The Crown's Obsession (WN)

While she was speaking to Calhoun they were interrupted by Theodore, who had come to the gallery room to talk about some matters, and Madeline returned to Beth's room, watching over her so that when Beth would be awake, she would be here with her sister.

She pulled the chair near to Beth's bed, sitting down and she started to read the book given by Paschar. Calling him father was strange, thought Madeline to herself. She remembered the white wings that spread behind his back. They weren't huge like Calhoun's, and it appeared to be of average size.

Madeline wondered if Paschar's abilities had been taken away or if he was careful when it came to using them. Because she knew he could kill Lilith, but he didn't. Instead, he had punished her by turning her to a human, while Calhoun had given the final touch to her life by pushing her down from the tower.

"Try pulling the energy from your stomach, moving it towards the arms and then bringing it to your fingers," murmured Madeline, reading the words written in there. "To receive and channel other energy, pull it from the surrounding. The air is one of the medium through which the energy will be transmitted. Take it inside your body as if you are breathing, and let the energy circulate through your body."

Madeline decided to get up and stay away from Beth because she didn't want to take away her sister's life by mistake. Pushing the patio's door, she stepped outside. She looked around to see that the balcony was a closed one that showed other patios of the guest rooms—snowflakes had started to fall one after another, and when she saw one twirl down, she stretched her hands to catch it.

Because of the temperature of the body, the snowflake had started to melt, and she did what was written in the book—breathing life back to the melting snowflake to turn it crisp into it's original state before it had fallen in her hand. She blew air to see the snowflake continue its journey.

As she tried to control her emotions in her mind, she moved her hand in a circle above her head, the snow near her moved quicker in motion, almost like a hurricane and she controlled it with her hand.

When Madeline's concentration averted to what happened back in Cossington, she lost her control on the snowflakes. Suddenly out of nowhere, the snow she had been controlling turned nothing less to sharp blades of a knife. One of them almost pierced her open hand if she hadn't pulled her hand away in time. She felt her hitch because the sharp blades fell straight down on the floor of the patio, where the tips broke.

How in God's name did the snow turn into weapons? She heard the door knock, and Madeline quickly pushed the broken ice to the side.

Madeline saw that it was Lady Monique who had entered Beth's room. "I hope I am not disturbing," said the lady.

"No," Madeline answered, and her eyes glanced at Beth before looking back at Monique, "Beth has been unconscious since the time we left Cossington."

The woman walked forward, moving to the foot of the bed and taking a look at her sister.

"She looks paler than the time I saw her in the morning today," commented Monique, her red eyes fell on the wet cloth that Madeline had placed on Beth's forehead. The lady said, "And the room reeks of blood. It would be better to shift her to another room and clean this place. The last thing you will need is one of the vampires coming to sniff her and look at her as a piece of meal."

Madeline had taken a mental note of it earlier, and she said, "I didn't want to wake her up."

"That's understandable," said Monique in the same soft tone without raising it, "A werewolf's bite is always unbearable because of its thick teeth and venom. How are you holding yourself, milady? How about we two step into the patio, so that we can speak more freely."

Madeline, who was staring at Monique, nodded her head, and they stepped outside where she had been earlier. Unlike Lady Rosamund, who often liked to sit down and have tea while belittling and mocking people subtly, Madeline noticed how Lady Monique was different compared to the Wilmot's. The vampiress had a serious-looking face, and one side of her face was covered with her hair with her nose and eyes sharp.

And the way she had noticed, Calhoun had a better relationship with this relative of his than anyone of his other relatives.

"I am okay," Madeline responded to the question that was asked and Monique offered her a smile.

"You should be careful about what you do, where you do, milady. It is not just ears that you need to be careful about but also the eyes." On Monique's words, Madeline turned slightly weary on what the woman was speaking about. She stared at the woman, waiting for her to speak more, "I heard you were playing with the snowflakes."

Madeline's body turned rigid, and she bit the inside of her cheek. Heard? Did someone tell the lady about it? It had been only a few minutes since she had tried to control it. And she had thought it was a closed space where no one would come to witness what she was doing.

"Do not worry, Lady Madeline. I wish no harm to befall on you or on the King. Therefore, I will keep it as a secret. I believe you have already come across people who don't know when to keep their mouth close. It is why sometimes we have to silence them," said Monique, looking across some of the patios of the rooms that was built facing the inside of the castle with a gap in the middle that had a garden built at below.

Madeline didn't need to ask what the silence here meant. Was Monique not surprised by what she heard by the servant and she believed it?

"I knew you were different from the moment Calhoun sent the wedding invitation to me. I doubt he would find anyone lower than his calibre to be suitable for him," said Monique and Madeline tried to dissect and understand the meaning of the words uttered by the woman.

"You know about him," said Madeline and the woman turned to look into her brown eyes.

"I have for a long while now," there was a faint smile on Monique's lips. "I was surprised at first, and even though I never asked to clear my questions, nor go to find about it, I was astonished to see him with black wings. As you know, it is not usual for us to see people with wings except for birds. And one like that, it is obvious to tell where he comes from or what he is."

"Does Calhoun know that you know?" questioned Madeline, and the woman smiled.

"I wonder about that," said the woman, catching one of the snowflakes and looking at it.

"Did you know his mother?" Madeline saw Monique nod her head, the smile dying down from her face while a sigh escaped her lips.

"Not too closely like the others, but in the past, I have met her a couple of times. I remember the time when my half-brother brought her to the castle. He looked like a love-struck fool who could barely get his eyes off of her," said Monique and for a moment she paused before continuing, "I thought it was wonderful that he had fallen in love. That he would be different compared to my father, but I was wrong."

"Apologies beforehand, but may I ask how you were allowed to live under your father's protection?" questioned Madeline. It was because Calhoun's mother was kicked out of the castle, while Lady Monique's mother had got a mansion to live in, which wasn't too far away from the castle.