[THIRD-PARTY POV]
King Cassius stood there disbelievingly as the two women walked into the deeper end of the forest. He wasn't going to deny the fact that he didn't understand Zelina, but then it wasn't like the woman had walked into his life begging him to understand her anyway.
"Why do you look so worked up?" Criselda asked the vampire leader, Zelina, making the woman look at her like there was something wrong with her.
"He's your protege, we are finding him, what could be so hard about that?" Zelina asked as if that wasn't obvious enough for anyone.
Criselda looked at her in astonishment. No warrior and that too from another faction had ever shown interest in Gideon this much. She couldn't even say that Zelina and Gideon had interacted that much, for her to be so worried about him.
Maybe they had, but maybe they hadn't, and Zelina was just a comrade who wasn't about to leave a brother behind.
"I know" Criselda sighed defeatedly. This wasn't going to be an easy choice, but when had it ever been an easy choice for her? As a leader, there were choices she had to make, but here and now, she was a mother, worried about her son.
"Then quit slumping and help me find him. The sooner we find him, the sooner I can go home to my people. Staying here is not something I look forward to" Zeina said grouchily. The night was cold and the wind wasn't making it any better.
She wanted to rest, get some good nice sleep, even though she knew she would never be able to sleep anywhere peacefully, unless she was back home, to her people, and in her bedroom.
"Alright, but if you want someone to talk to—"
"I don't, now focus, Criselda," Zelina said as she walked around looking for Gideon. She didn't want to talk about anything. She didn't need reassurance about anything. She wasn't broken, she was a warrior, and no matter what happened here, her past had nothing to do with it.
With her heightened senses, Zelina knew she would be able to find the protege, but she needed to know more about Gideon since she had little to no information about the protege. Luckily for her, she had the best person next to her.
Criselda clearly knew all the ins and outs of Gideon and she was the one person who knew what Zelina would want to track Gideon.
"What's his natural scent like?" Zelina asked Criselda who looked at her like there was something wrong. The question was as simple as they always came, but this was a dangerous question, one loaded with so many secrets.
A question that could make and ruin relationships across the midlands. Maybe Gideon wasn't just a simple with protege after all, but what if he was? Then again, whatever Gideon was, didn't matter because it was important to find him alive than consumed by the beast of the midlands.
"Why would Gideon have a natural scent? We witches don't have the natural scent," Criselda said, a little too fast and too defensively. Surely, everyone had a natural scent, unless Criselda was thinking about something else, something that could mean she was protecting a secret.
What was it about Gideon that got the high priestess so worked up? Maybe it was a matter of life and death, but Zelina hadn't walked this far just to be told there was nothing that could be used to track Criselda's protege. That had to be some kind of sick joke and she wasn't having it.
"You realize you don't have to lie to me about him, right?" Zelina asked, almost like she knew whatever Criselda was trying to hide. But if she knew that, then she probably knew the scent of the protege and just needed confirmation, the only question being, why?
Why would a vampire want to know a witch so much?
What business did Zelina have for or with Gideon?
"I don't know what you mean" Criselda insisted, trying to keep Zelina off the topic, but the woman was adamant, almost like she wanted to know like she wanted to confirm if it was true or false. There was something about Zelina, that didn't make Criselda feel safe suddenly.
Maybe she needed to distance herself from the vampire, but what if Zelina knew? What if she knew the truth that Criselda and all the Greroth witches had kept all these years? What if Zelina was a risk to that secret?
Would Criselda have to eliminate the vampire warrior?
Would she have to commit a crime just to keep Gideon safe?
Clearly, she was like a mother to Gideon, but would she sit by and watch her son go through whatever she was protecting him from?
This was a moment of truth, a decision that Criselda hadn't been given time to think about. maybe she just had to hope Zelina didn't try anything with her son because vampire warrior nor, Criselda wouldn't care about anything.
After all, Gideon was her hope for life. He was the one person who had made her feel like she belonged, and Criselda wouldn't let that go away. She wasn't going to lose the boy just like that. She had never failed, and today wasn't going to be the first time.
"Okay then, lemme ask you the question whose answer you will be able to have, yeah?" Zelina asked irritatedly. She was already tired and Criselda's denial wasn't doing them any good. The longer Gideon was out there, the more danger he would be in.
She knew who he was and she knew more than Criselda could have ever thought, but she was going to give the witch a chance to come clean about Gideon.
"What scent is Al—"
"No don't. Don't say that name Zelina Please. Rainforest., okay? That's his scent, just don't finish that sentence, please" Criselda pleaded and Zelina just smirked in silence. She already knew the answer to her question, but just needed confirmation anyway.
"See, it wasn't that hard, now, was it?" Zelina asked as she looked out for any source of fresh rainforest scent. She may have used a cruel strategy, but it wasn't like she was going to do anything for the man.
After all, she knew that if Gideon didn't go back home, the witches would start a war with all the factions. She was sure they would turn the world upside down just to find him, and they wouldn't rest. So this was just her preventing a war, but what if, right?