Chapter 120
Talia felt her body trembling from exhaustion and tension, so she relaxed her limbs as if surrendering to an unbearable weight. It was all over, but a strange sense of emptiness pressed against her chest.
Varkas stood up in silence and then turned toward her, gazing at her for a long moment without uttering a word. Talia tried to ignore him; she quickly pulled the blanket to cover herself and swung her foot out of the bed, staggering. She wanted to escape immediately, as if remaining in that room for a single second longer would consume her.
However, the man's strong arm wrapped around her waist with lightning speed, making her fall back onto the mattress. She raised her hands to push him away out of pure instinct.
"Let me go! It's over... I'm going back to my room right now!"
He gripped her wrists tightly, his eyes flashing with a cold ferocity.
"Just like that? You get what you came for and leave?"
"I told you from the very beginning that this was the only thing I wanted!"
Talia swallowed hard and locked eyes with him in a defiant gaze, a mixture of pain and pride.
"I have no need for you anymore."
The air suddenly froze. She felt his grip tighten until it almost hurt; then, she pushed him with all the strength she could muster and crawled toward the edge of the bed.
"Don't touch me again!"
Varkas uttered a few words in the ancient language of the East, his raspy voice echoing like distant thunder. Right after, he picked up the blanket from the floor and wrapped her firmly in it, as if protecting a precious object... or as if confining a dangerous creature.
Talia completely lost her temper and began to writhe and scream inside the blanket.
"No! Release me!"
But he did not answer. He carried her with ease and left the room half-naked, wearing only his trousers. The guards watched them in silent astonishment, but no one dared to utter a word.
He crossed the long corridor, walked up the stairs with a firm stride, and then pushed open the door of the third-floor bedroom with his shoulder. He laid her down on the large bed with a strange gentleness that contrasted sharply with the harshness of his features.
Talia pulled the blanket up to her chin and turned toward the wall.
"I want to be alone... Leave."
"..."
"Please, get out of here."
Her voice faltered, and Varkas inhaled deeply, as if suppressing a colossal impulse within him, before leaning down close to her.
"Answer me just one question... Did I hurt you?"
Talia was on the verge of screaming, "Yes! It always hurts!", but the words froze in her throat. She remembered that she was the one who had come, she was the one who had asked for it, she was the one who had set the conditions. Everything that had happened was of her own free will... wasn't it?
She shook her head slowly, her eyes brimming with tears that she refused to let fall.
"I am just... exhausted. Let me rest, please. I don't want to see you right now."
Varkas remained standing for a long time, his body rigid as a statue and the veins prominent on his bare torso. For a moment it seemed as if he was going to explode, but then he suddenly grew calm, as usual.
"I will call the doctor to examine you."
"It's not necessary."
"If you don't promise to accept the treatment, I will not leave this room."
His voice turned harsh, and Talia finally yielded.
"... Fine. Go now."
He lingered for a few moments more, as if a thousand words were crowding in his throat; then he turned around and closed the door behind him with a deathly silence.
Talia remained curled up on herself, listening as his rhythmic footsteps faded down the hallway, and then she burst into silent weeping until her tears ran dry.
The next morning, the sky was gray and heavy, and a freezing wind shook the last leaves from the trees.
Talia sat on the edge of the bed, contemplating the bandages that the elderly doctor had changed before dawn. Mrs. Martha remained silent, as usual, but her eyes conveyed something that Talia could not fully understand... pity? Reproach? Fear?
A light knock echoed at the door and then a young maid entered, carrying a silver tray.
"My lady... I have brought you breakfast. The Lord said you must eat all of it."
She placed the tray on the small table and then hesitated for a moment.
"And... he also said that if you need anything, absolutely anything, you should request it immediately. He will come in person himself."
Talia did not answer. She kept her gaze fixed on the window, where the clouds gathered as if reflecting her own inner state.
At the boundaries of the southern property, Varkas stood upon a small hill, observing the partially burned fields. The scent of blood and torn flesh permeated the air.
The trail of the wolves was evident: prints of a massive size and an amount of blood far greater than what an ordinary canine would leave behind. Daren bent down beside him to examine the mark of a gigantic claw.
"These are no ordinary wolves, my lord. Look at the size... And this mark here, it's as if something dragged the horse while it was still alive."
Varkas raised his eyes toward the distant forest of Armond, where the mist gathered like a curtain.
"It is not just wolves. There is something else leading them."
He fell silent for a moment and then added in a whisper so low that only Daren could catch it:
"Something that knows the way here... and that scents new blood."
He turned sharply and looked toward the castle on the horizon. A strange oppression had been squeezing his chest since morning, a sensation he could not explain... as if something had begun to move in the shadows, and he himself had opened the door for it without knowing.
"Reinforce the guard around Lady Talia's quarters as well. No one enters or leaves without my personal authorization."
Daren looked at him in surprise.
"Even the maids?"
"Especially the maids."
Varkas mounted his horse and then rode toward the castle with a haste that Daren had never seen him display before.
There was something in the air... a scent of danger that he had not perceived in many years.
And something else, considerably more dangerous: a feeling of guilt that was gnawing at his heart for the first time in his life.
