Chapter 24
Rowan shifted on the bed trying to get comfortable. His sleep had been plagued with nightmares of werewolves and worries about Arabella. He didn’t know what to do about her situation. He stared up at the white ceiling and put his arms behind his bed.
Sunlight streamed through the stained glass window falling on the stone floor. His eyes fell on the fireplace and he immediately averted his eyes. Normally by now Arabella would have come in to tend to the fire but ever since yesterday she had avoided him, and he didn’t seek her out. He needed to process the fact that she was a werewolf. He shut his eyes wishing he could get some peace from this ordeal.
There was a knock on his door and Rowan shot up turning his head to the door. It wouldn’t be Arabella, he told himself but he held his breath as the door pushed open and Rose walked in. He let out his held breath and smiled at her.
“Rose,” he greeted. She didn’t reply and shut the door behind herself despite her not asking him if she could come in. “What is it?” he asked curiously, she wasn’t acting like herself and that likely meant she wanted to talk about something important
“I just talked to Eleanor,” Rose answered. Rowan’s eyes widened as he thought of what Eleanor could have told Rose. Did she tell Arabella’s secret?
“Okay?” he said prompting her to go on. She crossed her arms and looked at him sternly. Now he was even more anxious to find out about the point to this visit.
“What did you say to her?” she asked angrily. “She’s different from the last time I talked to her. What did you say to her?”
“Why do you think I had something to do with her acting weirdly?” Rowan asked raising his hands in defence. Rose didn’t know about Arabella but he didn’t want to talk about Eleanor’s feelings towards him either.
“Don’t give me that,” Rose replied. “You and I both know she had feelings for you. It was obvious, at least to me. Luckily Gavin is as oblivious as ever or else he would be angry at you.”
“He never had a chance with Eleanor,” Rowan groaned. “It’s not my fault she likes me. I don’t like her.”
“So that’s what you told her?” Rose sighed. “You could have been gentler with the news.” Rowan shrugged and sat down on his bed.
“I couldn’t have her thinking there was a chance I would like her back later on,” Rowan stated. He couldn’t help but think how much easier it would have been if he had feelings for Eleanor rather than Arabella. At least Eleanor was human and not a creature his family hated and were supposed to kill. He shut his eyes at the thoughts of Arabella.
“Alright,” Rose said softly. “What’s wrong?” Rowan opened his eyes and didn’t say anything. “You can’t lie and tell me nothing’s the matter. I know you and I know when something’s up.”
“I can’t tell you,” Rowan answered.
“Why not?” she inquired curiously but Rowan shook his head. “I’m your sister, I won’t judge you.”
Rowan laughed humorlessly. “You wouldn’t understand,” he said. “It’s my problem and I’ll deal with it. No one else need be involved.”
“You don’t trust me?” Rose said, hurt flashed in her eyes.
“I trust you, just not with this,” Rowan said trying to explain in a way that would spare her feelings. “You don’t trust me with everything either,” he reminded gently and Rose looked down avoiding his eyes. She knew very well what he was talking about. “If you won’t tell me about your secret why should I tell you what I’m dealing with?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you, if you tell me,” she retorted calling his bluff. Rowan scowled at nothing in particular. He couldn’t tell her about Arabella, she wouldn’t get why he was not doing anything about it.”
“No, I can’t tell you,” he protested. Rose frowned at him.
“Whatever it is I’ll support you,” Rose whispered. Rowan hesitated slightly and Rose pressed on. “You know out of our family I’m the most like you. Even if I don’t agree with you I’ll still keep your secret.”
“Which one?” he laughed bitterly. “Ever since we came to the castle my life has gotten more dangerous. I’m sparing you by not telling you what has happened to me over the time we’ve been here.”
“You’re worrying me,” Rose told him. Rowan sighed as he stared at her.
“Trust me, that was never my intention,” he admitted. “There’s nothing you could do to help. What’s done is done. What has happened to me is irreversible.”
