Ellyana wandered around the woods alone for hours. Trying to clear her head of her panicked emotions. She didn't have feeling for Sebastian. Did she? No, it was crazy. She couldn't allow herself to have those feelings. It would open herself up to more danger than necessary. Besides, Bash had feelings for Mary.
Somehow, thinking like that only made her feel worse. She brushed it off. She wouldn't let him do this to her. She wouldn't succumb to these emotions. She had never, in her life, broken down over a man. Much less within the court. That wasn't about to begin now.
She pushed the poisonous thoughts to the back of her mind as she wove through the trees back to the castle.
As she was walking through the woods, darkness began to fall. She heard the footsteps coming towards her and she climbed onto a branch overhead.
"I know you're up there Ellyana." A woman spoke. "No point in hiding."
"What do you want from me?" Elly asked, jumping from the tree. She took one of her daggers from its sheath.
"Only to talk." The woman reeked of the Blood Wood. "You and two others have disrupted a scared ritual."
"I've done nothing." Her hand tightened around the hilt of her blade.
"You did nothing to stop the bastard. You are as guilty as he is. As is the other girl. A lady of the Scottish queen I believe."
"Give me one reason why I should plunge my blade into your chest." Ellyana growled.
"Nothing. Kill me. I'm of no importance. Either way, we need a new sacrifice. Find one, or we will." The pagan woman's tone darkened.
A vision clouded her eyesight. "No." She whispered. Her voice strengthened. "Touch either of them, and I will destroy this forest."
"You have no power h..."
Ellyana yanked the blade free, grinning as blood spattered her face. "Like hell I do."
She stalked back to the castle, her dagger still in hand. Her keen eye watching out for any more pagans waiting for her. She found Emilia still standing by the pond.
"Did they come to you too?" She asked. "The pagans?"
"They will not bring harm to any within the castle walls. I can promise you that."
"These filthy heretics and their damned rituals." Her hands tightened into fists. "They could come after Marque. Or Mary. Maybe even one of us."
"It will not come to that." Ellyana promised. "You have you're blades right?"
"I always do."
"Then you, Bash and I will protect this castle and everyone in it. We've made this mess ourselves and we will be the ones to fix it."
"How do we plan to do that?" Emilia raised an eyebrow. "The three of us against god knows how many pagans."
"They don't fight like we do." Ellyana smirked.
"Come then." Emilia said. "Let's find Sebastian."