After Magna and Faye left the study, slamming the door shut behind them, two figures materialized inside the room.
One was a woman in a full black robe with a Witch’s hat on her head. The other was a man, also dressed entirely in black.
Last time, after Malakor had been caught by Magna’s trait to sense presences nearby, this time, to avoid that, Azelith had cast an extra spell on both of them to help hide their presence as well.
Using that spell, they had hidden inside the room the entire night, watching Magna and Faye.
"Give him a few more years, and even this spell won’t be able to slip past his instincts." Malakor’s tired voice came from behind his featureless black mask.
A few times during the night, he had noticed Magna turning to look right at the spot where they were hiding, almost as if he could feel them there.
Camouflage and invisibility spells were definitely not Azelith’s area of expertise, but even so, someone sensing them purely through raw instinct was something monstrous on its own.
While Malakor felt a kind of awe over that, Azelith’s mind was somewhere else entirely.
Her empty, blind eyes stayed fixed on the doorway the two children had just walked through.
"How is that even possible?" She muttered absentmindedly, the whole night still spinning through her mind like a puzzle she couldn’t solve.
"What’s what?" Malakor asked, unable to follow what his Lady was thinking about.
Azelith finally shifted her face away from the door and walked over to sit on the sofa. "Didn’t you see how that little girl was using her bloodline trait?"
Malakor finally understood. He realized he had completely missed the real shock of the night.
Azelith let out a long sigh, feeling mentally exhausted. "I would’ve never imagined someone could train a bloodline trait like that. If Seraphina knew a method like this existed, she would have sold her own body to get her hands on it a long time ago."
Every powerful family had its own distinct bloodline trait, so Magna’s technique wouldn’t necessarily work for all of them. But for the Winterbornes, it fit almost perfectly, like it had been made just for them.
What usually took decades to master, Faye had learned to do in a single night, instantly entering and leaving her serene state at will.
"Couldn’t it just be luck?" Malakor still didn’t want to accept Azelith’s earlier theory about Magna as he was looking for a reason to dismiss it.
To him, what the two of them had been doing all night looked like nothing more than two kids playing a game.
But Azelith didn’t seem to care about her Shadow’s opinion at all. "Luck or not, does it even matter anymore at this point?"
She still carried a lingering fear from the memory of those two massive eyes staring back at her, but her face no longer showed that fear.
Instead, there was only firm conviction now.
She rose to her feet quickly, then spoke in a determined tone. "Let’s go home. I need to see my daughter."
—
Faye walked ahead with quick steps, pulling Magna along by the arm, as they made their way to the dining hall.
When they walked in, the maids greeted them, already busy setting the table.
"Young Lady, Young Lord." They bowed their heads toward the two of them.
"Hello, Elara. Hello, Roselyn. Hello, Mirelle." Faye greeted each of them cheerfully, still dragging Magna along toward a chair.
She grabbed a chair and pulled it out, then pushed him down into it, treating him almost like a stuffed teddy bear she was setting up to play house with. "You sit here."
Then she rushed over to the chair across from him and sat down herself.
’Can’t I just eat this in my room?’ Magna thought helplessly, feeling more than a little uncomfortable under the weight of her big, bright eyes staring at him.
He wasn’t used to eating with anyone else at all. He much preferred watching an episode of his favorite show while he ate, not sitting across from some hyperactive, slightly psychotic girl.
But the worst part was still coming, as two more figures walked into the hall to join them.
"Magna, Faye, you two are up early." Celeste walked in smiling, a knowing look in her eyes as she glanced between the two of them.
"Yes, Mother. We just played a game until morning and came here once we got hungry." Faye jumped up cheerfully to greet her.
Titus followed close behind her, not wearing his frost armor this time, but clothes similar to what Magna had on, a plain white shirt that barely fit over his bulky frame, paired with black pants that looked like made of leather.
As he looked at Faye, he was smiling gently. But the moment he heard her words and turned his eyes to Magna, a faint trace of killing intent flickered behind them.
’Come on, what did I even do to you?’ Feeling his resentment clearly, Magna got up tiredly to greet the hosts of the house.
"Sit, sit, go ahead and start eating." Celeste said, walking toward the chair at the head of the table facing the door. Titus took the seat directly across from her and sat down as well.
The maids quickly set steaming bowls of soup in front of each of them, starting with Celeste, then Titus, and finally the two children.
The soup was thick and deep red, giving off a rich aroma that made Magna’s stomach growl, reminding him just how hungry he really was.
He immediately picked up his spoon to take a taste, but his hand froze right in front of his mouth.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Titus staring straight at him.
"Titus, you can leave if you’re not hungry." Celeste noticed her Shadow’s stare and spoke to him coldly.
’’No way, I’m starving." Titus chuckled, clearly a little tense by the implied threat, as he picked up his spoon and dipped it into his soup, starting to eat.
But he froze again, his hand trembling, at Faye’s next words.
"Mother, did you know Magna taught me acting?"
While Titus was busy imagining just what kind of acting this vile little boy had taught his daughter, dragging her into his dark little fantasies, Celeste asked warmly instead.
"Oh? What kind of acting? Show me."
Faye, thrilled to finally have a chance to show off what she had just learned, jumped to her feet and slipped straight into the character she had picked up.
Her face instantly turned completely blank, her eyelids drooping halfway, her eyes looking out at the world with total indifference.
Pointing at her deep red soup, she said. "What monster blood is this. I need human blood to satisfy my thirst."
As she spoke, a chilling cold seemed to spread through the whole room, making the temperature drop suddenly.
Seeing this, Celeste’s warm smile froze instantly, her face shifting into pure shock.
Titus’s eyes went wide too, staring at his daughter in disbelief.
It wasn’t just that her words were far too dark for a girl her age. It was the way she had slipped into her serene state so easily.
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