Bride To His Darkness-Chapter 358: Marius’s Awakening

"What about the other children, did they make it home?" Samantha asked Duncan once they were seated in his private tent, and he was soothingly sipping the sweet orange juice Lucy had taken her time to process for him.

He couldn’t help but think about what that mischievous woman was doing right now, as she wasn’t here with him, but Samantha’s question had diverted his attention to her.

He pondered on the exact answer to give before nodding his head mildly.

"Some of them." He answered, clicking his tongue, "some of them made it back home, the rest are... still on a long journey it seems, but they’ll be fine. Ivan trusts his men, so I doubt there’ll be any further problems."

"It’s a good thing they were gone before this crisis began."

Duncan nodded his head in agreement, but said nothing more.

"Mr." A cute voice behind him startled him for a fleeting moment, and when he turned to see who was standing at his back, a little girl was busy touching his ponytail, but had hid her hands behind her back when he caught her.

"Hmm?" He blinked at her adorable presence, and Samantha beckoned the little girl to her side. She didn’t hesitate to run into the arms of Samantha, and she lifted the girl onto her lap, making her comfortable.

"Where did she come from?" Duncan tilted his head at the little girl, wondering if the guards sent to return the children had unknowingly left one behind, but Samantha answered his thoughts.

"She’s Caddel’s little sister, Liliana." She introduced the little girl, and the girl smiled affectionately at Duncan, her way of saying ’hi’ to him. "But she likes it better when everyone calls her Lily."

"Caddel has a sister?"

"Yes, that’s the whole reason he’s with us today." Samantha explained, feeling more than relieved in her heart to know that Caddel’s sacrifice to be here, and secretly work for the witch didn’t go unfruitful. Once everything goes back to the way they are, she’ll definitely speak with Ivan concerning Caddel, and she hopes he would agree to her suggestion of giving Caddel a title in the Palace, cause where will he go after all this is over?

And with a little sister to fend for?

"Why did everyone leave?" Lily tilted her head up to ask Samantha, "big brother left with all those big people today. Is it true they’re going to the big scary tree?" freёwebnoѵel.com

Samantha, who was first smiling at the girl’s curiosity, could feel her smile wane at the next question that left the girl’s lips.

"Ali told me they’re going to the big tree to get the witch and save us all."

"You know about the tree?" Duncan asked the little girl this time, and she shook her head at his soft inquiry. Clearly, Alain has been filling her head with things again, but the more Samantha pondered on it, the more she felt like she was missing something in that one symbolism.

"A tree." She whispered to herself, wondering why she couldn’t understand the true meaning behind it. Why a tree? What can a tree possibly entail here? If there was someone who knew more about things like this, it was her prideful pet plant.

"Viney." Samantha summoned her beast plant from where it was hiding. It didn’t reveal itself, but simply answered her through their bond.

"Master?"

"Do you know about any tree?" She asked, considering her plant was also, or could be seen as a tree itself. "Are there trees that can absorb magic, I mean, are there any trees in this land that connect with Carmela?"

"Viney does not know the answer to that," her plant responded, "but all trees are filled with the purest energy of the earth, Master, and if you’re talking about whether a tree can absorb black magic, that is also possible, depending on the type of tree, but it is fortunately, very rare."

"Miss Queen? Who are you talking to?" Lily’s voice broke through her connection with Viney, and a slight blush of embarrassment creeped onto her cheek to find Lily and Duncan staring at her questioningly.

"I... it’s an imaginary pet." she answered.

"Viney is not imaginary!" Countered the little plant, but it was scolding Samantha for daring to claim its existence as imaginary.

"Lily, why don’t you sit here with big uncle Duncan, and I’ll be back." Samantha rose from the chair and carefully helped Lily sit on it instead.

"Are you going after big brother?"

"No, I’ll be outside, okay?" she patted the girl’s head gently and glanced at Duncan to watch over her for a minute.

Before he could ask her what she was up to, Samantha had slipped out of the tent.

She headed into the forest, but keeping a close eye to make sure she wasn’t stepping out of the boundaries Ivan had created to ensure no one lost sight of the tent. Samantha brought out Viney and asked.

"Can you detect if a tree is consumed by dark magic?"

"Plausible, master."

"If I do it, I need to feel the tree’s spiritual energy individually, and that would take me nowhere." Samantha uttered after glancing at the many trees.

"Viney can accomplish that in seconds, that’s why you have me." And the plant simply jumped down from Samantha’s palm, making its plump body slightly bigger as it steadied itself on the ground.

The roots of Viney began attaching themselves to the earth, and it was a little hard to forge connection with other roots since the trees were mostly weak during this particular season, but for master’s sake, the plant pushed on till it eventually found a connection that would link its energy to that of other trees.

Samantha watched her plant do what it knew how to do best, asides eating people, and it didn’t take long before Viney recoiled its roots from the earth. There was silence, one Samantha couldn’t understand, and carefully picked up her pet plant from the ground.

"Viney?"

"Master," the plant finally found its voice, "there’s a tree, the trees that way." Viney pointed in the right direction, "it was sucking Viney’s energy like a wasted demon, but I escaped just in time!" panicked Viney, "I’ve only ever heard of an absorbing tree, but Viney has never come across one until now, it was... scary!"

"So Alain wasn’t speaking randomly," Samantha noted mindfully, a dreadful feeling creeping onto her heart, and she shook away the idea that groped her senses.

Ivan told her to stay put till he returns, and that is what she’ll do.

____

Meanwhile, somewhere deep in the forest, Carmela and her coven members had finished adding the last touch to Marius’s new body. He was presently sitting on a large symbol in a lotus position, the new vessel holding his soul as Carmela chanted the summoning spell around the circle.

Stepping back after the rightful incantation has been whispered, a smile dotted her lips when those closed eyes snapped open, revealing pitch-black eyes devoid of humanity. They flickered with untamed fury, and most importantly, vengeance.

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