Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 873: A Letter ()

It was already late noon, on the day after Neveah regained consciousness before she got a moment of quiet. She’d been unable to make it out of her room the day before. While her mind had shifted restlessly all day, her body was too weak for any and needed the time to recover.

At Neveah’s urging, Colleen had delayed till nightfall the previous day before making Neveah’s consciousness known to Alessio, Karan and by extension, the entire palace.

Karan had visited soon after to check on Neveah’s condition. The unusual physician reacted much the same as he always did, even knowing Neveah now knew way more than she did.

Neveah figured Karan was neither friend nor foe. He simply didn’t care enough to concern himself, and stuck to following Alessio’s wishes.

Since Karan, an endless stream of visitors had come by, much to Neveah’s surprise. Alphas, Lunas, ranked wolves of various titles, all of which Neveah did not recognize.

What was worse, they’d come with congratulatory gifts. The gifts covered every inch of the floor space in her quarters and even outside down the hallway leading up to her room.

And it was from them Neveah heard she was to be wed to Alessio, on the night after the public execution. And her official coronation as Alpha Queen would take place the day after.

It was beyond laughable. Alessio hadn’t shown up since she woke up. He didn’t even have the decency to break the news to her himself.

Rather, he let her hear it from the lips of dozens of Alphas and Lunas. All voicing their loyalties, which they all knew didn’t quite count for much.

Of course, Alessio’s warriors were right outside, monitoring each visit. Neveah wasn’t even certain why Alessio allowed it in the first place when he never did like her being in the company of others.

But it was always a task to figure out his intentions. Especially now when he seemed to have lost his patience with her.

Knowing him, she guessed he was attempting to keep her too occupied to consider making any move until the day of the execution, and the night they would be wed.

With so many ranked wolves streaming in and out of her quarters and spending long periods of time striking up conversations and trying to suck up to her, it ensured Neveah was infact under close watch at all times.

Then there were the dressmakers, and event planners, and the palace chefs, all paying visits to ask her opinion.

Neveah only now realized just how far Alessio had gone, vacating the palace of all its occupants previously.

Alessio always outdid himself with his plots. And more often than not, he bought the hands of others to execute his will without them realizing it for themselves.

This time, he was making use of all the guests in the palace, and the upcoming wedding to keep Neveah in check.

But there was always more to reality than one could account for, no matter how clever. And in consenting to the visits of strangers, Neveah had received something that could possibly be the only way out for the Eclipse Hunt wolves.

A letter. From the looks of it, it had been sealed hastily. The seal over it was rough and unmarked, but there was no other notable feature.

It didn’t have a sender’s identity or the name of who it was addressed to. However, it had been slipped under Neveah’s door as the dozenth wave of guests were ushered out, and Colleen had found it by nightfall.

"Are you sure you want to open that?" Colleen asked uneasily, glancing over at the door. "We don’t even know who it’s from."

Neveah shrugged casually. It didn’t truly matter who the letter was from. What mattered was that it had come at precisely this period in time.

Colleen handed the letter over to Neveah and she opened it, pulling out the parchment within and reading through the contents.

It was a brief note, hastily written and there wasn’t much else save for a time and a location.

"The side palace?" Neveah asked, glancing over at Colleen questioningly.

Colleen took the letter, a worried frown settling on her brows. "The side palace is just behind the main palace. It’s abandoned now. But it was once the residence of some inconsequential palace staff... I hear, you once lived there also."

Neveah raised a brow. "Did I?"

She’d already guessed the life she had here, stored away in her past, wasn’t as pretty as Alessio painted it.

Colleen nodded in confirmation. "Whoever sent this must know that. Maybe it’s a trap."

"Even if it is, what is Alessio going to do if I’m caught?" Neveah asked, "Kill me?"

It wasn’t the time for sarcastic remarks, Neveah knew. But just as much as Alessio was losing patience with her, Neveah was equally running out of grace for him.

A wedding? On the night after he unjustly killed the Eclipse Hunt wolves? It was exactly as he had promised. Everything that wasn’t him... would be ruined.

But not if she ruined him first.

Colleen shook her head slowly. "Even so, you’re not in any condition to go alone. I’ll go with you." She offered.

"That will just draw Alessio’s attention. Whoever this is took great pains to make sure it gets to me discreetly, it would be unwise not to return the favor." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Besides, someone has to be here to keep turning the guests away." She reminded,

"And there’s not much time left. If we must make a move, we have to do it now. And any help we can get, it’s a chance we have to take."

Colleen still didn’t look assured, but she didn’t protest any further. She walked over to Neveah’s clothing chest, kicking aside the outrageous gift chests in her way. She pulled out a simple outfit for Neveah to change into.

"You must make haste." Colleen reminded. "We can’t say exactly when Alessio or Karan might come looking for you."

Neveah nodded slowly. The outfit Colleen picked out consisted of a simple, weathered black tunic and some breeches, both of which she’d swiped from one of the guard’s rooms a long while back.

Neveah threw it on quickly, ignoring the ache in her wrist. She then bent down to pull on her boots.

When she was dressed, she pulled on a cloak before she nodded to Colleen and saying nothing else, slipped out of her quarters.

The Eclipse Palace was bustling with life and activity, even at this hour. It was disturbing to know all of these people were preparing towards a wedding she wanted no parts in.

Neveah blended into the bustle, and carefully made her way out of the palace.

Outside the palace wasn’t any quieter, but she’d snuck around long enough in all the time she’d spent here, to know which path to take to avoid being spotted.

It took her a longer time but she eventually arrived at the place Colleen had described without much hassle.

The closer she got to the side palace, it became easier as there were less people in these parts. It was equally less guarded.

The side palace as they called it was a small, run down structure a short distance from the palace itself. It was easy to see that it’d once been a moderate looking structure, but it was built in such a way that it could easily go unnoticed, or get passed off as a storage house.

At first sighting, a sense of unease crawled down her spine and it gave her pause.

There was a familiarity about this place that greatly unsettled Neveah. So much so that she contemplated turning around and heading back to the palace, but she was quick to shake off her hesitation.

This was not the time to play it safe.

The side palace was surrounded by overgrown bushes, and an unkept herb garden. Neveah guessed it hadn’t been attended to in more than a few months.

"Who would want to meet me here?" She wondered.

Her bandaged wrist still ached terribly, it took all her strength to brush it aside and focus on the present. Waiting to heal before making a move was waiting for death.

And marrying Alessio was just that...death. It wasn’t metaphorical, or figurative or any other flowery expression.

She simply would rather die.

Perspiration beaded on her forehead from the exertion but she pressed on, making her way to the wooden double doors.

She glanced around her surroundings before she pushed them open with measured force.

As the doors opened, the first thing that struck Neveah was the rancid stench. It was strong enough to make one dizzy, and Neveah took a few steps back to regain her bearings.

Whatever smelled so strongly offensive was something she did not want to know.

Still she swallowed down her disgust and let the door slam shut behind her.

It was already dark outside and with all traces of light gone, she was cast into pitch darkness.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust and Neveah headed down the hallway, glancing around uncertainly. At the end of the hallway, there was a wooden door left partly open.

She’d only taken a few steps in when she heard a shuffling sound ahead of her. Neveah paused in her step, her eyes squinted slightly to see the silhouette of a woman sitting by a wooden table.

Beside her, resting in a cradle was an unrecognizable mass of decaying flesh.

Neveah retched, her hand flying up to her nose.