Black Ice ✓ | Deathsworn #1

Chapter 4: Gathering

Spring came, then arrived summer. Autumn went around, winter took its place. Two years once rolled by in the span of a sigh. Then another three years after that. Seasons came and went. Contrary to the chaotic period that was the beginning of my life, all I had now were uneasy peace and quiet...a deafening period of silence that brought with it a threat of trouble.

It didn't matter whether everything around me was calm. My heart was in constant turmoil. There was a storm inside me that I could not quiet, and I had not seen a day of tranquility ever since my reincarnation. I never spoke of Amber's words to others, but I kept it in the corner of my mind. Once in a while, it would be whispered to me as a reminder, and dreams of him, along with memories of my previous life, would often plague me some nights.

What happened during my reincarnation was significant, I knew. And it would not be something I could carelessly bury and forget about. If I tried, it would definitely suddenly pounce at me one day and bite me in the ass.

But though I tried, my efforts barely bore fruit. Since my coming to the House of Oblivion to live with the nine mistresses, one of them becoming my adoptive mother, I had not been able to leave. At all. The best manner by which I could access information was through the books, but I had wasted quite a bit of time earning the ability to access this.

Though Amber had granted me the ability to understand the spoken language, I wasn't equipped with reading literacy. No. I had to learn everything from scratch. Thankfully, my constant urging of my mother to read me storybooks before bed had helped me acquire the skills I needed. Before long, I had developed enough mastery of the world's—if not at least the country's—alphabet.

But these books were limited in the end.

If I wanted to learn more about the world I was moving in, I had to be in the world I was moving in. All I had seen this past five years was the courtyard. It was spacious, equipped with a complex, artful landscape that gave sanctuary from the noise and chaos of a buzzing city. Unfortunately, it had become too small. Too familiar. Not to mention suffocating.

"Evy? Darling?"

I felt a warm hand alight on my shoulder, gently shaking me awake. I stirred and found my mother's face looming over mine, dressed in her usual warm smile.

"It's time to eat," she said. "Come, have your lunch with the mistresses. We're all waiting for you."

I rubbed the crust out of my eyes and fixed my grip on the book that was lying open on my lap. "Sorry. What are we having?" I asked.

"Come and see," she urged.

I clumsily stood and took her hand, letting her guide me back into the House.

"What have you been reading?" she asked as we walked.

I unconsciously shifted my grip on the book I held, gazing down at it to ask myself the same question. "This..." I trailed off. The bright, golden word Vertvalden was stamped on the front. I hid it behind my back, but I knew the action was futile. "Sorry, mama. I was just curious."

She didn't scold me. Instead, she put a hand on top of my head and pulled me close. "I should be the one saying sorry, Evy. I can't tell you anything about your father."

Right.

That was the excuse.

I did not know how to fill in the awkward silence, nor I did not try. Nonetheless, considering how Oblivion was such a big place, it continued to get dragged out. I drowned myself in my thoughts and distracted myself by looking at the gardens we passed through.

My mother decided not to tell me she adopted me. Now, we were living this perpetuated lie we both knew the truth to. I wanted to be honest about my situation, but I did not know how. I wasn't sure about what they were going to do if they found at, as well.