“It may be,” Rose replied slowly. “It still may help to have someone to confide in.” Rowan rolled his eyes. He had already confided in someone and everything was fine until she had told him her secrets. “I’m not leaving until you tell me something. You can tell me bits and pieces until you’ve told me everything.”
“I don’t need to confide in you. I already confided in someone until everything changed between us,” he said before he could stop himself. He groaned at his stupidity and looked to see if Rose had caught the significance of his last sentence. He could see she was working hard to piece together the clues and discover who he was talking about.
“Are you talking about Arabella?” she asked. Rowan restrained himself from swearing. Now because of his mistake Rose knew more about his problems than he had intended her to. He had wanted her to remain in the dark about his problems. “I could see that you two were close. What happened?”
“No, I’m not telling you anything more,” he announced firmly. Rose’s eyes narrowed as what he said registered. She could be stubborn at times when she wanted to. He could see that this was one of those times. She wouldn’t be getting anything more from him but what if she went to talk to Arabella? Rose was persistent; chances were she would end up getting information out of Arabella.
“Oh come on,” Rose exclaimed in annoyance. “I’m your sister. I have your best interests in mind.” Rowan stubbornly shook his head.
“Fine, I’ll just go talk to Arabella,” Rose decided as she headed to the door presumably to go talk to Arabella. Rose rolled his eyes and got to his feet managing to bypass Rose and get to the door first. He leaned on it and tilted his head in amusement as Rose glared at him.
“Fine, I’ll confide in you. Arabella doesn’t need to see the stubborn, persistent side of you that comes out when you’re really curious about something,” he sighed. Rose waited in silence and he tried to figure out what he would tell her and how much.
“Well?” she said when he still hadn’t said anything. “Are you going to tell me anything?”
“I have feelings for Arabella,” he said carefully watching to see her reaction. Rose simply stared back at him coolly.
“Well of course,” she responded. “I knew that, I just was going to keep it to myself in case you didn’t want anyone knowing. Want a word of advice? Don’t be so obvious about it. You don’t know how many times I saw you looking at her like a lovesick puppy.” Rowan laughed covering up the fact that he was actually surprised she knew so much.
“So does everyone else know?” he asked.
“Well I’ll put this way, not everyone is as perceptive as me,” she answered. “It would have been so much better for Eleanor if she would have picked up the signs, she wouldn’t have gotten so attached to you and persuaded herself that there was hope for you two to be together.”
Rowan shifted uncomfortably. Rose took a seat on the bed but Rowan didn’t move from his spot. He didn’t want there to be a chance that Rose could leave before he had convinced her that talking to Arabella was pointless.
“So what happened between you and Arabella?” Rose said, encouraging him to speak. Rowan leaned against the door letting his head rest against it too.
“It wouldn’t work out between us. Once we leave after we have finished doing the King’s orders then I’ll never see her again. I’m not like Gavin, I wouldn’t just leave a girl behind and not care about her feelings,” Rowan said.
“Who knows how long it will take our family to carry out the King’s decree?” Rose scoffed. “We may not leave the castle for some time to come. Plus, you’ll never know if it’ll work or not if you don’t risk a little and actually try,” she reminded wisely.
“You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” Rowan commented. Rose blushed slightly as she avoided his eyes.
“Don’t change the subject,” she scolded but Rowan knew she was only saying that to not talk about her. He smirked at her only to receive a glare in return.
“What’s the matter?” Don’t you like people prying into your life? Huh, that’s funny because I really enjoy you prying into my life,” he said sarcastically. “I’m your brother. You can trust me,” he mocked. Rose rolled her eyes at having her words thrown back at her.
“So you’re just going to avoid Arabella?” she asked pressing on. Rowan shrugged. “That’s unfair to her. You should at least tell her the reason you don’t want anything to do with her.”
