Chapter 110-One less friend (2)

Chapter 110: 110-One less friend (2)

The next few nights passed with a strange sense of normalcy that Maisa hadn’t expected.

After everything that had happened at the trial grounds, Maisa had expected Old Scaris to feel different to her somehow.

She had expected every corridor, every ancient street, and every curious stare to remind her of the blood rain and the secret that had nearly destroyed the fragile peace she had built with the people around her. It didn’t.

Strangely enough, the tour continued on after that night and, surprisingly, she enjoyed every second of it.

Perhaps it was because she had Sapphire beside her and there was no more drama. Just two friends enjoying a school trip.

Sapphire seemed determined not to let the darkness surrounding Maisa consume every moment of the trip. "We are going to make the most of this trip with fun memories and a good time," she had vowed and she kept true to her word.

Sapphire dragged Maisa from one ancient landmark to another with seemingly endless energy, refusing to let her spend even a moment sitting around doing nothing.

Every night brought another destination, another piece of vampire history for them to explore, and another argument from Sapphire about why her chosen landmark was obviously the most important one.

She bought ridiculous souvenirs at nearly every stop, debated passionately over which historical artifacts were genuinely worth seeing, and somehow possessed the strange talent of turning even the dullest historical lecture into something entertaining.

Whenever Maisa started losing interest, Sapphire would whisper some ridiculous comment into her ear, forcing her to bite back laughter while pretending to listen attentively to the guide.

They wandered through ancient vampire monuments whose towering stone structures had survived centuries of wars and changing rulers, their walls covered in carvings that told stories of forgotten bloodlines and long-dead monarchs.

They explored markets built into the remains of ancient buildings, where modern stalls had been squeezed between weathered pillars and crumbling stone arches.

Sapphire insisted Maisa sample every strange blood-infused sweet they encountered, proudly declaring each one a delicacy before watching Maisa’s expression to see whether she actually liked it. By the end of the tour, they had accumulated so many souvenirs that Sapphire joked they might need to rent another room just to store everything.

And the best part was what they did at every stop. They took pictures to capture the memories from the tour.

Their blood mirrors became permanent companions, capturing everything from grand monuments and breathtaking streets to the smallest, most ridiculous moments.

Sapphire pulled Maisa into countless selfies, sometimes dragging her into frame at the last second, while other times they carefully positioned the mirror to capture the entire scene behind them.

They took pictures while laughing, pictures while pretending to look serious, pictures with their arms around each other’s shoulders, and pictures of the souvenirs they were far too proud of purchasing.

Every memory, smile, ridiculous moment and every place they had stood together was preserved.

As the tour pressed on, Maisa’s blood mirror contained a collection of moments she knew she would never want to lose. Looking through the photographs later, she realized something that surprised her.

For the first time since becoming a vampire, she had memories that weren’t filled with fear, secrets, or survival. They were simply happy memories. The only thing missing in the photos were her mates.

Maisa laughed without forcing it. She laughed when Sapphire nearly dropped an antique-looking cup after discovering it was actually worth more than the money in her bank account.

She laughed even harder when Sapphire became convinced that one of the old statues was secretly watching her and at Sapphire’s dramatic retelling of every encounter they had with the academy students.

Those moments were precious because outside them, everything felt different.

Students still watched Maisa. Only now, they watched her more openly. Their expressions had become colder since the trial.

Some whispered when she passed, others stopped talking altogether when she approached while a few stared at her with such obvious resentment that Maisa could almost feel their hatred crawling across her skin.

But nobody confronted her directly. The trial had changed everything, the students were afraid of getting involved with her, afraid that the Queen’s recent warnings about bloodline discrimination had finally reached them or they simply didn’t want to become the next names dragged before a disciplinary council.

Whatever the reason, Maisa kept her head down and minded her own business. Still, she knew what many of them thought.

They blamed her, not only for the trial or the conflict between the bloodlines but also for the Student Council exiting the tour midway.

The Fiery Four had been the center of academy life, and now all four of its most talked-about members were gone.

Zolani had taken indefinite leave from school until further notice, Lumi had been summoned home by her parents to answer for her decisions and lare and Luan had accompanied her home.

Addessa had returned to the palace with Varitreya when the princess left, while Kayden had escorted the princess away. So within a matter of nights, the second year class had lost all of its most admired vampires. The students were furious.

Maisa heard the complaints everywhere.

"Ever since she arrived... she keeps making messes and we pay the price!"

"Everything was fine before Maisa Loven arrived at Veris Academy. By Vonvaki’s blood, I wish she goes back to where she came from."

"Now the council is scattered and we are without our eye candies. Redblood’s hope? Tsk! More like our doom."

"We don’t even get to see them anymore... that’s so unfair. How can she be so mean?"

"She ruined everything. We just Kayden back and he had to leave again because of the drama that jinx created."

"What about Luan, he also had to leave because Lumi was called back for punishment for supporting that witch! My sweetheart, I hope she and his sister are fine."

"You are worried about them? What about our princess? I hope her divineness won’t get in trouble because of that outcast!"

It was almost absurd. Apparently, Maisa had somehow become responsible for depriving the academy of its favorite vampires and they hated her even more for it.

Sapphire found the whole thing ridiculous. "Apparently you’re also responsible for the weather changing suddenly, too," she muttered one evening as they walked back to the hotel.

Maisa laughed. "Give them time. They’ll get over it.

"Don’t joke about it. They might actually blame you for every disaster they encounter," she warned. "Cowards! Why don’t they say all of this to your face instead of talking behind your back?"

That made Maisa laugh harder but she didn’t mind it. As long as they didn’t give her unnecessary trouble, she didn’t care what they blamed her for.

For those five nights, she allowed herself to forget all the drama surrounding her. She didn’t think about Zolani or at least, she tried not to. She didn’t think about Lumi, Varitreya and she definitely didn’t think about Addessa.

But when she returned to the hotel each night and instinctively reached for her blood mirror, the emptiness always returned.

There were no responses to the messages she had sent, no missed calls or call back from the calls she had previously made that went unanswered.

She had no idea what they were going through, whether they were facing punishment for standing with her or simply taking breaks from the school. Eventually, Maisa eventually stopped expecting her mirror to light up.

It hurt less that way. "If we’re meant to be then we’ll see each other again and get over this wall that Addessa has built between all of us," she whispered, defeated on that front.