Fangs and Thrones

Chapter 14

"I told you that I'm fine." Lyra smirked in amusement as she watched Rai wrap her calf. The claw wounds were deep, but nothing that she couldn't heal from. She found it a bit endearing that he kept asking if was too tight very time he wrapped another layer.

Rai ignored her and finished wrapping the wound, seeing her getting injured and dragged even a foot away deeply unsettled him. He knew that she would heal quickly, but wouldn't ignore the strong impulse to make sure that she was taken care of.

His men were already taking care of the children that they had rescued, due to them being weak and the sun already have fallen from the sky, it was decided that they would rest for the night before journeying home. They were already curled up by the fire, warm, with bellies full, and covered in any robes that could be spared. Many were already asleep, but the young boy that helped Lyra was still up, he had taken it upon himself to watch over the other children like he had done back in the cave.

"Why did you stay? In the caves I mean." Rai asked her.

Sighing, she handed him the grimoire that she had stashed away in her satchel. "I found a dark magic witch making some really nasty spells down there, I didn't recognize her. But I know this grimoire. This book has some really disturbing spells in it and it looked like the girl was trying to repeat one of them. She didn't have a clue what she was doing. I spotted something else strange in the cave, so I followed it, I didn't see it again, but it isn't something that I recognized."

Rai took the grimoire and inspected it, just as Katsu walked over to see what they were up to. "That's a creepy looking book."

"You should hear the story behind it." Lyra told him.

Rai handed it back. "You said that you know the witch whom that belongs to?"

"Adaline. She was the witch who helped Marco keep me imprisoned and made it so that my wolf form was inaccessible to me for so long. She was obsessed with pleasing him and doing whatever he wanted. Adaline was also convinced that we were friends since we 'both meant so much to Marco'. Nothing I said or did would change her mind about that." She explained. "That grimoire is hers solely, usually they are passed down through the generations, but the one she inherited was taken away by the dark witch coven after she broke a lot of their rules. So, she made another one."

Katsu glanced at the book with concern and picked it up to examine it. "Why do I get feeling that the book is made from those witches that kicked her out or something messed up like that?"

"You're close actually, it's made from her mother's skin and the buckle is carved from her bone."

They both winced and Katsu dropped the grimoire. He rubbed his hands on the sides of his robe, trying to remove the weird feeling of touching it.

"Well, glad that we figured out that she's crazy enough to not only be friends with you but also to carve her mother into a book, great. Wait, didn't you mention that she looks like you?" Katsu asked.

   "Oh yeah, she did a spell that changed her features and her hair color so that she pretty much looks almost exactly like me. The only thing she couldn't change was her green eyes. She surprised Marco with her new look one day, hoping that it would finally make him notice her and make him realize that he was in love with her...that didn't happen. Marco lost it and hit her like he would hit me. Adaline was unconscious for days, when she finally woke up all she did was blame herself. She even refused treatment to heal the scars on her face that he gave her. I actually felt bad for her then. I never did get to find out how she reacted when she heard that Marco was dead, especially since I was the one who did it. I guess I'll be able to ask her when she comes back for this." She held up the grimoire and put it back into her palm sized satchel.