Rowan gave her a sharp look. “Oh she knows the reason we can’t be together. The avoidance is mutual,” he explained. Rose frowned as she considered what he had said. Rowan waited patiently as she did.
“I think you should fight whatever is coming in between you two,” she said voicing her opinion. It was easy to say that when she didn’t know the circumstances. There was no way he was going to just ignore the fact that Arabella was a werewolf.
“Please stay out of it,” Rowan replied. Rose dint say anything to that and stood up to walk to the door. Confident that she wouldn’t go and talk to Arabella Rowan moved out of the way and let her open the door. The look she gave him made him feel like a child who had disappointed her. “Wait,” he said but she was out in the hallway by then and didn’t even look back.
He stared after her but didn’t follow. She wanted space right now, and space was what he would give her. He ran a hand through his tousled hair as he regarded his room. He didn’t feel like staying there a second longer. Not stopping to even think about where he would go he fled his room and kept walking. He past his family’s rooms but since he didn’t want to talk to anyone he kept going.
His eyes darted around as he walked looking for the Arabella’s familiar long black hair. If he saw it he was completely prepared to turn and go in the opposite direction to not have to run into her.
He kept walking but Graham intercepted him. Holding back a sigh Rowan halted and raised an eyebrow. He would have much rather have just taken a walk alone and without interruptions but based on Graham’s expression something was going to replace his desired walk.
“Yes? What is it?” he asked in a bored tone. Graham frowned and Rowan felt bad for acting this way to the boy. He didn’t deserve being treated as if he was a nuisance but at the moment everything was a bother to Rowan.
“Um, your uncle,” Graham began, “he wants to talk to you.”
“My uncle wants to talk to me,” Rowan repeated. “Fine, where is he?”
“I can take you there,” Graham offered uncertainly. Rowan would have much rather go there himself but he forced himself to smile and act more grateful.
“Sure,” he said. “Thanks.” Graham nodded and started walking. Rowan stood there for a moment watching the boy walk away before trailing after him.
They took less used hallways until they were near the room that his family had captured all the known werewolves. He saw the door that he had stood in front of to make sure no werewolves escaped and knew that his uncle was waiting for him in there. For some reason this talk was important, he didn’t want anyone to overhear them.
He was tired of all these secrets. At the moment he wished he could have been born into a normal family that didn’t deal with hunting werewolves. Everything would have been so much simpler and he would have average problems. He wouldn’t have the problem with having feelings for a werewolf. He wouldn’t have the problem of being bitten by a werewolf. Everything would be so much better without those two things. Up until they had gotten to the castle he had liked the life he was born into. Now he wished circumstances would have been different.
Rowan nodded to Graham as a way of saying goodbye and then entered the room. Before he closed the door again he looked back and Graham waved at him. Rowan waved back and disappeared into the storage room.
The bodies from last time had been dealt with and there was no trace of them left behind. The bags of food to feed the castle had multiplied, the room was back to being a storage room instead of a room to ambush werewolves in. His uncle was sitting on a stack of bags of rice.
“I’m here,” Rowan said. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“I tend to see things others think are unimportant,” his uncle began. “My life had made me more aware of my surroundings because it was necessary if I wanted to live.” Rowan nodded but he didn’t see where his uncle was going with this. “There are things going on in the castle that no one else but me is aware of.”
“No one else if aware of what you are?” he clarified sounding doubtful. Rowan doubted his uncle knew anything important.
“Well let’s just say if Gavin wasn’t always chasing girls he would see what I do,” his uncle further explained. “Out of you and your siblings Gavin is more like me. You’re more like your father and Rose is like her mother.”
“So if Gavin is more like you then why aren’t you talking to him right now instead of me?” Rowan replied curiously.
His uncle shrugged. “He wouldn’t care about hearing what I know at the moment,” Walter answered. “Either way the information I have found out recently has more to do with you than Gavin.”
“What are you talking about?” Rowan inquired.
