The Devil's Temptation!

‘What did she just see?!!’

Taking a deep breath to ease the tremor that had taken over her at the sight of what was inside, she bravely took some steps towards the envelope and crouched on her knees to pick it up, feeling uncertain about what she had seen or maybe she imagined it due to her building panic, but to her ghastly expression, it wasn’t her imagination when she looked inside the envelope for the second time.

Slowly, she brought out the small strands of brown hair that were tied and kept inside the envelope, followed by a piece of torn thin fabric and she really wished that none of this evidence belonged to Gemma.

Sadly, the scent of her hair and the torn little fabric wasn’t something Anna could call a coincidence, and the cold wind that blew outside only added to Anna’s fright, hearing it howl against the air in an unsettling way and she silently cried for Gemma.

Without further delay, she grabbed the little note she had thrown away and quickly dusted it up. A part of the note was smudged with blood- black blood and with apprehensive eyes, she silently read out the words that were written in block letters.

‘YOUR LITTLE PRINCESS IS AT THE FOREST BEHIND AN OLD HOLLOW TREE, IT’S OUR SECRET AND COME ALONE!! HUMAN! OR BE READY TO PLAN A CHILD’S FUNERAL IN THE NEXT ONE HOUR.”

“Gemma!” She gasped with her hand flying to her mouth, unable to believe what she was reading and she impulsively dropped the paper on the table, obviously shaken and startled by it as she shook her head, her eyes growing wider in trepidation.

That means someone really abducted Gemma! But who??

.....

It all sounded like a joke to Anna’s ears, it felt like someone was playing a prank on her and that this wasn’t really happening, but unfortunately, it certainly wasn’t a joke anymore and that note proved it.

Once again, Anna raced back to the window, darting her head left and right to see if she might spot anyone since outside Gemma’s window led to a fence that sheltered the building, but there was no one present there which only made her heart race in worry.

And the howling wind was doing absolutely nothing to help the situation.

Who could have possibly dropped the letter then?? And why was the person telling her to come alone? Whoever it was even referred to her as ‘Human’, and as far as she knows, she’s the only human currently residing in the Viscarrian palace.

Shaking off the anxiety that was starting to cloud her senses, Anna tried to guess who could be responsible for the abduction of little Gemma and an unexplainable anger consumed her heart. She’s just a child for goodness sake! Who could be so despicable to kidnap a child?? What could the person want from a child??

As those questions furiously rang in her head, it suddenly dawned on her that this person might not even be after Gemma at all.

Whoever it was called her Human, which means the person has an idea about who she is, or is familiar with her. The fact that the person had specifically dropped the letter for her meant it’s target wasn’t Gemma, it was only using Gemma to get to her, but then why was she having a bad feeling about underestimating this person??

What could this person want from her? It didn’t make any sense and if she dares to tell Roshan anything, then the person might just hurt Gemma since it warned her not to tell anyone about this. At this point she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“What do I do?” She anxiously paced back and forth while pinching the skin in her palm, feeling extremely nervous as her heart pounded in fear and worry. She always seems to carry her bad luck wherever she goes to and now, Gemma’s the one suffering for it.

Annalise felt stuck, how is she supposed to find the hollow tree? She doesn’t know anywhere in Viscarrian so finding the hollow tree is another problem on its own.

While pacing and thinking of a quick way out of this, Anna suddenly got an idea and quickly grabbed one of Gemma’s books. She sat at the dressing table and scribbled a few words down on it for Roshan to see in case he comes, knowing she won’t be able to meet him since there wasn’t much time left and hopefully, he’ll be able to find her before anything happens.

But one thing was for sure, she had to go alone just like the unknown person had instructed, then once she tricks this person into thinking she’s really alone, by that time Roshan should have shown up, and she’ll make sure to keep the person distracted before Roshan arrives.

Agreeing with her abrupt plan, she left the book open, keeping it close to the burning candle. After confirming it was a place where Roshan could see it, she grabbed the little note and hurried out of Gemma’s chamber, going down the stairs and heading for the exit.

The unknown person gave her an hour to come find Gemma, if she doesn’t leave now then there’ll be no time to make it to this hollow tree.

“Lord help me.”

Making it down the stairs, Roseline caught sight of Anna leaving the corridor and her brows knitted into a prying manner as she watched her go, as though someone was chasing her.

“Rose dear, I have to say if you get picked, I hope you won’t mind inviting us for the wedding?” Another younger lady of her status asked, drawing Roseline’s attention to the fact she wasn’t actually walking alone.

She was having a light conversation with the guests as they strode past the corridor, using it as a way to tour them through the palace so they could drown in the beauty of a palace as majestic as Viscarrian.

Another way of making them realize her importance in the royal family since many subjects aren’t allowed in the Viscarrian palace.

“I certainly will, besides his highness won’t be able to resist a beauty like me, there’s a reason why my father named me after a rose.” She curtly responded with a smile, leaving the lady’s she accompanied to forcibly return the smile as well.

“Let’s not forget, even Melrose is named after a rose too.” Lady Iris who showed up with her maid, added while eyeing Roseline from toe to head.

“Of course,” Roseline didn’t disagree, “she deals with nature and her favorite blooming Flowers are roses, that is why she’s also named Rose, not because she’s more beautiful than me.”

Lady Iris had a better retort to give at that statement, but wisely held her tongue, choosing to keep her mannerism in check.

“Surely you know better.”

“I always do.” Roseline was enjoying how she could slander Iris for once, but right now she wasn’t interested in dealing with Iris as her main concern was on the human maid.

She doesn’t look like someone who’ll serve the guests and it doesn’t seem like Lady Odette had called for her attention, so what was the rush??

“I’ve always known there was something mysterious about her.” She mumbled before looking at the direction where Anna had stepped out from.

“If you’ll excuse me.” She said to the ladies.

Curious, she headed for the chamber to figure out why Anna became so frightened after stepping out from there.

~

Calista continuously paced back and forth in her room, waiting for Anna to walk in so they could talk about everything that had been happening, but after waiting for some minutes, there was no sight of Anna.

“Where is she?”

Calista pursed her lips, it couldn’t be that white-haired stranger was lying to her when he said he’d get Anna here, could it?

It was impossible for Anna to ignore if he told her about her presence, which means he hasn’t told her yet, or is just trying to mess with her.

Calista was ready to lash out her frustrations when she saw someone quietly step out of the palace from the corner of her eyes. It gained her attention almost immediately because she found the movement to be very suspicious, thus, leading her to look out the sealed window even more.

Since it was made out of glass, she could see the outside view more clearly and that’s when she saw that the lady leaving was dressed in a beautiful simple gown, but she had worn a cloak, leaving her face hidden so it was difficult to recognize the person.

Confused, she squinted her eyes at the window, trying to get a better look at who it was, but the lady suddenly mounted on a dark-brown horse. A guard who stood outside already approached her, but since they were so far away, Calista couldn’t eavesdrop on the conversation and watched as the guard went into the palace.

Before she could conclude on what must be going on, the lady on the horse galloped her way through the opened big gate, exiting the Viscarrian palace and leaving the confused Calista baffled.

“Strange, the person leaving looked like Anna.” She muttered to herself, unsure of why she was suddenly bothered.