12.2 - THE VEILED WOMAN

TWELVE PART II

Sweet chuckles filled the chaotic living room as his eyes landed on a suspicious figure of a woman clad in cerulean ankle-length cloak over a pastel blue gossamer dress. And though she didn't wear her hood on, the white laced veil covering most of her face, saved for her pinkish, plump lips, was effectively concealing her feature from him.

The vibe she emanated were harmless and amicable, but Kaizo couldn't shake the bizarre aura the lady radiated. Usually, a person held one specific aura unique to them, but the veiled woman appeared to hold not just one, but two.

Kaizo braced himself, expecting for the worst.

Whoever the woman was, his gut feeling was on high alert. After the last night's fiasco, why couldn't he be?

All of confounding thoughts were cut off for a second when Del squealed somewhere around the cottage. Not long after, the Jeix hurtled at the veiled woman in evident delight before she lifted a forefinger closed to her lips stretched in a warm smile.

"Hush now, Del."

The Jeix eagerly nodded her head as she clamped a hand to her mouth and flew to perch herself at the veiled woman's left shoulder.

And then the veiled woman's attention fixated on him. Her warm smile stretched wider, and Kaizo was certain that she was perusing him under those covers.

"So you're the one," she mused.

Kaizo's brow furrowed at the cryptic notion. "Pardon?"

Yet instead of giving him answer, she turned to the Jeix on her shoulder. "Is he, Del?"

Blinking several times, Del enthusiastically nodded.

"I see."

The interaction between the two perplexed Kaizo, but before he could even voice out his queries, the veiled woman went on again.

"I leave Verēna under your care, Lord Kaizo. She's a tough nut to crack, but I implore you to lengthen your patience. The poor lass had been through a lot, but I assure you she's not what she always let on."

The genuine thoughtfulness and sincerity of her words rendered him speechless. She talked with so much familiarity about their Priestess. The warmth she exuded only intensified when she started talking about her. It was as though she knew their Priestess very well. She had to be or else why would Del greet her with such excitement as if the li'l creature had finally reunited with a long lost friend or family member.

Was she the one he sensed earlier? Kaizo knew she wasn't. It was the first time he sensed and encountered her unique auras in Nēmiah or their country in whole.

Then how did she get past the sec─

"You've met Ramé it seems," she said, scanning the living room. "And she chose you for her."

Ramé.

The name rang a bell. So that was the identity of the malevolent persona housing the Priestess' body last night, then. His face scrunched at the memory of their encounter.

Kaizo finally found his voice. "I didn't accept it."

"Resistance is futile before the Fates, Lord Kaizo." Her head snapped back at him. "Your desire doesn't matter as long as it concerned them. None of us does. Besides," she cocked her head, a sly grin on her lips, "aren't you wondering how you carried our precious Verēna and left unscathed? Think about it for a second."

The notion had him rooted in the spot. Now that she mentioned it, it was only then that everything dawned to him. Carrying the Priestess seemed so casual and natural that Kaizo failed to remember how a mere touch from her scalded his right hand to the bones before.

"You're her Source now."

"I . . ." He shut his mouth, uncertain of what to say. "She will not accept it."

Not after she learned the holy grounds for taking a Source.

The veiled woman shot him a sympathetic smile before she closed the gap between them and did something that caught him off guard. Even Del who was still perched on her shoulder in silence let out a high-pitched shrill and took off in a speed of light.

Heat crept up his cheeks and ears as the veiled woman's plump lips left his forehead, and let go of his nape she seized with one firm hand while the other swept up the hairs brushing against his forehead. Only then did he realized the sudden shift in the atmosphere. The warmth she previously radiated, shifted into a spine-chilling vibe. It was nowhere near Ramé's, but it was enough to constrict his throat.

His feet sprang up in reflex away from the woman; an arm drawn to side as he readied himself for the worst.

"I demand you to tell what you have done to me," Kaizo probed, one hand clutching his tingling forehead. "Now!"

The veiled woman simply chuckled and whirled around to face him. "Ah, can't you just be grateful, scum?"

His eyes narrowed. The veiled woman's manner of speaking and tone flipped 360 degree. The amicable gentleness earlier was replaced by a haughty, crude one. It was as if another personality emerged out from her.

That explains the twin aura . . .

"I can't believe Hestia would also send one of us back to our enemy's turf. Ah, that old woman. If only I could, I would have strangle her to death," she said, making a gripping gesture with her hands, then her shoulders fell. "Sadly, I can't." She turned to him. "We gave you a present. As to what it is, circumstances will let itself unfold."

Kaizo grimly pressed, "Why would you do that?"

"Would you bed me if I tell you? Hmm. You don't look bad yourself."

Kaizo remained unfazed and stoic in her innuendo.

The woman laughed. For a split second, it reminded him of Ramé, but instantly shoved the thought away at her next statement.

"Verēna," she started. "That little girl isn't a damsel in distress in need of saving. She's a stray soul wallowed by grief and wrath. Savior isn't what she need, but someone who can walk with her through hell and back without reservation." She paused. It was as though she was burning him under her gaze behind those veil. The tone in her voice went down a few notches. "Leave her be if you're not that person. Don't waste our gift for nothing."

"Vevee, are y─holy blood of Jesus Christ!"

Averting his attention towards the front door, Kaizo saw a thoroughly stupefied Lady Astreon.

Her wide eyes found his. "What on earth happened here, Kai?"

Ignoring her query, he turned to point at the veiled woman standing by the Priestess' room only to suspend all the words at the tip of his tongue when he found her nowhere in sight.

Where is she?

A sharp inhale of breath sounded. "Where the hell did you get that, Kai?"

Miran was already in front of her, eyeing his forehead still clamped by his hand. He removed his hand, gaze still scanning the surrounding, and told her. By the time he finished, the inexplicable irritation she display got even more pronounced.

"That wench!"

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