The Veil of Darkness
Chapter 175: The Masked Man

Chapter 175: The Masked Man

A man stood in the shadows of a small alley near the entrance of the Capital City. His dark green eyes were fixed on the carriage that had just entered through the city gate and was now heading deeper into the city.

His waist-length dark black hair, which was pulled in a high ponytail, fluttered in the wind along with his black cloak and dark robes that he was wearing. He was pretty tall and though he appeared not too muscular, it was still easy to tell that he was well-built.

Unfortunately, his face was hidden behind a silver mask that only allowed a peek at his beautiful attention-grabbing eyes but nothing else.

He was surrounded by a powerful aura, one that screamed the word ’ancient’. He was none other than the person whom the Master of the Death Valleys assessed as ’Your Grace’ just a day ago.

"Master, aren’t you going to eat at that big restaurant anymore? Have you changed your plans?" The person who dared to disturb the mysterious man’s focus was actually another young man who appeared to be twenty or something with short dirty blonde hair, dark brown eyes, and a small face decorated with freckles that made him appear even younger than his actual age.

Looking at his innocent face it seemed like he had no clue why his Master suddenly changed his idea of tasting all the great delicacies from the big restaurants in the city and suddenly got infatuated with an unknown carriage.

When the mysterious man didn’t answer and kept looking at the carriage while it headed toward the main road leading toward the southwest of the city, the young man spoke again - "Master, do you like that carriage? Do you want one too? If that’s the case, I can go and grab one for you right away."

The man with the mask finally turned to face the other one and growled in his deep voice, "How about you stay silent for a while, Ascher." It was neither a request nor a question, it was clearly a command that the guy named Ascher immediately followed even though reluctantly.

The man returned his attention back toward the carriage that had already disappeared from sight but looking at his deep green eyes, it seemed like they could see far beyond than what one could predict.

"That carriage..." The masked man finally spoke after several long minutes had passed, "... let’s follow it." He didn’t spare Ascher even a single second to grasp the sudden change in plans before his silhouette disappeared in black smoke.

"Master, wait for me! Don’t go shifting around the city on your own!" Ascher called behind in a plea before he too followed the masked man and his silhouette also disappeared from the alley with a cloud of black smoke that dispersed within a second.

*****

The carriage came to a stop and Annalise finally got the chance to climb down and feel the ground beneath her feet. After spending so many days traveling in a carriage, she was suddenly not very fond of traveling in it anymore for the time being.

"My lady, are you alright?" Sera asked as she noticed the grim look on Annalise’s face when the latter stepped out of the carriage.

Annalise was about to answer, ready to dismiss Sera’s worries, but the words got caught in her throat when she suddenly felt a sharp tug on her powers. It was so powerful that it almost made her step a couple of steps forward in the direction of the pull.

"My lady!" Sera was immediately beside her, taking hold of her arms to help her stand properly as her body suddenly started swaying and the world around her shifted in shades of white and grey. "My lady, are you alright?" There was clear worry coating Sera’s voice as she tried to help Annalise.

The situation only worsened when Annalise suddenly felt a sharp pain shot through deep inside her as her powers suddenly started protesting for her to get closer to the source of the pull.

And then, just when she felt like she couldn’t handle it anymore and was on the verge of giving in, everything returned to normal. The pain was gone, the pull was gone, and so were the swaying and staggering. She was just left panting as the world around her returned to focus and along with that, worried calls from her husbands.

They seemed to have sensed that something was wrong with her and all the three dark lords were bombarding her with question after question. And it was right at that moment when she realized another thing, whatever was the thing that just happened, it somehow succeeded in cutting off her connection with her mates entirely for those couple of moments.

’I’m alright...’ She tried to convince them but even she couldn’t be convinced with that breathy whisper that just carried her message through the mind link.

’What happened, Little Bird?’ Kenric’s worry-filled voice entered the mind link and she could tell that all three of them were waiting for her to tell them the truth.

Knowing pretty well that they won’t stop unless she would tell them the truth, she decided to do just that, ’I’m not really sure about what happened. One moment I was completely fine and the very next moment I felt a really powerful force pulling me toward it. It was so powerful that it completely took over me for a couple of moments but then disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.’

None of her husbands’ spoke for a couple of seconds before Damien finally asked, ’Do you want us to come there?’

She was actually surprised that he thought about asking first and not just already appeared there, probably because of how firmly she told all three of them to allow her to visit the King on her own before she left the castle.

’No, it’s alright now. I’ll handle the things quickly here and will return soon.’