Chapter 1 Solitude Is A Blessing

She must leave.

No one awaits her here.

This is not where she belongs.

She never even belonged the moment she stepped inside the castle to live among their kind.

They have always been wary of her. She never mixed with them. She has never been seen among them.

Until he came into her life, bringing her into the castle to live with him. To join his kind. To unify with him.

Yet she never felt welcomed.

She's been treated with indifference, coldness, and aloofness.

They were different.

She was different.

She was a witch. A fire-witch.

He was a vampire. A cold deadly one.

They don't mix in the day and they don't blend in the night.

She must leave at once. Now.

Adrienne packed her bags and luggage that night and left Emrick Castle early in the morning the next day.

She woke up before light hit the ground and she did her early morning routine in fast sure steps like usual only a little faster today as she couldn't stay soaked in her tub which was her favorite form of leisure and relaxation. She could stay in the tub for hours would she wish to stay in it.

Not just today. She's in a hurry.

She got out of the tub and dried herself with the towel and walked to the adjacent room to change into a traveler's suit. She dropped the towel and looked at herself in the mirror.

She could see her lean figure in the reflection. Her round firm breast. Her flat stomach. Her long legs.

Adrienne touched her flat stomach.

It doesn't show yet. But she can feel the life pulsing inside her. She may not be a witch gynecologist by profession but she knows her own body too well.

She knows her magic too well. It's a dark deep secret. Her deepest desire.

They couldn't have done it had she not initiated the act that night. Thought Adrienne with a wry smile on her face.

She wasn't even good at seduction. It must be the grapes. Those zinfandel grapes that she got herself addicted to. She was strong with wine but weak with that kind.

They shouldn't have done it.

But they did it. And she enjoyed every minute of it. They did not utter a sincere declaration of love that night but they were honest, very honest with their lust and desire for each other.

He was so good in bed. He ablazed her on fire. Even better than her fire magic if she would admit. But she would never admit it to his face.

That monster.

He left her.

With only a note not even saying goodbye.

How rudely convenient of him.

Just like his cold icy personality. Just like always.

He left her after they shared an ardent night of unforgettable passion in each other's arms.

Entangled and succumbed to their own honest need and desire for each other.

Fueled by lust. Answered by need. Never blighted by love.

They did not love each other. But they understood one another.

She waited for him. She felt like she waited forever.

She already waited for a month.

Still, she hasn't heard any news from him.

Where could he be?

What happened to him?

Why wasn't he answering her letters of inquiry?

Adrienne touched her flat stomach once more seeing her reflection in the mirror. In the next few months, she knew she will be carrying the seed of their passion, of their union.

But he wouldn't be around to witness it.

He wouldn't be around her to watch her stomach grow with the life that they created together. He wouldn't be around to see her excited or grumpy or helpless carrying on with the pregnancy.

Adrienne felt tears welling up her eyes.

He was so cruel.

He was so cruel to leave her without even saying goodbye in person. He was so cruel to touch her like fire in the night and left her cold and empty when morning came.

He was so cruel to leave just like that.

With only that note as his last goodbye.

She didn't even love him.

Now, she understood what it meant to pine. For him.

To pine for someone with such sweet longing, it hurts the heart. To pine for that someone, it pains the soul. To pine for that special person, it tears the core.

Yet never knowing when he will show himself again.

Adrienne heaved a sigh of regret and took clothes into the wardrobe and changed into her traveler's suit.

She changed into a red dress to match the color of her hair. She needed something to cheer her up. She had been fighting loneliness and solitude for a month now. It wasn't very good for the health.

She picked a more faded red color for her coat. She chose a pair of socks and put on her red boots.

Yes. She needed red colors right now. They know how to cheer her up. Even when her face can't. Even when her hair color only brought her endless sigh and regret being wildly red and wavy.

She brought her hair up. Curled it at the back of her head, letting twin strands of curls fall across the side of her face.

No wonder the witches of their village were wary of her. They would always think she has a short temper. Which she has. But she doesn't always blend much with her coven.

She keeps mostly to herself.

She has her own Aunt Isobel who lives on the border of Ardelean Village. She visits her whenever she could.

She has her bosom friend Mary Crossborough with whom she shares her charming little cottage.

Adrienne picked her bags and luggage and went to search for Sebastian. She found him down inside his office.

"Sebastian, I have to live." She informed him.

She handed him two letters.

"Please give it to mom when she wakes up later. And you can give the other one to Alaric when he comes home."

Sebastian gave her a hard stare.

"Where are you going, Lady Mallory?" he asked in his usual polite deep voice.

"I need to go back home."

She answered.

"But this is your home, milady."

He replied disbelief in his voice.

"This isn't my home, Sebastian."

She said refraining from sounding sad in her voice.

"But—but, you're the lady of the castle," he argued gruffly. "You are Lady Emrick."

Adrienne smiled at him gently.

"You're very kind, Sebastian. I didn't get to become Lady Emrick," she said with a furtive reply. "We've never gotten married."

"But if you could stay and wait for him longer, milady. I know he will return. He will never desert you, Lady Mallory."

Sebastian insisted.

"I can't wait for him anymore, Sebastian. He must have forgotten about me. He must have married Lady Allison in his home country."

Sebastian looked at her with an incredulous stare.

"You don't believe what you're saying, do you, milady?" asked the butler disbelieving what he had just heard.

Adrienne gave him a wry smile.

"I might just be telling the truth, Sebastian."

"Lady Mallory—" he said helplessly.

"I must leave, Sebastian. Would you please have the carriage waiting by the entrance?"

"Lady Mallory—" he repeated staring at her.

Adrienne turned around and walked up the first step of the stairs before turning back at him.

"Sebastian, I thank you for everything you did for me while I stayed in the castle. You have been very gracious to me."

She smiled once more at him.

"I'll wait in the drawing-room for the carriage."

Adrienne rode the train back to her home village, Ardelean Village, the forest village of the witches. It was a quiet ride back. An uneventful one. She came out of the station and hailed a horse-driven carriage to bring her back home.

When she arrived home, she found that her friend Mary Crossborough had been gone on a vacation to visit her family in Arian City which was two cities away from Ardelean Village. She just left yesterday and would stay with her family for a month-long vacation.

She stayed in their house for a week and decided to find another village to live in after finding herself positive that she was carrying a child for a month now.

She couldn't stay in Ardelean Village. People would talk about her pregnancy. And when they learn that it was a vampire that impregnated her, they will be warier of her.

She left her village.

She found a quiet village after searching for a place that wouldn't be so easy to be found out. It's not like she was running away from Ardelean Village or Alaric Emrick himself.

She just needed time for herself. To process everything that happened. To accept this unexpected pregnancy that she hasn't foreseen. For although she had a mild power at clairvoyance, she couldn't exactly see her future.

She found the village at the border of the country. The place wasn't very famous to witches. They didn't usually come here.

A tall man with long silvery-white hair passed in front a few meters away from her.

Adrienne stood several meters away from him.

She looked at the name sign of the village she just entered.

Aardwolf Village. The sign read.

Perfect. Just a quiet place she needs to live with her unborn child. After allowing herself to live known and among them despite unwillingly being coerced inside a magnificent castle.

The village. It appeared desolate enough.

A place of secrets. A place to live and hide. Rune, she thought idyllically.