Chapter 538: Quiet Conversations

One Month Before

Victoria sat comfortably on the couch she always used whenever she visited Selith.

One arm rested lazily along the back of the couch while the other supported her chin. Her gaze remained fixed on Selith, who stood a short distance away, completely absorbed in her work.

Selith did not even spare Victoria a glance as she buried herself in her work. This time she was taking notes.

Victoria felt something like hope and even pride at the fact that soon her plans would come to fruition. She would take what was rightfully hers, and the world would bow at her feet.

"We have two more guests from the Silver Creek pack," Victoria informed Selith, who stopped what she was doing.

Slowly, she lifted her eyes and looked at Victoria.

"Only two?" she asked.

Victoria nodded. "It would seem so."

"It seems this Silver Creek pack is rather persistent," Selith said calmly. "They appear quite determined not to remain uncaptured."

Victoria chuckled quietly.

"Persistent indeed."

She shifted slightly on the couch, settling deeper into the cushions.

"Compared to the others I sent to the pack, the one who brought them in actually impressed me."

Selith raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Many others I sent to the pack never even came back alive to tell me what they witnessed, but this one... William, he brought two with him at least. And two notable members of the pack. I’m sure soon we’ll have the pack in the palm of our hands."

Selith studied her for a moment but said nothing.

Victoria continued.

"The others I sent with him are dead." She shrugged lightly. "Which is rather unfortunate. A waste of resources, if you ask me."

Selith only smiled faintly.

"You still have many more. And if your plans succeed, you will have even more from other regions," Selith said.

Victoria smiled at that.

"Yes," she said softly. "I will."

For a few moments, the only sound in the room was the quiet movement of Selith’s hands as she continued working.

Then Selith spoke again.

"This William that has caught your attention... do you trust him?"

Victoria laughed softly at that.

"I trust nobody, not even you, and you ask me if I trust him. I never thought you were one for jokes."

"I was just making sure you had not forgotten the reason why we started this," Selith told her. "In the case this William does anything that requires him to be discarded..."

"Then he will be discarded," Victoria completed. "He is not too important to get rid of. And anyone can be discarded, even those I share a bed with."

"For a moment," Selith continued, "I had forgotten just how vicious you can be."

Victoria’s lips curved faintly.

"I am rather glad you remember it. But hopefully, before we discard William, I would have bedded him."

Selith paused.

Victoria sighed softly as though she were discussing something terribly disappointing.

"His face card may be bad," she said casually, "but I have felt his muscles."

Her smile deepened slightly.

"The man is lean. And he has some rather delicious muscles I would not mind running my tongue over."

"Is that how you also seduced your daughter’s crush all those years ago?" Selith asked slyly.

Victoria had let it slip one time that she had seduced her daughter’s crush. That had happened when she was annoyed that those she sent to find her daughter had still not found her, and Selith had been opportune to hear the piece of information.

Victoria did not answer immediately.

Instead, she simply smiled.

A slow, amused smile that revealed absolutely nothing. And then after a moment, she waved her hand lazily.

"Focus on the work you are here for, Selith."

Her tone remained light, but the meaning was clear.

"Do not attempt to gather information that will be of no use to us."

Selith smiled again.

"As you wish."

She resumed what she had been doing earlier.

The silence returned for a short while.

Then Selith spoke again.

"Soon we will make use of the priest from Silver Creek."

Victoria tilted her head slightly.

Selith continued calmly.

"He is not necessarily required."

Her eyes flickered briefly toward Victoria.

"But I would very much like to use someone from the Silver Creek pack to test the effects of the ritual we are to carry out."

Victoria remained quiet as Selith continued.

"It would allow us to see if using them increases the likelihood of success, especially since we haven’t used anyone from the pack."

Victoria considered that for a moment.

Then she nodded slowly.

"That will not be a problem. I have already moved him... Louis, I think his name was. I found out he and Benny were actually lovers, and I rather enjoy separating lovers after all," Victoria said.

"Efficient and cruel as always," Selith said with a smile.

Victoria only hummed softly in response.

For several moments, neither woman spoke.

Each of them seemed lost in their own thoughts.

—

When Tobias finally reached the chambers he had been given inside the castle, the exhaustion hit him immediately.

The moment he stepped inside, he closed the door and walked straight to the bed.

He dropped onto it heavily.

The mattress creaked beneath him, but Tobias was far from relaxed.

His eyes remained fixed on the ceiling.

Inside his mind, Ryker stirred.

*You look terrible.*

Tobias exhaled slowly.

"We should have thought everything through before we came to the West."

Ryker was silent for a moment.

Then the wolf replied calmly.

*That may be true.*

Tobias rubbed his face with one hand.

Ryker continued.

*But we are already here. We are in too deep to pull out, and so instead of rethinking all the things we’ve done that made little sense, we should be getting the information we actually came here risking our lives for.*

Tobias swallowed but then nodded as he spoke softly.

"We already have information about the plague, but it’s not confirmed yet if it’s really black magic or not, so that’s not full information. And then I feel like Victoria is doing something that involves that house. There was someone else there, someone with a suffocating presence."