Reborn, Its Time To Save My Family And.. My Enemy!
Chapter 187: The Call Of Blood.

Chapter 187: The Call Of Blood.

Olivia sat back on her chair, the book balanced in her lap as her eyes scanned the page again.

There, near the bottom in small script, almost like a footnote:

"Those uncertain of their path may seek the Bloodmark. If the mark awakens, so too does the truth."

Her fingers slid beneath the page, where the parchment had thickened. It had been folded together, hiding something. Carefully, she pulled it apart and revealed a hand-drawn diagram.

A small ritual was described. A circle made of ash and salt, a prick of blood on the palm, and a single phrase spoken aloud.

"If the mark glows, the witch remembers."

Her breath hitched as she read it. The words were in foreign language but it did not look strange to her.

Don’t do it, a voice whispered in her mind. But her hand was already moving.

"Olivia." her breath hitched and she shut the book with fear. Damon was watching her and the book. His expressions were cold for some reason when he was the one who had left her here alone.

"It had been hours. Did you find something worth reading?" he entered, his boots quaid and his voice low as if he was afraid of earning the wrath of someone. "I apologize for leaving you alone here. Come.." she looked at his extended hand, unsure.

Did he do it just to let her read? Or he wanted her to find this book. Recently too many conicidents had been happening as if the world was pushing her toward a future she did not want.

"Olivia.." he pleaded and her gaze snapped. She pushed the book away and followed him out of the room.

He took her to the dining table where the kids were already sitting and eating silently. They smiled when she came. Only then did her heart beat normally. She smiled back as she took a seat beside Damon.

He looked at the kids and they returned his gaze uneasily.

"As you have noticed, my stepmother, the duchess, had not returned home in a long while." Leo gripes on the fork.

Abi let her spoon go and watched him with a look full of longing. No matter how Oriana was, the kids miss her.

"I have received the news from the northern duke Rhistel Lambert, she is getting married to him."

"....." Olivia rubbed Abi’s back and the girl finally blinked. Leo followed and looked at Olivia as if seeking confirmation. She sighed,

"I do not know Leo, I have received the news from Damon only and the duke had visited us earlier and invited us to his territory. If my sister is there, I think we should go and see." The kids looked at her as if waiting for her to tell them that she would handle it.

But she could not. She did not even know if Oriana had chosen this marriage or if she was being forced by that man. Whistle had left a strange impression. Her skin crawled in his presence as if he could see something in her which she had failed to recognize. She did not like that man.

"We must go and meet her. Only she could answer all the questions." Damon repeated. Leo could only swallow the questions and nod. Abi followed, but she did not let go of Olivia’s hand.

The dinner felt like lead, they all ate it silently, lost in their thoughts.

Damon watched her as if asking a silent question, but she shook her head and followed the kids to their room. They needed her more than anything.

"Are we going to the north just to meet her or are we going to live there?" Leo asked the moment he entered his room and locked the door himself.

He had grown. Easily reading the knobs now.

"We?

"All of us. Who else? If mother decided to marry again, we do not have any relation left with Aykroyd duchy, no?" he asked her with eyes that showed doubt.

"Yes!" she confirmed and only then did he look at Abi. Abi bit her lips, hardly controlling her tears.

"I do not want to go! Why did mother need to marry again?" she sniffled but Leo did not care about it.

"More than that, how many kids does that man have already? How much do we need to struggle there? Tell me everything so that we can prepare ourselves."

"It would be his first marriage." The words shocked her as much as it shocked them.

"Why would he marry her then?" Leo frowned, not able to believe that luck could change like that. Though he was young, he knew that widows or abandoned, used women had no valve.

It would have been a mirable if she had found a baron or the second son of a count. A knight would have been acceptable too. But an unwed duke, it was not possible.

"We must meet them to decide." she repeated making Leo sigh in frustration. He looked like he wanted to beat someone.

She pulled him in her arms.

"I know that you are afraid. We all are afraid of an uncertain future. But we can only take one step at a time and see what the future holds for us. Do not worry, Leo. we have you and you have us. We will face it together." the boy slowly let go and slumped in her embrace.

Abi walked closer and hugged them too. She pulled the kids on the bed and silently told them everything she knew about the northern duchy, though she was sure no word could ease their worried heart. Yet she tried until they closed their eyes and let the worries go.

She watched the kids sleeping. They were not the only ones uneasy tonight. She was too and it had nothing to do with Oriana. For some reason, when she had seen the ritual, what attracted her more was the handwriting. For some reason, it felt like her handwriting.

But she had never returned to the ritual. She knew nothing about witches. She was not a witch, not at all.

"No, I must confirm it before my fear grows."