“Werewolves are sneaky,” Walter sighed. “I doubt we will ever kill them all, there will always be some that remain elusive.” Rowan sat down on another stack of bags. “There is a werewolf close to you,” Walter announced. Rowan’s eyes widened and he wondered if he was talking about Arabella or perhaps someone else that had betrayed him by not telling him that they were a werewolf.
“What?” Rowan replied making himself sound surprised. His uncle nodded solemnly and Rowan waited anxiously for his uncle to go on.
“Your servant Arabella is one,” Walter told him. “She is not as innocent as you thought.” Rowan’s thoughts raced as he wondered how to react to that. His silence could be taken for his shock that Arabella was a werewolf but would Walter believe him when Rowan said he didn’t know?
“I had no idea,” he said breathlessly. He had told Arabella that he wouldn’t help her if she got caught but she wasn’t caught yet so what would he do? Despite the fact that he was trying to avoid Arabella was not telling her his uncle knew her secret pushing the boundaries? “Are you sure?”
“Positive,” his uncle answered grimly. “People seem to not take much notice of me when I’m around. I see things that I would otherwise not have seen had they known I was there.” Did his uncle know that Rowan knew already? What if this was a test?
“Why are you just telling me?” Rowan asked in confusion. “Does everyone else know?” His uncle shook his head and Rowan frowned. He couldn’t make sense of this situation. What could his uncle be thinking by not alerting the rest of their family? “Why not, isn’t that the logical thing to do when you first realized she was a werewolf?”
“Oh I suspected it for a while,” Walter said. “As for why I haven’t told anyone else I need something from her.”
“Why did you tell me then?” Rowan asked softly as he pondered what his uncle wanted from Arabella.
“I told you so you would be careful around her,” his uncle replied. “I trust you won’t mention what I have told you to anyone else?” Rowan nodded. “Good, I knew I could trust you.”
“What do you need from her?” Rowan asked. His uncle looked at him warning him not to keep asking questions. Rowan looked down. Great, more secrets, that was just what he needed, he thought sarcastically.
“I’ll need your help,” his uncle added. “”Since you’re the only other person that knows about Arabella’s secret you’re the only one I can trust.”
“What do you need me to do?” Rowan responded.
“I need you to stay away from Arabella for now,” his uncle ordered. “We can’t have her suspecting something’s wrong. There is too much riding on this.” Rowan stood up feeling uncomfortable on the bags of food. “It shouldn’t be a problem because Arabella has left the citadel for today.”
That alerted Rowan’s attention. “What? Why?” he asked. He hadn’t even known she had left the castle. Perhaps she had left the castle after all to ensure her safety?
“Not sure,” his uncle asked. “I think she was going home for some reason. Your father wanted her to ask her mother something.”
“What if she doesn’t come back?” The only reason Rowan asked that was to appear neutral with this situation. In this case he hoped she wasn’t coming back but his uncle wouldn’t know that.
“Well then I’ll have to track her down,” his uncle countered. “My business with her is much too important to let her get away.”
“So you’re going to talk to her tomorrow when she gets back?” His uncle nodded. Well, have someone get me when you need to talk to me again,” Rowan suggested. “Is that all?” Walter nodded again and Rowan went to the door. He smiled at his uncle then left the room. The hallway outside seemed completely empty but Rowan couldn’t shake the feeling he was being watched.
He quickly walked away, thoughts of a walk outside now put out of his mind. Now he had more to worry about. He had to find some way to warn Arabella but how? She wasn’t even in the citadel. He could tell her mother? He immediately discarded that thought. Even if he did know where Arabella’s mother was he wouldn’t get her help.
There was something about her mother than made him feel uneasy. Arabella was so different from her mother that he didn’t think she would want her mother helping either. It wasn’t hard to guess that because of their conflicting personalities they weren’t close. The few times he had been around Arabella and her mother at the same time they hadn’t seemed like a tightknit family. They certainly weren’t like his family.
No, he would have to find another way to alert her of the danger his uncle was.