Mystic High ✓

MH │50

In the previous chapter: Oriane and Uilliam experienced the after-effects of numerous seals breaking on the sacred flame. Uilliam deduced that Maeve O'Mordha, whom he revealed as Oriane's great-grandmother, was behind everything

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CHAPTER FIFTY

It kind of did make sense. After all, she hadn't heard from great-granny for such a long time, and then suddenly, a note came up saying she was to relocate to a boarding school. Little did she know it was a boarding school for the magickally-gifted.

Should she chalk it all up to coincidence that she was the —what did Uilliam call her— flame bearer? The same time someone was attempting to raise daevas? Trying to destabilise the world order of these immortals as they all knew it?

The atrociousness of the situation made her freeze in place. To think she was a part of a plot like that was beyond her comprehension.

Uilliam must have sensed her fear. Despite the severity of the situation, which he obviously was certain of, he relaxed his expression. In a neutral, steady tone, he said to her not quite reassuringly, "This will pass. Perhaps attending the ritual myself will clear up some of this confusion."

At that, Oriane tensed. A new thought crossed her mind. Uilliam somehow knew her great-granny's name and, clearly, also what a flame bearer was. Could it be possible that he could answer her many questions?

Hope blossomed in her chest, and so did something else. A cool sensation.

Uilliam seemed much more forthcoming now that he had accepted her help in dealing with these troublemakers. If so, perhaps this was a chance she could take to remove herself from the situation altogether.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, bracing for courage, and took a deep steadying breath for good measure.

"I have something to confess..."

Oriane admitted that she insisted on him attending the ritual was because the cultist had promised her answers to questions she had never been able to answer for years. In her haste to figure things out, she agreed to his terms to persuade him to attend the day of the blood moon. It was a lofty gamble, she admitted to him, one she was glad she no longer had to play, especially so if Uilliam had the answers.

"...I just want to know where I came from, that's all."

Uilliam was silent for long moments after she was done, likely a tad overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events. Although, he was already suspicious why she insisted he attend the ritual in the first place.

What he hadn't anticipated was how completely unaware of her heritage she was. No wonder she hadn't responded when he asked her once if she had taken on her original last name, and why she hadn't known what a flame bearer was. She had been completely blind-folded from her past. What she did know wasn't much at all. Stuck in a gold-gilded cage all her life, it was miraculous she hadn't gone insane or down a wrong path over the years.

Uilliam probably had more questions than she did. He had known about her lineage because of a note sent to him from Maeve ordering him to protect her. He hadn't questioned it at the time, after all, he owed the woman his life.

But even he didn't know who the O'Mordhas were, apparently Oriane's true family. He hadn't even heard of them before Maeve's note, let alone why she had passed her off as her own. And it wasn't like he was about to tell the poor girl the great-grandmother she had known all her life was, in fact, not her great grandmother. Should he? What a mess.

Uilliam pressed his lips to a thin line, frowning deeply. "I would have thought she gave you a direct line of contact but... that would just be too much to hope for but also... expected."