Chapter 217-Missing piece (2)

Chapter 217: 217-Missing piece (2)

Lumi studied Maisa’s face, then her arms. "Did something happen after we fell asleep?"

"That’s what I’m trying to figure out."

Before anyone could say anything else, footsteps approached the gazebo. A familiar voice called out from far. "Maisa!"

Maisa turned. Sapphire was hurrying toward them, her expression a mixture of relief and irritation. Her eyes immediately settled on Maisa, and she quickened her steps.

"Sapphire?" Maisa looked genuinely surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Sapphire stopped before her, looking her over as though checking for injuries. "What am I doing here? I’ve been looking for you!"

Maisa blinked. "But we agreed to meet at the fair."

"Exactly! And you didn’t show up."

"When?"

Sapphire stared at her. "When? Maisa, what do you mean when?"

Maisa looked at the others before turning back to her friend. "I thought we were meeting tonight. The sun hasn’t set yet."

"We were supposed to meet yesterday, and the day before that, and several days before that!"

Sapphire’s frustration was growing. "I was worried when you didn’t show up to any of our plans. I even sent messages, but you didn’t respond. Eventually, I decided to come to the palace and see whether something had happened to you."

Maisa’s expression became blank. "Several days?"

"Yes!"

Addessa rolled her eyes. "It was just one night away from you to celebrate my birthday. Why are you so dramatic?"

Sapphire slowly turned toward her. She stared at Addessa as though the girl had suddenly started speaking a language nobody else understood.

"Your birthday was a week ago, Lady Addessa Challan."

The words fell into the gazebo and Addessa’s expression froze up.

Sapphire continued, looking between them. "And Maisa didn’t miss just one night. She backed out of all our plans for the entire Week of Hearts!"

Silence followed her complaints. Nobody moved after hearing what she had to say.

Varitreya stared at Sapphire. "A week?"

"Yes. Seven days, your royal highness."

Lumi’s face paled. "That’s impossible."

"What’s impossible?" Sapphire asked. She was genuinely confused by their reaction.

"We went to sleep last night."

Sapphire frowned. "Not sure why you slept in last night but why is that weird?"

"We celebrated Addessa’s birthday last night," Lumi insisted. "We danced, ate cake, exchanged gifts, and then we sat down. We couldn’t have been asleep for seven days."

Sapphire looked at them as though she was beginning to question their sanity. "Well, unless the palace has developed a habit of changing its calendar without informing the rest of us, I can assure you that today is the final day of the Week of Hearts."

The five girls exchanged glances. Seven days? They had lost an entire week?

Maisa’s hand slowly moved to her chest. The emptiness she had felt upon waking suddenly seemed much more frightening.

"Wait..." Zolani whispered. Her gaze had shifted toward the enormous flowers at the center of the gazebo. "Was that there last night?"

The others followed her eyes. Varitreya’s expression changed immediately. All the confusion disappeared, replaced by something far more alarming.

She hurried toward the blood-red flower. "A blood cocoon?"

Maisa looked at her. "A what?"

Varitreya didn’t answer immediately. She crouched beside the enormous flower, examining its drooping petals and the dark marks running along its stem.

Her fingers hovered just above its surface. "This can’t be..."

Addessa joined her, her expression turning serious as she inspected the flower. "The marks are fading..." she leaned closer. "Which means it’s been used."

Lumi approached the second flower. Her eyes widened as she recognized its distinct five-colored petals. "The identity flower..."

She looked down at herself, then at the others. Zolani did the same, examining her arms and torso as though expecting to find something unusual.

Varitreya slowly turned toward the second flower. The five colors were unmistakable. Each petal represented one of the five vampire blood types connected to their bond.

The flower was never separate from the blood cocoon. The two worked together, and their appearance was no ordinary occurrence.

The identity flower revealed the bloodlines involved in the creation taking place within the cocoon and this one contained all five.

Varitreya’s lips parted. "Did we..." she stopped. Her eyes moved from the flower to the others. "Did we have a child?"

Everyone froze at the question. The question seemed to suck all the air from the gazebo.

Maisa stared at the blood cocoon. A child? Her stomach dropped.

Suddenly, the emptiness inside her made sense in the most terrifying way. Her hand flew to her stomach and for some reason, she remembered the bargain she made with the white-haired girl.

The binding promise, the blood she had offered in exchange for Evelyn’s resurrection that bound the promise and her exact words, "I want the rights to your first child."

At the time, Maisa had believed the bargain was almost meaningless. She had never imagined that she could have a child with her female mates, and the white-haired girl had made no effort to explain how she intended to claim what she had asked for.

But the blood cocoon was standing before her and something inside her was missing. Something that felt as though it had once been a part of her.

"No..." Maisa whispered. Her blood turned cold. "That can’t be..."

Lumi turned toward the blood cocoon, her mind racing. "A blood cocoon takes seven days to bloom and produce a child. It only begins to wither after the child has been born."

Her gaze shifted toward Sapphire. "And she just told us it’s been a week since Addessa’s birthday."

Varitreya slowly straightened. The realization settled over her face. Seven days? The entire Week of Hearts!

Her gaze drifted toward the decorations surrounding the gazebo. The beautiful flowers that had been arranged for the birthday celebration were still there, although some had begun to wither.

She recognized them as they had been given to her by Taratoya. Varitreya’s expression darkened. "That she-devil!" Her voice rang through the gazebo.

Addessa looked at her. "Teetee, what did she do?"

Varitreya clenched her fists. She remembered their conversation before the celebration. Taratoya’s promise to reveal what Kheamossa had taken from her memories once she strengthened her bond with the others.

She had believed the birthday celebration would be an opportunity to grow closer to her mates. Instead, she had walked straight into a trap.

Had Taratoya known what would happen? Had she deliberately arranged for the flowers to be placed around the gazebo? Had the birthday celebration been designed to bring all five of them together, strengthen their zing, and activate the blood cocoon?

Varitreya’s gaze returned to the two enormous flowers. Her stomach twisted at the realization that she had been used, played like a fool and whatever had happened during those seven missing days had been carefully concealed from them.

"Wait," Addessa interrupted, looking between the flowers and around the gazebo. "If a child was born here, where is it?"

Nobody answered her, they all looked around for signs of a vampire youngling but there was none.

Maisa’s hand remained pressed against her stomach. She could feel nothing unusual there. No movement, no pain, and no indication that anything had happened to her body yet the emptiness remained.

A dreadful thought crept into her mind. Had the child been taken? Had the Mother come to collect what she had been promised? Or had someone else interfered?

"Where is our child?" Zolani asked quietly. Her usual cheerfulness had vanished. "Our... That’s feels strange to say..."

Lumi looked at the blood cocoon again, her expression growing increasingly troubled. "We need to find out what happened during those seven days."

"How?" Addessa demanded. "None of us remembers anything!"

Varitreya looked toward the flowers Taratoya had given her. Her cousin had promised answers and now she had more questions than ever.

Why had Taratoya tricked her into activating the blood cocoon? What had happened after they fell asleep? Had the five of them really brought a child into the world?

If so, who had given birth, and where was the child now?