The Gentle Maiden and Five Lustful Brothers-Chapter 164: Withdrawing

Arya couldn’t believe The Crone, she’s known her whole life, is gone. The woman who helped raise her. Nurture her. She has reentered the cycle of rebirth.

A new Crone already warmed the seat her lifelong friend had just left.

Arya checked her watch. She’d barely slept a wink. It was the wee hours of the morning still. Magic classes for the youngins would already be underway by now.

Nothing has changed much inside their coven, yet, with the loss of The Crone. Everything felt different.

"If I’m gone for much longer, Violet might be more difficult to manage." The rampage she’s been on is nothing short of genocide. She was unsure if even the return of her daughter would satisfy and calm her bloodlust, or if Violet was passed that by now. Arya was coming to realize, her best friend wasn’t the same person, and she was unsure if there was ever going back.

A knock pulled Arya from her spiraling.

"Your presence is being requested by the council sisters, Sister Arya." A small quiet voice said behind the door. freёnovelkiss-com

"Thank you, Tia." Arya answered, she quickly got dressed, putting on a long black skirt and purple tunic top. She left for the meeting chamber without wasting a second.

The coven’s main building had too many rooms. It was a maze to those who don’t know their way around.

When she entered the meeting room Arya found the Three Sister’s waiting for her.

"Welcome Crone" Arya said first bowing her head. Showing respect to the newest member of the highest council.

"Thank you, sister." The Crone nodded back with the same semblance.

The sister’s casted the same blanket of silence spell as before, so no one can hear the conversation that was about to be had.

"We have asked you to discuss the direction we’re heading in." The Mother Spoke first.

"The late Crone had a vision, and with that vision, new information and understanding has been given light." The Maiden added

"We must withdraw immediately." The Mother states clearly with a firm tone.

The goddess’s will is not to be questioned or twisted for mortal revenge." The Crone finalized,

At that, Arya stepped forward from the shadows. She had been listening quietly, as if her breath alone might shatter the delicate truth being spoken. Her face was pale, her fingers trembling around the edge of her cloak.

"You... you can’t mean that," she choked out.

The Crone turned, her expression unreadable. "Child, we cannot fight the gods. The princess is where she is meant to be."

Arya shook her head violently. "You don’t understand!"

Stumbling over herself.

"I gave my word to Queen Violet and my son. They trusted me. I promised them I’d do whatever it took bring her daughter back. To bring my daughter in law back. How can I look her in the eyes and tell her we’ve abandoned her? That her child is lost forever to wolves she hates, the wolves that took her and hurt her? How can I look at my son and tell him to give up his search for her?"

The Mother stepped closer, her voice low and echoing. "I do understand, Arya, you are not here to bind yourself to queens or to worldly vengeance or a search and rescue. You are a witch. You serve the greater balance, not your personal heartache."

Arya’s eyes shone with tears of anger. "So, what? We just step aside? Leave her to those beasts? You expect me to betray my friend? To abandon my future daughter in law? To ditch my vow"

The Crone’s eyes softened, just for an instant. "We do not betray. The goddess placed the child with her chosen people for a reason. Interfering would mean turning against Artemis herself."

"Yes, Arya, the late crown had a vision, one that showed her the MoonChild is where she needs to be. She is fulfilling her duty and following the path fate laid out for her." The Maiden offered.

Arya’s shoulders hunched, her nails digging into her palms until they bled. All the nights she’d spent pouring over maps, reading blood runes, burning herself out in service of a promise... All felt like ashes now. Tasted bitter in her mouth.

"I can’t..." she whispered, her voice cracking. "I can’t face her. She’ll see me as a traitor. She’ll hate me, she might even try and kill me, who knows given her current state of mind."

Arya felt the panic filling her soul at the idea. Violet wasn’t going to like this and Ash, oh Ash was going to be livid. They needed the witch’s protection most during daytime hours. This was a pivotal need for the war effort. Her and her people’s efforts were essential to the safety of the vampires.

The Mother stepped forward and laid a hand on Arya’s shoulder. "Pain is the price of devotion, Arya. We must hold the line of the goddess, even when our hearts shatter for it."

Arya drew a ragged breath, then another, but the tears kept falling. She couldn’t believe what she had heard, what she had just been told.

Her shoulders shook with grief.

Finally, Arya turned away, staggering toward the exit, her skirt trailing behind her with a whipping fury. She did not wait to be dismissed; her anger carried her away before anyone could speak further.

The blanket of silence broken the moment she stepped out. The busy sounds of the clean-up for the celebration still underway.

She knew what she would have to do next: go to her friend, Violet, the vampire queen who had trusted her above all others and deliver the words that would break her heart and shatter her faith in Arya.

She would see rage, betrayal, and devastation reflected in those violent magenta eyes.

But the goddess’s will was law.

Outside, the night waited. A shadow loomed over Arya’s face. A breeze rustled the treetops, cold and sharp, like the judgment Arya would soon face at the hands of her best friend and be at the mercy of her will.