After dinner, the change of rule won over the friendly air of the dining room. The atmosphere in the main house turned listless and gloomy. The sensation of foreignness cast its veil like a big tent above the silent corridors.

The window's glass of the main hall reflected a thick water fog culminating inside. A shadow appeared and pushed one of the windows sash open. It caused the white fog to be tempered by the outside air as it ascended to the sky in surges.

Behind the sash, Lord Shiva stood, wings wide open, baring his dress to the display. He wasn't actually alone. Another shadow was sitting in the rear, not far away.

The water fog source turned up to be generated by this shadow, as a recent wave emerged each time he breathes.

"Are you sure you can handle Seaben? I heard from Hendrickson that he still has servants?" Lord Shiva cut the silence dead:" and what about that informer of yours?" He hissed: "Do not tell me he is the guide you have told me about? Finally, Hendrickson got something wrong." A grin failed to not brightly color his visage.

Not receiving any interaction, he continued his indulgence in baring his thoughts and complaints: "You can't be in two places at the same time." He meant that Savannah couldn't track his ex-butler and the guide simultaneously. "Besides, I have yet to get your spare scythe repaired."

"Don't worry, I do not need to kill anybody for now." Savannah finally was able to participate in this one-sided conversation. Her voice was deep and heavy as if it was coming from a bottomless well. The water fog climaxed from her mouth with each syllable she had pronounced, alerting Lord Shiva.

The carefree wings stashing his body flapped open, unchaining his arms. He strode towards the source of the voice, all concern, and he heeds: "Savannah!" A gentle tone, yet a fit of subtle anger, ignited in his eyes. He was torn between caring for her health and faulting her for not being prudent enough: "This is not a game. Look at yourself and your carelessness. And look at me, my freedom is at stake if you don't get back the opal circlet at any price."

Water fog rolled in turbulent and Savannah started to cough. Making her back relax on the seat, so it will be easier for her to breathe. Witnessing her gasping for air, Lord Shiva's heart grows softer, his wing turned back to cloak his body." What happened? How did you get yourself in this state of disarray?"

Savannah thought back to the scene when the crimson vampire started vomiting: "I was careless." And waited for Shiva's lecture. To her surprise, preach ended with a simple short sentence, foreign to Lord Shiva's nature for being a professional lecturer, notably to her.

"All of my problems began with your carelessness."

The silence preyed again, the fog proliferated, working hand in hand with darkness to obscure the whole room. And yet again everything was slain by Lord Shiva's serious voice: "I am not leaving all the work to you, you track down the guide or whoever you think will lead you to the Opal circlet, and I will go after Seaben." He sighed, eyes fixed on the turbulence of the fog: "After all, Between him and me, there will be a long chat."

"No." Savannah said after her cough lessened: "You are under surveillance..." She glared at Lord Shiva. The latter only could see two sources of yellow light blazing among the fog and darkness.

Not affected or engaged by the firm refusal, Lord Shiva bent the stream of the conversation, an inquiry long dug into his head refusing to let his consciousness to the comfort of certainty. " You said you met this doctor in Babel?"

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"Uh-huh."

"You also said that his most characterized trait is the bone-eater in his right leg and right arm."

"Uh-huh." Savannah was unsure of where these questions were leading to. Her wonder intensified when his inquiries stopped coming. Arms crossed, hand supporting his chin, his wings restless, for an instant were open and with the twink of eye close.

"What?" Savannah's forbearance has gone with the window breeze. Thou she only obtained a long absent-minded glance. "You are killing me. Say something." She pleaded.

"I think you have been deceived."

More questions poured into Savannah's head.

"The Chimera race is varied and abundant. They exist everywhere. They live in tribes, some even have built prosperous cities. They united to create a glorious nation. Some of them are extremely gifted, powerful, and some of them dwell at the bottom well of existence. After an intermittent pause, Shiva continued: "Although, I have never met or heard a Chimera who survived a bone-eater to the age of ten years. Yet I have heard of certain creatures nicknamed bone-eater. I fear that there is more to this Chimera doctor than it reaches the eyes."

Savannah wasn't indifferent towards Lord Shiva's logic. Actually, she thought about this matter, high and low, long and hard.

What is Rokah's true identity? Who he is? What he is? Was it all coincidence when he appeared in her path?

Coincidences do not exist in this world. Everything happens for a reason. Those occurrences called coincidences only arise because someone else planned them.

Savannah gathered clues that surrounded this person's identity. Her theory about coincidences was reinforced when she thought about the Kerit. The same Kerit Mr. Hendrickson worked hard to trap while he was planning to kill him. This Kerit relationship with the doctor, she wondered about. He said he was his assistant; he said Rokah wasn't his real name...

All his declarations. Were they a diversion to gain her interest, her blessing? Savannah's intuition says otherwise.

To her dismay, fate desired to intervene with her scheme, under the cursed hand of Mr. Hendrickson. Nothing goes her way when Hendrickson makes his unwelcome entrance. He was and is skillful at baring the concealed cards in her hands, with or without an intention.

By telling Rokah about the truth behind this village, she had lost an immense advantage. Now, Rokah does and will not believe in her hollow promises or would he follow her unreasonable orders… Which will make her sister's hard work to transform him into a perfect puppet pour entirely in the trash can.

During their last private discourse, Savannah was nearly about to cut Mr. Hendrickson's throat if it wasn't for his brilliant proposal that magically patched all the loose ends of her initial plan. Furthermore, he promised her to help not only by concealing this matter from her mother but also will help her track down the whereabouts of the opal circlet.

Of course, nothing is free when Hendrickson is involved. He always manages to get his payment. According to or refusing has no meaning in his graded schema. Or obstacles, constraints will rain over the head of the ones who deny him what he thinks he deserves. In the case of Savannah, fears stamped from her mother discovering her hidden agenda, her selfish reasons, and her faithless objectives.

She thought about silencing the man for eternity but killing a herald in the presence of his pure-blood Sire doomed to be a declaration of war. A war her mother and sister worked hard to avoid. Death wasn't forever the right answer.

However, she must be impartial, pragmatic. Not governed by wavering emotions as her mother's painful lessons taught her. This firm resolve as powerful as it appeared didn't protect her from falling, again and again, victim to her own nightmares and recklessness.

Being reasonable when carefully calculating the pros and cons of Mr. Hendrickson's self-proclaimed successful plan. Her gains exceeded the cost, thus she decided to go with his proposal, at least for the present time.

She looked at Lord Shiva, the yellow color of her eyes gleamed in the darkness, giving an assuring flash of light: "It happened that I have discussed this matter with Nicolai, we have arrived at a mutual agreement, and we have designed a plan that goes perfectly with the current situation." When she finished her phrase, she didn't expect to receive the display of a doubtful face from the horned, winged creature.

His silhouette was shrouded in obscurity, yet she was able to discern the lineament of his visage, clear and patent. A typical ability of a beast and a night hunter.

Yearning for his opinion, waiting above the embers. Savannah's nature always welcomes a second view, a different perspective. At last, the Lord voiced his concern with an ambiguous question: "In exchange for what he is going to completely blind his eyes for your sake?"