The Crimson Snow (A Realm of Chaos and Void #1)

Chapter 30

The Betrayed Fox

Are eyes just a window to the soul?

Perhaps they are more—a portal to another world,

A glimpse into what lies hidden beneath the surface,

A path leading to a treasure waiting to be uncovered.

Retrieved from Evren Wraithwood’s journal.

Seraphine Ashcroft

Seraphine muttered to her father. “Outlandish, don’t you think?”

The ground was full of flowers and grass, covering what remained of him. In the everlasting snow and cold, the world seemingly offered him a little piece of spring.

The girl smiled briefly and sat with him, Shadoweater cuddling by her side. “Are you happy somewhere in the middle of all these realms? Or perhaps you aren’t even in any of the realms.”

She lay down and cuddled closer to the grass and flowers. “Yes, that sounds more like you. You are probably flying all around like a shooting star, unreachable and impossible to ignore.”

Visiting her father was something she needed to do. She knew there was no way out of her situation, and it wasn’t the quest that had her on a leash. It was the unknowing of her everlasting life that seemed just as cold and impossible to break as the snow in Coldhaven. It was the impossibility of her being a danger to most because, oddly enough, she was an omen of death—something far worse than a soul eater. They had not yet found what she was, but she knew it wasn’t anything good.

“You did ask me to stay away from him. I wonder if you knew something,”

she said to the air, recalling her last conversation with her father. While forbidding her to go to the ball meant nothing at the time, Seraphine felt as if Leander was somehow aware of something—pertaining to her true self or about Evren Wraithwood.

Shadoweater purred at her side, caressing Seraphine’s hand, and she smiled. The cat sith was just like Evren—dangerous looking but somehow tender.

She moved so that her back was fully placed on the grass, her eyes on the darkening sky. A couple of stars were slowly making their appearance. “I came to say goodbye. I know you had your secrets, and while I won’t always like your ways, I believe that things happened as they should have.”

A crimson tear fell down her cheek, staining the grass red. “Will I ever make peace with the fact that you are gone? Never. You are a part of my soul, and while I stupidly decided to try to numb it all, how could I numb you?”

A few minutes later, she saw it. Right above her, a purple and crimson butterfly battled the wind with her wings.

Seraphine smiled. “I guess you are not completely alone, Dad,”

she said, standing up. Then, the butterfly settled on her father’s grave, quiet and listening. “Perhaps I will see you again,”

she said to no one specifically.

Snowflakes fell as Seraphine moved toward the Weeping Forest to that infamous entrance to the Otherworld.

Home.

“Ah, little creature, you are back,”

the sentinel tree said, and Seraphine swore she saw its branches arch in a gesture that one might call appreciation.

Shadoweater started to scratch his long nails on the tree, and Seraphine laughed. “Sorry for that,”

she said, moving the massive black furball away from the tree. “And yes, I am back, but I won’t be returning to this same place for a while. Please don’t cry too much. You might rot if there’s too much water,”

she mocked, and the tree laughed.

“Cry for you? I shall not, peculiar creature. But bend for you? Perhaps someday.”

She looked at the tree, confused. “What do you mean by—”

“Seren,”

a voice she knew all too well called out.

Seraphine turned around, Shadoweater positioning himself behind her.

“What are you doing here, Max?”

Evren Wraithwood

Evren found himself holding a damp cloth to his head to ease the headache. He should have listened to Raggart and held himself back. It was almost midnight, and Seraphine was probably on her way back.

Suddenly, the infamous list he had kept for centuries came alive in his mind, and a spark of hope ignited. For the first time, two names had not been scratched off. One would always be a cruel reminder, and the other was a sweet melody of how one could still dream in a realm of nightmares.

Seiren Elaris.

Seraphine Ashcroft.

Two faces of the same coin. No, they both are the same coin. Evren couldn’t understand how Seraphine was born with those crimson eyes this time. When he had seen her some years ago, he thought it was bizarre but let it go.

They had different eyes, but they were the same. Or maybe not. Evren laughed because no matter how she looked, her soul was always calling to him. Her soul was a song created for him to listen to and admire—so out of reach yet so close.

