Hope knew this had been a warm welcome from Drake. If he didn't want to see her, he would have thrown her out a long time ago, or her head would have hung from the ramparts of the castle. The truth was that she had not come here just for him but because she needed his help.

He was the only influential person she knew who could help her discover information that would fill in the many gaps she had about her genealogy and the powers she had. Or at least that was how Hope managed to convince herself to follow the urge of seeing him again.

The woman smoothed her dress and went in search of Drake. The game could continue even after solving the much more severe problems she had.

The woman didn't have time to take a few steps out of the room, and two fragile hands hugged her, and a soft voice cried out. "Lady Hope, you're home!"

Home? She had never thought of this castle as her home. And yet, it seemed that the only people waiting for her were here. Is that really what makes a house become a home?

She had always had beings eagerly awaiting her at home. These had always been her pets. As it turned out, Ona was generally too busy to wait for her and miss her, or maybe she didn't know how to show it to her child. What was certain was that now was the first time she was expected by people who had been worried about her and had thought of her.

Ayala led her into her former room, which looked exactly the same as Hope had left it. Even the dresses were in the exact order in the closet. It was as if she had woken up the next day after six months of sleep.

"Lady Hope, why did you leave?" Ayala asked in a whisper.

The mistress of the beasts sighed deeply. "I had to be free, to discover who I am and what I want from life."

"And did you find out?" Ayala was like a curious child who wanted to know her parents' adventures when she had not been with them on vacation.

Hope did not want to tell her that she had discovered where she came from but that she had been forced to kill people with her bare hands in a grotesque and bloody way during her adventure and that she had hardly recognized herself. She still didn't know what she wanted from life, and Hope could not obtain freedom as long as she was still stuck in the past.

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Hope answered shortly so as not to have to explain. "Yes, I have learned enough, and now I am better. What happened around here?"

"Oh, at first, it was terrible. We were all afraid of what Lord Springwood would do," Ayala began. "He sent guards to find the perpetrators who set fire to your village. After finding them, the master calmed down a bit, but then he started sending guards in small teams to all the corners of the world looking for you. I heard he sent at least one spy to the royal court, or so I eavesdropped. You know, we servants gossip a lot. "

Hope didn't understand anything anymore. Ayala's story might have been a little distorted, given that most things were probably gossip from various sources or heard in peculiar circumstances. To be sure, she best persuaded Drake to tell her the truth, or at least some of it. "Ayala, can you ask Drake to have dinner together tonight? Then help me prepare something special?"

Ayala's eyes widened a little scared. "I do the second part with the greatest pleasure, but I am afraid every time I have to talk to Lord Springwood. I never know how he will react. "

Hope sighed and stood up, heading for the door. "Stay calm, Ayala. I'm going to face the monster."

Drake was back in his study, reading a book, and a cup of tea was lying on the table beside him. Someone already rearranged the desk, and the papers were in perfect order again, as if nothing had happened there. Hope shivered as she looked at the desk, her body remembering the moments spent there.

She overcame that state fairly quickly and took a seat on the chair in front of Drake, staring at him intently. The man glanced over the book and then returned to reading, and his eyes began to follow the lines of the book again slowly from left to right.

Hope wasn't the patient kind of woman, so she broke the silence. "Let's make a truce for one night. We have to talk. You know this is best for both of us. In the end, we decide if we leave things as they are or if we continue our little game."

Drake closed the book with a deafening click. In his eyes, that fire she knew was smoldering, but either it didn't burn so hard anymore, or now he could keep it under control. It was certain that something had changed inside him. Drake's voice, on the other hand, had remained just as dominant and seductive. "I agree, on one condition. In the end, I'm the one who decides if we continue our little game, as you called it. And you won't have a say in it. Are you willing to give up control for one night? "

Hope didn't know why, but the instinct told her that question had more implications than dinner and a discussion. She could walk on swampy ground, where she could always step into a trap that would catch her and drag her into the abyss with no way out. That's how she felt when she looked into Drake's eyes.

Hope knew that the one who is in charge could control everything from the shadows and let the other one enjoy an ostensible authority. "I surrender control for one night," Hope said, lifting her chin proudly. The smile on Drake's face and his burning eyes were promising an eternity of murderous dreams of pleasure.