Chapter 366: A Talk Between Sisters

The wind of the Great White North blew hard between the mountains, whipping up swirls of snow that made it impossible to see more than a few meters ahead.

At the top of one of those mountains, hidden behind a wall of rock and ice, was a narrow crack that any traveler would have taken for a simple cave.

Beyond the crack, steps carved into the stone descended into a dark tunnel that led to the catacombs, the place the vampires had made their home.

The entrance suddenly lit up with a white flash.

And an instant later, Dalia and Lily fell to their knees in the snow.

The teleportation stone shattered in Lily’s hand and turned to dust, which the wind carried off before she could even close her fingers.

Neither of them said anything at first.

Lily breathed with difficulty as she stared at her empty palm, still trying to take in the fact that they had managed to escape.

Then she looked up at Dalia.

Her sister was leaning against the rock wall, practically letting herself slump against it.

Dalia’s face was almost bloodless, her left arm completely immobile, and her trench coat stained with blood from shoulder to waist.

"Dalia..."

"I’m fine."

"You’re not fine... your wounds are still open." Lily crawled to her through the snow. "Why aren’t they healing?"

"It’s because of that damn skeleton...," Dalia answered, her voice breaking. "It scrambled my mana and I can’t focus it."

Lily reacted at once. She tore open her wrist with her fangs and held it to her sister’s lips before she could add anything else.

"Drink."

Dalia hesitated only a second before closing her lips over the wound.

Little by little, Lily’s blood began to stabilize her.

Color slowly returned to Dalia’s face, and the edges of the shoulder wound began to move, drawing together and closing very slowly, a faint reddish vapor rising from the flesh.

And meanwhile, Lily began to cry.

At first silently, tears running down her cheeks without her doing anything to stop them.

But as her sister’s wound closed, the crying grew louder, until her voice broke completely.

"I’m sorry..." Lily sobbed. "I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry... I ruined everything, Dalia... I’m a fucking useless idiot."

Dalia pulled her lips from her wrist.

"Lily--"

"It was my fault!" she cut in. "I’m the one who got too close. I’m the one who wanted to see Sister Rose up close. If I’d stayed where you told me, that guy never would have found me, and you wouldn’t have had to attack him."

She pointed at her sister’s shoulder with a trembling hand.

"You almost died because of my carelessness... And on top of that I passed out like an idiot and left you alone."

"You’re the one who got us out of there."

"Because you were about to die!"

Dalia exhaled slowly and raised her good hand to rest it on Lily’s head, ruffling her hair a little.

"Stop apologizing," she murmured. "If anyone made a mistake, it was me."

Lily lifted her face, her eyes swollen and her nose red.

"The merchant had already warned us. We knew that man had unified the entire south and that he wasn’t someone ordinary. We even knew the title he held."

Dalia pressed her lips together.

"And still I thought I could walk into his palace and get us out if something went wrong... I was reckless and arrogant."

Lily took a moment to answer.

"Then... it looks like between the two of us we don’t make one whole brain."

That drew a faint smile from Dalia.

"I suppose so... It must run in the family."

Lily let out a mix of laugh and sob before hugging her. Dalia winced when the movement pressed on her wounded shoulder, but she still let her stay there.

"The important thing is that we’re okay," Lily said against her neck. "That’s all that matters."

"You’re right."

After a few seconds, Lily pulled back just enough to look at her.

"And we have to tell Father what happened. Right now."

Dalia looked away and let out a heavy sigh.

"I know..."

Lily separated from her, wiped her face with the sleeve of her dress, and stood up. Then she slung her good arm over her sister’s shoulders and helped her to her feet.

Together they began to descend the stone steps.

The snow and wind fell behind, and as they went down, the silence of the catacombs wrapped around them.

The rock walls were covered in ancient inscriptions and, now and then, a torch with a red flame lit the way.

They had gone down about twenty steps when Dalia spoke again.

"...Lily."

"Mm?"

"What do you think about Rose being pregnant?"

"You want to talk about that now?"

"Yes."

"Well..." Lily frowned, thinking it over for a while. "Honestly, I never imagined something like that was possible."

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why? She’s Sister Rose!" she almost stopped in the middle of the stairs. "She has the worst temper in the whole family... Once she didn’t speak to me for a year because I went into her room without knocking. Who in their right mind would want to start a family with someone like that?"

"He did, apparently."

"Then he’s crazy!"

They kept descending in silence for several more steps, the echo of their footsteps lost in the catacombs, until Dalia spoke again.

"Do you think she’s happy?"

Lily took a moment to answer, keeping her eyes fixed on the steps.

"Well... before he found me, I got to watch her for a while in the garden. He knelt in front of Rose, put his hands on her belly, and started talking to the baby. I don’t know what he said, but Rose laughed."

Dalia turned her head toward her, clearly surprised.

"Really?"

"Yeah... and she had an expression I’d never seen on her," Lily replied, searching for the words. "I don’t know how to explain it... She looked... happy, I guess. In all the years we lived with her, I don’t remember seeing her like that even once."

Dalia turned her gaze forward and stayed thoughtful as they kept descending.

"I see..."

For a while, the only sound was again that of their steps against the stone, until Lily let out a small snort of laughter.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just realized something," she answered, looking at Dalia. "If Sister Rose is married to that guy, then technically the Death Emperor is our brother-in-law."

"..."

"Our brother-in-law almost killed you, Dalia."

"I noticed."

Lily laughed a little louder, her voice still somewhat broken from her earlier crying, and Dalia, to her own surprise, felt the corner of her mouth curl up a little.

"Anyway, we’d better hurry," she said, leaning a little more on her sister’s shoulder. "Father is waiting."

After that, the two kept descending into the darkness of the catacombs.