He had to admit that he liked her crimson eyes more. They seemed more fitting. Seraphine was born an oddity. She always had been in a twisted way, but this time, there seemed to be some meaning behind the change, behind her ability to cross realms and feed on souls.

Evren sighed. Enduring all this must be tough for Seraphine, but she managed to stay kind and fierce. A deadly combination.

A sound interrupted his thoughts, and Raggart appeared, out of breath.

“Mr. Wraithwood, she is here but—”

Evren stood up rapidly and moved toward the center of the library. “But what?”

“Something happened.”

Seraphine Ashcroft

Max moved so fast that Seraphine found herself trapped in his arms. “Seren, I have been looking for you,”

he said against her temple. While she used to feel safe with him, she only felt cold this time. Why is Max here? After their final conversation, she hoped never to see him again.

Seraphine pulled away, and Max looked exactly the same, his golden hair a cruel match with his eyes. Yet, his expression was anguished and forced—fake. “Look, Max, not sure how you found me, but I have to go—”

“Do not go! Please, there is so much I want to explain,”

he said, falling to his knees in front of her. “The worst is that I cannot even explain everything.”

Seraphine took a step back, closer to the sentinel tree, its branches creaking ominously.

“Just hear me out, Seren, please.”

Seraphine looked up at the sky. She had a couple of minutes. She exhaled a long breath and nodded, barely looking at him.

“I-I don’t recall getting engaged to anyone, Seren. I’m not even sure I remember half of the year. It feels like a blur. You would honestly think I would do that without telling you?”

he said sorrowfully.

Seraphine closed her eyes. He moved closer and took the edge of her cloak, tears in his eyes. “No, I actually would never dare to tell you because the only person I truly wanted, I truly want, is you. I know I sound mad, but you have to believe me, Seren.”

Regardless of whether she did or not, there was no return. Seraphine held no regrets or hard feelings toward Max. Actually, she held no feelings for him at all.

She patted his head softly. “I know. I believe you,”

she muttered, hoping that was enough for him to let go.

“Do you? And yet, you want to go back to that monster?”

His voice turned to steel, as though it was someone else speaking.

She tried to pull away, but Max stood up and held her arm tightly, almost hurting her. Before she could protest, he laughed. “Look at this mess, Seraphine. I figured you would want to make things easier, but I guess I was wrong once again.”

“What are you talking about?”

Seraphine felt something unusual rising from her throat. Max just continued laughing wickedly, freezing her bones.

Seraphine tried to pull away, but Max’s hold was stronger than expected, and he looked at her not with anguish but with something similar to disdain.

Suddenly, he smiled, this time taking her gloved hand. “Poor, poor Seren. Always running, hiding.”

Max pulled her close, his mouth near her ear. “Tell the prince I will be waiting for him in my realm.”

Seraphine’s heart dropped. “Y-you... know—”

“I know much about you and your dear excuse of a prince,”

he said bitterly, and when he smiled, she noticed that the gold in his eyes was changing, merging. They turned green, then pitch black, and then finally dark crimson.

Like mine.

Seraphine stumbled at the sight, and she felt Shadoweater cover her, putting distance between her and Max. She could barely breathe. Fearful, she moved closer to the sentinel tree’s arched branches.

“Your mother would not want this for you, Seren.”

Her eyes widened at that. “What?”

Max closed the distance, unable to touch her with Shadoweater there. “She has a message for you.”

Seraphine could barely understand what was happening as the sentinel tree’s branches moved, wrapping around her waist.

He narrowed his eyes at the sentinel tree. Seraphine realized he could see the sentinel tree moving, just as he could see or sense the cat sith. All these years, Max had played naive and broken, letting people talk about her, and all this time, he knew. Everything. Even worse, it seemed like he was exactly like her.

He moved closer again, kicking Shadoweater with his foot, and Seraphine screamed and lunged for him. Thankfully, the sentinel tree also grabbed the cat sith with its branches. Max just smiled. “Come home.”

Those words. They had been the ones Seraphine had heard the woman in her dreams speak.

She wanted to scream at Max, but when she looked for him, he was gone.

“It’s time. You must go back and never return here, Seraphine Ashcroft,”

the sentinel tree warned.

Then, the branches pulled her into the arched entrance, and just like that, the world darkened.