Stone Cold

Chapter 32

"Yes, Henry."

The doors rotated around their hinges, producing a light creak that appeared awfully loud in the pin drop silence engulfing the room in its suffocating clutches. Soon enough, a quiet Henry stepped inside the room. His losely dangling tunic due to the poorly fastened belt matched with the disheveled appearance of his brown tresses, making him look even more miserable.

She clenched her teeth as her gaze zeroed in on the red rims of his eyes,

'He hasn't slept properly either.'

"A messenger came by some moments ago, Mildady."

Her eyes widened as Henry placed a wax sealed envelope in front of her.

"I-Is this..?" She couldn't let the question out of her lips, afraid of being disappointed by a negative answer.

"Yes. It is from sire."

He was now standing in front of her with his head hung low and arms crossed behind.

"Oh, Henry..." The respect and loyalty Henry showed towards her despite the absence of his lord was remarkable. Their support has been the only thing keeping her sane in this unknown place.

"D-Do you wish for me to read it, Milady?" His stare was trained on the ground as he hesitantly asked the question.

She had needed Henry's help in sorting out the documents and making decisions in absence of Ares, and a big problem in her path was that she couldn't comprehend Middle English.

"Yes, Henry."

As soon as she the words, he didn't waste another moment in picking up the envelope, opening it hurriedly to read its contents.

Her eyebrows furrowed with worry as she inspected his big chocolate brown eyes full of excitement and hope soon turn into a gaze full of horror,

"What's written inside?"

"It says.. that as no evidence was found to prove the maid's hostile behaviour therefore Lord's case is to be determined through ordreal by fire."

'Ordreal by... fire?'

She knew it was one of the three famous ordreals of Medieval times. Ordreal by combat, Ordreal by water and Ordreal by fire.

In the ordeal by fire the suspect had to walk a distance of nine feet either by holding a red hot iron in his hands or over a red hot plough share. After the ordreal was done, their wounds were bandaged and they were asked to appear before the court after three days. After three days their bandages were opened. In case, the wounds had started healing, the accused was declared innocent, whereas in case where there were no improvement in the burning tissue, the accused were pronounced guilty and were punished according to their crime.

"I-Isn't fire lethal to vampires?" Her heart was thumping inside her ears as she dreadfully asked the out loud.

"It is, Milady, but only when the source is big enough and the vampire is exposed to it for a long period of time,"

A pained sigh escaped past his lips before he pressed his lips hard, urging himself to complete the rest of his sentence,

"In this case, lord will not be exposed to the fire directly. The burns will be only be superficial, but as soon as he would lose contact with the hot surface, his skin will start healing rapidly... before hundreds of humans present in the court."

'If that happens, they'll know the truth about Ares...'

A cold shiver ran down her spine as she thought about the consequences of the ordreal,