I truly hoped that my regeneration abilities would deal with the alcohol detoxication because I lost count of how many glasses of wine I had drunk. Nonetheless, I was sober enough to refuse Draven's proposal to carry me to my bedroom, and I swayed my way all by myself, although it took extra focus to climb the stairs. Once I closed the door and walked to the bed, I thought that I could finally rest. Suddenly, my eyes landed on the bedside cabinet and… my phone, the one I had completely forgotten about and hadn't even glanced at for two days!
I swallowed hard before taking it into my nervously trembling hand. I already knew that I screwed up. The screen displayed thirty unanswered calls and seven text messages. I took a deep breath and took a closer look at the details. The calls were mostly from Martha, Kanan called me three times. The sense of guilt swallowed me entirely. In my defense, I could only say that I didn't usually carry a cell phone with me since I had never needed to, but those missed calls and unread texts really made me feel like an idiot. I was the one who wanted them to contact me, for God's sake!
I felt even worse when I went through the texts. Martha was worried sick because I hadn't answered any of her calls. She asked me if I was alive in the last one… I knew she was equally concerned and angry at me.
It was 3 AM, so calling Martha and Kanan back at this hour wouldn't be the brightest idea. I decided to send a message to both of them.
"I'm alive. I'm sorry. A few things happened, and I was away from the phone. I'll call you back in the morning," I typed and sent.
I put down the phone and started taking off my clothes and preparing for bed. The phone rang.
"In the morning, my ass!" Martha thundered through the phone once I took the call. "What the hell happened?! Say it now!"
I had to lower my head and tell her every detail of the test that Draven had put me through. Then I told her about how the Royal Army vowed their loyalty to me instead of Draven and what had happened at the party. Once I finished the whole story, Martha calmed down.
"Are you sure you are all healed?" she asked hesitantly, after a few seconds of silence.
"Yes. According to Melinda, the pack's doctor, I have super-regenerating abilities," I chuckled.
"That's good… Maybe you would survive even if she succeeded…" she mumbled, more to herself than saying that to me.
"Survive what? Succeeded who?" I caught on to her words, confused.
"Um… I wasn't supposed to tell you anything, but remember Katie, that younger girl who came from the castle with me?"
"Yes, I remember her bringing me lunch and dinner once or twice. What about her?" I asked curiously.
"She was bribed by that bitch, Elora, to poison you," Martha explained.
"What?!" My head started to spin.
"Katie put some incense in your room, so you would breathe the poison while you were sleeping. King Sariel discovered it behind your bed in your room the night after you were gone…" Martha stated cautiously.
"This is insane…" I muttered, processing what I had heard while panic was filling my neurons.
"The King went wild. He ordered to search the entire Palace until the culprit was found, and stupid Katie had a few of this poisoned incense hidden in her room… If I only knew… I would have never let her anywhere near you…" I could hear Martha angrily gritting her teeth.
"I know you, Martha. I only hope that you know that this wasn't your fault," I said, trying to calm her down. "So… what happened to Katie?"
Martha took a deep breath. "She's dead. She was killed before she could officially testify and excuse Elora." She gave out a hopeless sigh.
My lips immediately formed an ironic smile. "Of course… I should have known it was going to end like that."
I felt a fire burning within my guts. This was frustrating beyond my limits. Who the hell backed Elora, making sure she wouldn't take responsibility for any of her actions?! I didn't know much about Sariel's plans, but I knew that he was trying to cut her off from any vampire family supporting her. He had literally an army at his command, and yet Elora was still able to get away with everything! Who knows, maybe I would have been dead already if I stayed at the Palace a little longer. I thought that I had been aware of every powerful family in the vampire world, and they all couldn't possibly become a match for Sariel's power and intelligence. I also assumed that Elora wouldn't be stupid enough to involve werewolves from my father's pack since their scent would have been too easy to trace. The odorless ones wouldn't last long living close to vampires either, because even without werewolves' typical smell, their strange, human-like appearance would still stand out.
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