Chapter 83-The dark forest (7)

Chapter 83: 83-The dark forest (7)

"Not a single soul was left alive after I was done!"

"..."

Maisa stared at him, unable to find a single word. For several seconds, silence stretched between them. Horror slowly settled across her face as the weight of his confession sank in.

She had expected anger, perhaps vengeance, against the people responsible for betraying him and his friends. She hadn’t expected this. Her stomach twisted as she looked at him, suddenly wondering just how far the darkness inside him truly went.

"I thought revenge would make losing them hurt less. It didn’t." He looked down at his hands. "It only gave the Blood Council a reason to call me a threat."

"And they sent you here."

"Yes."

Maisa was quiet for a long time. She should have been afraid of him. By every rule she’d learned since becoming a vampire, she should have been. He was a blackblood, stronger than her, even when she had her vampirism, and he had committed a massacre.

But somehow, sitting beside him in the darkness, she understood the shape of his grief-not the choice he had made, nor the lives he had taken, but the unbearable pain that had driven him toward such a terrible decision.

Understanding his suffering didn’t mean excusing his actions, yet she could recognize the loneliness beneath his anger, the kind that came from believing the people you once trusted had turned against you.

And perhaps that was what frightened her most. A quiet dread settled in her chest as she imagined the day her own secrets were finally exposed.

What would her mates think when they discovered the truth she had kept hidden from them? Would their love turn into hatred? Would they come after her the way Nersus had gone after those who had wronged him?

Worse, would their anger extend to her family and the community she had spent so long protecting? The thought made her shiver. For the first time, Nersus’s confession didn’t feel like a distant tragedy. It felt like a warning of what her own future could become.

"I’m sorry," she murmured.

Nersus glanced at her. "You don’t have to be."

"I know," Maisa looked down. "But I’m still sorry for your loss."

Something softened in his expression. It was the first time he looked less like a prisoner and more like a boy who had once had friends, family, plans, and a life beyond these trees.

After a while, Maisa lifted her head. "Daylight is probably coming soon."

Nersus gave her a strange look. "What?"

"Sunrise. We should find somewhere to hide before it gets here."

For the first time, genuine amusement appeared in his eyes. "Daylight doesn’t reach the dark forest, silly."

Maisa blinked. "What?"

"It’s always night here. Every day and night is...night. After a while, you’ll stop being able to tell the hours apart. It will all be the same."

She stared at him, mortified. "Always?"

"Always."

She looked toward the sky, but the thick canopy concealed almost everything above them. "How?"

"Ancient magic of the First Vampire," he explained. "The forest has rules of its own. Even the distortion of time is part of the torture this place inflicts on anyone trapped within it."

Maisa released a slow breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. At least now she understood why everything felt so unnaturally wrong here. The thought offered little comfort, but it was one less mystery weighing on her already overwhelmed mind.

"One less thing to worry about," she murmured.

Nersus nodded. "Give it time. You’ll find plenty of others."

She almost laughed, almost. They started walking away from there. Nersus led the way through narrow paths between enormous trees, occasionally stopping to inspect the ground or listen before continuing.

Maisa followed closely, still gripping the metal rod. The herbs had apparently done their job because the forest remained eerily quiet around them. Whatever creatures lived there seemed unable to detect them, and eventually, curiosity won.

"Can vampires outside come in here to save someone?"

Nersus shook his head. "Not normally."

"Then how does anyone get someone out?"

"They don’t," he answered casually. If I were possible to get someone out before the end of their sentence, his family would’ve broken him out long ago.

Maisa stopped walking. Any lingering hope she had of someone... her mates showing up to save her just crumbled to small bits.

Nersus continued walking before realizing she wasn’t beside him anymore. He turned. Realiing why she had stopped, he took a deep breath and spoke, "There is one exception."

"Which is?" she seized upon the opportunity like a starving dog finally being thrown a bone, grasping at it with an eagerness she could barely conceal.

"Whitebloods can enter the Dark Forest and leave whenever they please."

Maisa’s heart seemed to stop. That information didn’t help her at all. If anything, it made the hopelessness settling inside her feel even heavier.

Princess Varitreya and Kayden were the only whitebloods she knew. And the princess would never willingly set foot in forbidden territory for a redblood like her. She had already gotten herself into enough trouble by helping her in the arena. There was no way she would risk everything by coming after her again.

And besides, Varitreya was probably busy with Kayden. Perhaps she hadn’t even realized she was missing yet. The thought stung more than she wanted to admit, but she forced herself to swallow the disappointment.

She couldn’t expect a princess to risk her safety for her, not when their bond had already caused enough complications.

Nersus noticed her expression and thought she wanted further explanation on how that worked. "The forest’s magic doesn’t suppress whitebloods. They can enter with their powers intact and leave without losing their vampirism."

A strange ache immediately formed beneath Maisa’s ribs. Varitrey, the thought appeared before she could stop it.

Only hours ago, she’d been sitting with the princess in the hotel’s private lounge. She remembered the softness of the room, the warmth of the lamps, Varitreya’s startled expression when Maisa had crossed a boundary neither of them had expected to cross and now she was here, in a prison, without her powers or her mates.

She didn’t know whether anyone realized she’d disappeared. Maisa touched the flower-shaped mark above her heart. It was still cold and without the slightest glow. There wasn’t a pulse of her mates or what they were feeling. It had gone silent.

She swallowed painfully. "Do you know if a whiteblood can come here for someone?"

Nersus looked at her. A whiteblood? Come for a criminal in the dark forest? He was yet to see one.

"If they know where that person is?" She went on.

Maisa’s heart sank because that was the problem, nobody knew where she was, at least, nobody should.

She pictured Varitreya’s face one last time before lowering her hand. The memory of that midnight kiss suddenly felt impossibly distant, like something that had happened to another girl in another life.

Maisa stared into the endless darkness ahead. For the first time since entering the forest, she allowed herself to wonder whether she’d ever see Varitreya, Addessa, Lumi, and Zolani again.

The thought hurt more than any wound she’d suffered that night. She quickly looked away so Nersus wouldn’t see the tears gathering in her eyes.

"Come on," he said quietly.

Maisa nodded, and together, the two prisoners disappeared deeper into the eternal night of the dark forest.