The girl with the fire in her veins

Rozdziale Jedenaście

Lucja froze as she let the girl's answer wash over her.

With panicked eyes she looked at her as a plea for help, but the girl turned away and rushed out of the room, spooked by what had just happened.

As soon as her presence left the room Lucja felt empty. What was she to do?

She pondered over her next move as she got out of the tub and dressed herself. In theory the maid was supposed to do it, but Lucja got the feeling that that wouldn't be the case with her.

It was almost supper time and marvellous scents wafted through the open door on the balcony. The kitchen was nearby and through the noises made by the crickets and frogs outside one could hear the distinguished sounds of pots and pans in use.

It has been a while since Lucja had eaten something. The dizziness she felt was an indication that it was quite some time ago. It distracted her and hindered her from making any sense of her thoughts.

She decided to address the situation at hand after dinner and opted to wait for the supper bell to ring instead.

As if on cue Lepoldt knocked on her door and patiently waited for her to come around and open it.

"Dinner is ready, madam," he said as he held out his arm for her to hook into. "The prince had requested you eat without him tonight as he has urgent duties to attend to."

"Oh, my is everything alright?" Lucja asked with a faint gasp. Her free hand fluttered up to her chest in shock as an attempt to seem sincere.

"Everything is in order, madam. Do not let his absence keep you from enjoying your dinner," Lepoldt said curtly before leading Lucja around a sharp turn into the grand dining hall.

Servants all scurried around as they carried dish after dish from the kitchen. It was a feast that could feed an entire village. The smell of it drew Lucja closer to the table until she found her seat. Lepoldt could sense that she was starving and immediately signaled for a servant to help her dish up.

Soon Lucja was overwhelmed with all the food at her disposal. Never in her life did she have the chance to eat this much food and the thought made her throat hitch. She wished her parents could enjoy it with her. She imagined how her brother would scarf down too much food and it made her chuckle, earning a side-wards glance from Lepoldt.

The room soon became silent as all the servants, along with Lepoldt, left for the kitchen, leaving Lucja alone in the grand dining room. She didn't mind the solitude as it gave her time to think. She had no idea where she was and she had absolutely no way of getting back to where the prince had found her. The reality of her situation came barreling down and suddenly Lucja felt suffocated. She needed to get some fresh air and decided to retreat to her bedroom's balcony.

Just as she got up to leave Lepoldt appeared to escort her to her room, but she asked to be alone and assured the elderly man that she would find her way around the castle's never-ending corridors. 

The castle was eerily quiet as Lucja made her way to her room. A shiver ran down her spine as she passed dozens of portraits of Henryk's ancestors. It felt as if their eyes were watching her every move as her footsteps reverberated against the cold stone walls. 

She could see her bedroom door and quickened her pace. Just then a figure appeared from the room next to her's, making her stop dead in her tracks. The man looked like Henryk at first, but as he moved closer to Lucja it became apparent that in fact it wasn't the prince.

He had an air about him that made Lucja take a few steps back. He was a few years younger than Henryk, but had the same strikingly handsome features, but it was her eyes that caught her attention. Lucja watched him as he watched her, his eyes bright blue with mischief.

"Good evening, Miss" he said in a low voice.

Lucja swallowed hard. His voice was so soothing, nothing like the prince's harsh tone. It made her blush.

"Good evening," she quickly said as she curtsied.

Her sudden discomfort resulted in a low chuckle erupting from his chest. 

"You are the girl my brother has picked up off the side of the road," It wasn't a question, but statement so rude it caught Lucja off-guard.

"You're Henryk's brother?" Lucja asked dumbfounded. He never mentioned that he had a brother.

"Levitan," he said with a nod.

Without asking he grabbed her arm and examined the bright red veins that made their way up to her elbows.

"Fascinating," He murmured before dropping her arm. "I know of a boy who's arms look just like yours. It is said that he works in a cornfield a few towns over. My br-"

Lucja cut him off with a wave of her hand. "I have to go to that boy," she said as she gathered her skirts. "I received a prophecy stating that my cure would be a boy working in a field. It has to be him," she quickly explained as she made her way to her bedroom door.

"I have to tell the prince," she said as she packed her small suitcase.

"That probably wouldn't be such a good idea,"  Levitan said. "My brother has tried many years to find someone with the curse. He is obsessed with it. He wants it. I don't think he'll let you go any time soon. Especially since you are able to speak."

This information left Lucja sitting on her bed. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you've lost me?" she managed to say.

"I know we're supposed to tell you that he removed the servant's vocal cords because he liked to only hear his own voice, but really they had to be removed because of all the experiments he's doing on them."

The shocked expression on Lucja's face urged him to continue. "As you may know it could be possible for the bearer to turn into a werewolf.  My brother wants this and has resorted to capturing many wolves to extract their blood. He performs numerous experiments on the servants with the extracted blood in hopes of finding a way to inject the cure into himself. It causes great pain for the servants. Eventually he couldn't take their screaming so he had their vocal cords removed."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Lucja asked after a few seconds of silence.

"I don't support his actions. It has gone on for too long and my father has decided to turn a blind eye on it all. If I can help you I like to think that I'm helping the others that had suffered before you."

"I.. I need to lie down for a moment," was all Lucja could manage to say. Everything she just learned started to weigh down on her, taking away any energy she had left for the day.

A/N

Soooo this chapter is a bit longer, but I just couldn't help myself!

I am at home for TWO months now so I'm planning on writing a whole lot more!

Stay tuned if you want to know what happens next ;)

(I combined a few chapters of the story as you might have noticed already. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.)

P.S Please like/comment if you enjoyed reading this chapter. It would mean so much to me!

Nicole

xx