Chapter 359 - Recovery

Oziyat looked at Chris then at Leyla. His expression turning serious.

"I guess, she told you that I knew her before you came here?" 

"Yes, she also told me that you knew about Malgino and the situation of the wizarding world way before I came here," Chris tried to look as fierce as possible but her laying in the bed wrapped in bandages did not help.

"Yes, I did." Oziyat nodded. His face was blank.

"And you didn't think that you should mention that?" Chris asked ludicrously. She tried to sit up but Leyla and Sol stopped her.

Oziyat sighed.

"Christina, please stay down. You need time to recover. Sol, go to your room."

". . . me?" Sol looked surprised for a moment. He had thought everyone forgot that he wasn't supposed to be here in this conversation. He did too. But he wanted to know what was going on, so he looked at Chris hopefully. "I . . . won't . . . say . . . anything . . . I promise. . . please?"

"Absolutely not. You do not need to know about this conversation. Go to your room," Oziyat ordered.

Sol kept looking at Chris and Chris sighed because Oziyat's behavior reminded her of Mrs. Weasley. She used to be so against her kids knowing about the dangerous news but in the end, they all rebelled and Mrs. Weasley couldn't keep them away from the dangers. And now her daughter was dead. The thought made Chris's heart clench.

Chris also didn't want to put Sol in that type of danger by sharing any information in front of him but she knew that like them he will find a way to know. But not now.

"Sol, thank you for taking care of me. I will see you tomorrow. Right now, I need to talk to Oziyat, okay?" Chris said softening her voice.

Chris sighed before she hardened her gaze and spoke, "Close the door." 

Leyla closed the door and sat down beside Chris's bed.

"Now speak," Chris ordered Oziyat.

"I know you are upset but to be honest, there isn't much to say, Christina. Yes, I met Leyla last year and I have a better idea of what's going on in the wizarding world, that's all," Oziyat said.

Chris glared at him and he sighed.

"I knew about Malgino and that is why I trusted you at the beginning. I inquired you because I wanted to know if you were connected to this group of Leyla and Dumbledore. At first, you didn't talk much but then you mentioned Dumbledore so I guessed that maybe you knew about them."

"And you didn't think of telling me that?" Chris narrowed her eyes. "Even after I asked you multiple times that why do you trust me? Or why are you helping me?"

"I also asked you again and again about yourself but you didn't talk a lot of things about yourself either, Christina. You cannot blame me for doing this," Oziyat stared at Chris, looking hurt.

"But this was an important piece of information, Oziyat," Chris snapped.

"And who gets to define what's important or not? I shared a lot of my secrets with you, Christina. I shared the things nobody else knows about me. Because I trusted you and you did not, yet here you are accusing me of keeping secrets."

Oziyat's eyes flashed with emotions as he spoke.

"Oziyat, I . . ." Chris gaped at Oziyat. She had never seen him like this.

Without any word Oziyat got up and taking a final look at Chris, he walked out. For a long time, Chris just stared at the door and Leyla watched her. Nobody spoke. 

"I don't know exactly what happened between you and him but Prince Oziyat is not a bad person, Chris. In fact, among all the vampires I have met he is quite different. He actually cares about Wizards and the way he was worried for you, I think he cares about you very much," Leyla cleared her throat and stood up. "Anyway, I think I will stay here for few days, at least until you are okay. I will send a message to Charlie about my disappearance or he will be worried. Don't worry, I won't say anything about you. It's your decision and I will respect it."

⁂

The next two days passed in a blur. As promised, Leyla stayed at the Palace and didn't say anything about Chris to Charlie or anymore from the Order. But Chris wasn't worried about it. For the last two days, neither Oziyat nor Sol had visited her. Oziyat just asked Leyla about how she was doing and that was it. Chris was feeling uneasy about the whole thing, even though she didn't admit Oziyat had become a friend to her, and hurting him was the last thing she wanted to do. Maybe she did overreact sometimes but after what Jason did, she knew secrets can destroy a lot of relationsh.i.p.s.

On the third day, Chris could finally walk alone without support or reopening any of her injuries. So she decided to talk a walk outside to clear her head before Leyla could come and order her to lay down again.

Out of habit, she walked towards the gazebo, where Zil used to live. The evening sky glinted with familiar stars. Chris stood in front of the gazebo and stared at it. The place was empty. A cool breeze c.a.r.e.s.sed Chris's hair and face and she closed her eyes.

"Lady Christina, glad to see you are feeling good enough to walk outside." 

Chris's eyes flew open and found Princess Sylvia steering a horse towards her. Her scarlet hair was tied in a ponytail and her baby pink frilly riding suit really made her look like a fancy Princess.

Chris self-consciously pulled the scarf around her, which she wrapped around her before leaving her room to hide her bandage-clad body. Underneath the scarf, she was wearing a loose shirt and pants because it was easy to change the bandages in it but not cool enough to walk around in a fancy Vampire Castle.

"Hello, Princess Sylvia," Chris said politely ignoring the way Sylvia scanned her head to toe.

"You are still pale, Lady Christina. Not to mention you are leaving a trail of delicious blood smell after you," Sylvia took a deep breath then smiled. "Was coming out of your room really a good idea?"

Well, this is not creepy at all. Mumbling, Chris put a protection charm around her. Maybe it won't stop the smell of blood but it will definitely protect her from sudden blood-thirsty vampire attacks.

"I didn't like cooped up in a room for so long," Chris explained.

"Of course, who does?" Sylvia shook her weird expression. "Take me for example, I hate to stay inside my room all day, that's why often you will find me outside, riding a horse or just walking around, collecting gossips."

Sylvia chuckled at her own joke.

"Anyway, speaking of gossip, what about you? What exactly happened to you?" Sylvia raised her eyebrows curiously.

"What about me?" Chris asked trying to avoid answering her questions.

"You know what I mean. Only a few know what happened and why are you injured? Rumors say," Sylvia lowered her voice, "That you went to South-East alone?"

"I . . ." Chris began stepping back from Sylvia but a familiar voice interrupted her.

"Christina!" 

Chris quickly turned and saw Oziyat walking towards her very fast.

"Oziyat, I am so--"

"We don't time for this. You need to come with me right now." Oziyat hurriedly ushered her back towards the castle. "Talk to you later, Sylvia."

"Why? What happened?" Sylvia shouted after them but Oziyat and Chris were already inside the palace.

"Oziyat, what's going --?"

"Three people of your kind just got caught entering our borders. They fought our Guardians and claimed that they know you."

⟦To be continued⟧