful. I looked so different.
I heard the sound of a twig snapping from behind me. I could feel the goosebumps appear on my skin as I turned to look at what had caused the sound.
A black bird was perched on the tree, staring intently at me, with different coloured eyes; one brown and one blue. It looked at me, not like an animal, the stare was so intense I could feel my body go numb with fear.
It blinked and I screamed.
I woke up totally drenched in sweat. My entire pajamas were soaked and cold. It made my body shiver violently. I wasn’t totally sure if the shivers were due to the cold or just fear.
I shut my eyes tight and groaned in frustration. This had happened before but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember anything that happened in the nightmare I just woke up from. I knew it was a nightmare. What else would make me wake with this much fear and sweat?
This same thing happened last week. A bad dream and then total amnesia from what had jolted me from my sleep. The harder I tried to remember, the more difficult it was to grasp anything. Even the slight ones that seemed to be just within my grasp. Gone.
I had never experienced something like this so all this was beginning to overwhelm me. It scared me. The dream might not have been real but what if it meant something?
Either way, the fear I was feeling as a result of it was very real and a definite cause of alarm. What frustrated me the most was the fact that I couldn’t talk to anybody about all this, because what the fuck was I supposed to tell them?
“Oh I had a bad dream but I just can’t remember the slightest detail. Any advice?”
That sounded stupid even as a thought in my head.
I hopped out of the soaked bed, and changed my clothes into something dry. Then I went to the bathroom and splashed my face with cold water. I needed to go on a walk, feel some fresh air. It was still very early, hence still quite dark outside.
I couldn’t bring myself to leave my chambers at that hour. My body just wouldn’t budge So I decided to instead get busy. I changed the bedspread with new fresh sheets and put it away in the laundry. Cleaned the room, arranged the clothes, dusted the furniture. Just like I used to do when I was working as a maid in the palace.
This kept my mind busy and helped pass time as I waited for the sun to rise. I really missed Cillian’s company now. His big strong arms holding me in a cuddle. His strong scent which was almost metallic. I had been upset and jealous for no reason, thinking that he was considering getting engaged, but I was wrong. He had made that very clear the other day but I hadn’t listened well enough.
I knew this was all very messed up, considering the fact that I was also engaged but I didn’t really care. At this point, all I cared about was being with Cillian, I wanted him too. His presence, sitting with him, talking to him, touching him, letting him touch me.
That was all I could think about.
Eventually I left the room. It was beginning to get suffocating doing practically nothing all day. Somehow I missed working as a maid now, when instead of planning, I unintentionally bumped into both Cillian and Killian every day. It was magical. The spontaneity made it more sexy.
In fact, why couldn’t I still do that? Yes it was unseemly for the crown princess to be seen sweeping and cleaning, but nobody said anything about helping the princes in sorting out petitions.
I saw that preparations for the moon festival had kicked off immediately following the announcement. There were already decorations being set up, lightings being fixed up to and many other fancy stuff. There were different people coordinating different activities all over the pack.
I was happy everyone was too busy to notice me, it made me feel more confident.
I found Cillian and Killian in the petition room. They were quiet and each buried in work and barely noticed me walk in. The seating arrangement was still the same as before, nothing changed, just that I wasn’t sitting with them anymore.
I cleared my throat to make my presence known.
They both looked up in unison.
They were both surprised to see me, though Killian just looked at me for a moment and continued whatever he was doing.
Cillian’s face lit up when he saw me. It almost looked like he was praying for this to happen.
I sat next to him in front of the pile of petitions.
“What do I have to do?”
Cilliam wiped his brow excitedly.
“Just sort them according to their dates and I’ll take care of the rest.” He said, trying to hide the glee in his voice but I caught it anyway.
As I sorted the petitions one by one, I quietly breathed in Cillian’s scent. I was happy to see that absolutely nothing had changed. It was still the same strong metallic scent with a hint of rosewood, or was it jasmine? I wasn’t particularly sure what it was, it was very attractive. How could someone smell so sexy?!
I shook myself back to reality and got to work, trying to concentrate and keep my mind from roaming wild.
After a while, I felt something move up my calf, up and down, under the table. I had felt that before. Cillian’s footsie was intoxicating.
I glanced at him and saw his eyes were in me. He bit his lip in a sexy way. My thighs went numb and I spread my legs, yearning for his touch.
He glanced across at Cillian and the game of footsie stopped abruptly. I set a strand of hair behind my ear nervously, totally forgetting that Killian was also present in the petition room as well. It was just so hard to keep our hands. of each other when we. were this close together.
We both reached for the pen on the table and our fingers grazed. This sent sparks across my body because I immediately withdrew mine. He did the same and the pen rolled over and dropped to the ground. This was getting ridiculous, we were like highschool kids.
Cillian reached down, picked the pen and order was restored again.
We went through the petitions silently for what felt like a long time, then all of a sudden, he stood to his feet with one particular petition in his hand.
“I knew it!” His voice was cold, threatening.
“What’s up?” Killian asked from his side, he hadn’t said a word since I stepped in.
“Killian, come take a look at this.” Cillian called still with the petition in his hands.
Killian was there in a flash. He snatched the paper and read through it quickly. His eyes were dark by the time he was done.
“What’s the matter?” I was still at a loss for what was actually going on.
“This is confirmation and eyewitness reports that it was indeed a group of rogues that started the fire in the village the other day. It wasn’t an accident.”
I clasped my palms over my mouth in shock. I remembered the fire that had broken last week in the village in the North. Would the witches really do something like that on purpose? But why?
Cillian ran through the latest batch of petitions, searching frantically.
“Here. Wednesday, robbery. Friday, an attack along the bridge. Tuesday, fights in the pubs. Wednesday, harassment in the village square. Saturday, stealing. Thursday, attacks in the factory. Wednesday, more attacks. Knife battle at Redmoon square…”
“The list goes on and on and these are all eye witness reports from villagers and townspeople. These bastards have been harassing my people, attacking villages and starting fights all over the pack ever since they stepped foot into this pack, even up until this week.” Cillian spat, furiously, showing Killian the last of the petitions on the table.
This was too much. The witches had been attacking our people ever since the peace treaty was signed and they were not hiding it. They were very open with the attacks, stealing, fights, fires, harassments.
Killian kept the papers back on the table. His eyes were dark with rage.
“An attack on my people is an attack on me. This is an act of war.”