Shadows Around the Courtyard

The night at Wover city had turned cold and foggy as usual. People closed their doors and windows right after sunset and retired to their warm rooms. Fireplaces were full of wood and soups and tea were being served.

Einar estate too, looked like a deserted place covered in fog. The moon was hiding behind clouds and the light coming from burning torches was not enough to move past the fog to illuminate the place entirely. The only living beings one could spot in the estate were the werewolf guards making rounds around the entire estate in their wolf forms.

The courtyard doors had long been locked except that of Aurelia's which was broken beyond repair thanks to the countless fights with her aunt and her kids. A guard wolf walked past her courtyard before taking a few steps back to stand in front of the courtyard doors.

The lawns were devoid of any green object while the damaged building looked no less than a haunted courtyard in the fog and dark. The dim light coming from one of the rooms gave the whole courtyard an eerie atmosphere and the hair on the wolf's body stood up as he hurried to slip away from the place.

This courtyard didn't need guards, it was scarier than any mighty guard. As the guard wolf disappeared in the fog, another wolf appeared at the door of the courtyard. This one carefully watched the building covered in the fog and unlike the guard wolf, this one stepped its paw in the courtyard.

Aurelia's courtyard was engulfed in darkness except a torch in the lawn and another in her room. Aunt Feng and Roma had gone to sleep while Rose accompanied her to help with her reading. Roma and Rose alternated days to stay in her room to help her with things despite her telling them off.

Right now, she was reading a book on the ancient werewolves with special abilities. Despite being away, her grandfather regularly sent her letters and books of her interest. It was delivered a few days ago with a detailed letter in which her grandfather had shared some of his recent adventures.

The book was quite interesting and looked more like a mythical fiction since it narrated the story of an ancient werewolf king who had abilities to read people's mind, control them and also extend his healing abilities to others.

She was almost shook when her eyes traced the words; ability to read people's mind. This was the first time she heard about this ability in any of the three races that existed in her world. She hadn't expected to ever hear about someone else possessing the ability.

To her, it had something to do with the defect she was born with, that she could read other people's minds. Aurelia's gaze moved to a busy yet smiling Rose who made her bed and then headed to prepare tea for her master. She focused on Rose for a moment and the next moment her mind was filled with the girl's noisy thoughts where she hummed to herself.

It was obvious that the girl was happy and relaxed after the discussion during the day. Aurelia was reminded of her tear filled eyes and little sobs when she asked them why they trusted her. Since she couldn't tell her the truth, she had to take shelter in reasoning and a little lie. This secret of hers, she had decided at an early age, was never to be told to anyone.

Watching Rose disappear from the door, she called out to her, "Rose, where are you going?" Rose, who had almost stepped out of the door, came back to bow slightly before saying, "to prepare some tea to help my mistress freshen up." Her tone was light and endearing, making her mistress try to hold back her smile.

"You don't have to prepare tea, I don't plan to stay up for too long. Just go to sleep, and I'll be sleeping in half an hour as well." Rose looked at her amazed since she found it to be strange. Her little time by her side and Roma's company had told her that Aurelia never slept early. "What happened? Are you not feeling well?" Rose panicked, "we shouldn't have stayed out for too long."

Aurelia smiled at her concern and shook her head. "Relax, I'm perfectly fine. I just don't feel like staying up till late at night, might as well enjoy the warm blanket." With some effort she was able to coax her to go sleep in her own room.

After Rose left, Aurelia turned to look at the window behind her. She didn't show it to the girl that she sensed some movement outside the window. There was someone waiting for the opportunity so she got Rose to go to sleep earlier than usual.

She stared at the window for a few more seconds and then spoke, "come out." Slowly, a wolf appeared behind the glass window. Under Aurelia's watchful gaze, the wolf turned into a man. It was an omega around the age of 20. He had a folded note in his hand that he extended towards the mistress with his head bowed.

Aurelia opened her window to receive the note and opened it. It was a single line, "the shadows around your courtyard are not clear." She sighed as she already knew it. Then she placed the note over the burning candles on her study table. She picked a paper and brush to write, "the light inside the courtyard and behind those shadows is capable of clearing the dark. This care is highly appreciated."

Looking at the note she lightly giggled. He was definitely going to get annoyed about it. This was the hardest thing for him to admit, that he cared about her. Folding the note she handed it to the messenger and watched him shift back to his wolf form and disappear in the fog.

After he left, she kept the window open for some time as she stared at the lawn plunged in darkness. Since she had told Rose that she'll be sleeping early, she decided to act on her words and went to bed.

Time went by and the candles in the room started to go off one by one. Aurelia drifted to sleep in the warm blanket. The room was now barely lit since only one candle was left that tried to burn brighter before dying out.

Suddenly, she jolted awake upon hearing some noise outside the window. Watching around, she found the room almost drowned in darkness. A shadow fell inside the room from the window. There was someone standing outside the window and the little light coming from the torch in the lawn highlighted the figure. She knew that it was unlikely for the messenger to appear twice on the same day.

So the shadows had found courage to attack the light? She sneered.