The Priestess' Affair [Books 1 &2]

𝐗𝐕𝐈𝐈. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐢

-HER-

The next night I lay in my bed gazing at the ceiling of my bedroom, thinking of my brother's black eye and the company of dispatched troops. He deserved more than that black eye for his foolish step — the consequence of which would be far more solemn than just losing his life.

It'd be a lie to say that I was concerned about his life. It was the last thing I cared about on this earth. My greatest concern was Somirea. It was decided who would win and lose in this, and unfortunately, my brother wasn't taking this seriously. It was going to make his defeat trouncing.

Vittoria had the opportunity to turn him into a frog and put his clownery to an end...

...but if only things were so uncomplicated.

My brother would lose Somirea if he continued with his plans. With him, I'd be losing my opportunity to take the throne back. It'd be formidable to win it back from the werewolf king— should he succeed and annex the entirety of Somirea.

It'd be such a disesteem for me to put through everything to have someone else take it all away only because of my stupid brother.

I wouldn't allow this at any cost!!!

The more I pondered about it, the more things seemed to be out of my hands. It was still early into the night, and even though I was exhausted from our voyage back to the Shrine, I couldn't fall asleep with my mind racing a hundred miles per hour.

What was Vittoria going to do?

I was sure she wouldn't sit down and tolerate my brother continuing with his stupidity. Even though my brother was the least favoured contender of the throne, having a puppet on the throne was far more manipulatable than having that despot werewolf king should he annex Somirea.

She had been planning... scheming. On our way back, she'd been shuffling her cards, again and again, trying to see something. In her eyes, I had seen that deviant perseverance, that nefarious cunningness that made my shadow tremble... she was thinking something, and I needed to know what it was! I was on the cusp of losing my mind if I went longer without talking to Vittoria.

I leapt out of my bed and listened for a moment to make sure Nuncia was asleep. It was pretty dark, and seeing me leave my room would make her suspicious. I knew that she had something cooking in her head. I didn't want to supply her with more spices.

As quiet as a mouse, I skulked out of my room and tiptoed across Nuncia's door. Once I had crossed a safe threshold, I broke into a run, racing down the stony aisles towards the part of the Shrine that all the priestesses dreaded— the High Priestess' Office.

I was certain Vittoria was still there at this hour. She went to bed last and woke up first. I was hoping to startle her with my presence, but I was the one being startled. 

I was about to turn towards her office when suddenly, I noticed a figure way ahead in the aisle. It was Vittoria but what surprised me was seeing her heading out of the Shrine building, but at this hour?

My prying nature instantly had me following her. The night air greeted me warmly when I stepped out of the back door of the Shrine. It was hard for me to find Vittoria in the dark. But as a massive curtain of clouds parted to unveil the moon briefly, my eyes caught the white of her satin cloth flickering in the woods behind the Shrine.

Where was she going?

To answer this question, I tailed her. She strolled through the woods before descending to the west edge of the Shrine's mountain via an uneven dirt trail. It took me a lot of effort to follow her in the darkness. I almost tripped twice over some logs and had a few thorns in my heel halfway down.