In The Dark Of Night

Chapter Twenty Four - Internal

Chapter Twenty-Four

Internal

Doubt truth to be a liar

~William Shakespeare, Hamlet

 The room was sweltering, compared to the cool outside air. 

Wynella hated it. 

But she had no right to hate anything - not now. Not when she'd come so close to looking death right in the face and exchanging courtesies. 

Or, at least, that's what Santino had told her when he'd forced her to lie on the same love-seat he'd been inhabiting when they'd entered his humble abode. 

"Now what could you have possibly been doing to get in such bad shape?" He'd 'tsk'ed at her, lips peeled back just slightly from his teeth, to show them a little pointed, his fingers shooting magical blue sparks as they worked over her chest. 

She noted his previously broken wrist was in perfect working order. 

"Cale. You have to look after C-" She'd tried to tell him, but he wouldn't hear any of it, batting away her pleads like they were insignificant, only focused on patching up her insides.

An ache she hadn't noticed before had finally started to ebb away. 

And then a sweet sleep had taken her; and that had been that.

But she was awake now - and she was irritated. 

It had been a cheap trick of Santino's to lull her to sleep under the pretences of fixing her up - he'd probably grown tired of her incessant whining to actually attend to someone who needed him, someone he didn't like, and decided the quick way to skirt his obligations was to knock her out. 

In the gentler sense of the word, anyway. 

She sat up, her hair falling around her, feeling a lot lighter and cleaner than it had only a few moments ago. It was then that she realized she was wearing a cute little sundress that ended at her mid-thigh, modest enough to have a lacy cut-out at the back and a fashionable print of flowers across its white bodice.

It was the fanciest thing she'd worn in days.

And she was aghast to be in it - how had Santino got it on her?

"Pretty, huh?" 

Wynella's head snapped around, brown eyes flashing - then, they landed on the speaker. 

In the doorway, wiping her hands free of some reddish-brown substance was the same blond woman from before - the one that had reminded her of Jamie.

On closer inspection, she realized the similarities ended at their blond hair and their beauty. This woman - Malyka, as Santino had called her - was a lot thinner than Jamie was, and a little taller too. More muscular and defined, as far as body types went. And there was something harder about her too - more warrior-like.

Jamie had been like a mother. 

Wynella could never imagine this woman as a mother. 

"What?" She asked, stupidly, feeling her cheeks flush.

Malyka gestured towards her dress with her head, wisps of blond hair falling into her face. "The dress. It's pretty, right?" 

"Uh, yeah... Yes. It's very pretty." I don't want to discuss dresses - where is Santino? I want to see Cale. "I'm Wyne-"

"The Fae. I know." Malyka cut across her, voice curt and tight. "Santino filled me in. Quite an excursion you've gotten yourself on." 

Wynella didn't like the judging lilt to her voice.