The night brought no relief.
Remesis lay in bed, staring blankly at the canopy, listening to the wind howling outside the window.
She was not asleep.
She could not.
Every time she closed her eyes, Livius's face appeared before her — at the moment he looked at her from the windowsill. That desperate, hopeless gaze directed at her. Remesis could not forget it.
"You did the right thing," Asil had told her then.
The right thing? Perhaps...
And yet that did not mean she was ready to accept it and forget about it so easily.
Remesis turned onto her side and buried her face in the pillow.
It seemed to her that after what had happened, her life in the northern castle had become even more unbearable. Too many heavy and tragic events had occurred here, and it was driving her mad.
This feeling was eating away at her from the inside.
Remesis truly wanted freedom more than anything in the world. She just wanted to break free from this cage and leave the heavy, dark past behind. Otherwise... she would simply go insane.
Remesis wanted a divorce.
She wanted to leave this place.
She thought about it every day since she had crossed the threshold of the northern castle. But she could not bring herself to do it. And she kept putting off this step.
But now, after what happened with Livius, she understood — she could not wait any longer.
She had to be honest. At least once in her life.
And at least with herself.
The next morning, Remesis woke up early.
More precisely, she hadn't gone to bed at all, because she couldn't sleep due to her heavy thoughts. When the first rays of sun broke through the heavy drapes, she got up, walked to the mirror, and looked at her reflection.
Pale. Eyes red, swollen. Dark circles lay beneath them.
She looked as if she had just survived a funeral.
Maybe I have, she thought bitterly.
Remesis called her maid, ordered a bath prepared, and soaked in the hot water for a long time, trying to wash off the heaviness of the past night. Lavender and mint stung her eyes but did not chase away the thoughts.
By noon, she had recovered a little. She changed her clothes and ordered a message to be sent that she would be waiting for the princess at dinner tonight.
"Inform Her Highness that I have a matter to discuss with her," she told the servant, her voice sounding firm.
The servant bowed and left.
Remesis spent the rest of the day in her study, working, although her thoughts were actually far from official business. She waited. With each passing minute, the tension in her chest grew, and by evening she almost regretted having decided on this conversation.
But it was too late to turn back.
In the evening, Remesis came to the dining room first.
She sat in her usual place — opposite Asil's empty chair — and waited. The candles on the table burned with a steady flame, the servants arranged the dishes, but Remesis did not touch the food.
She waited.
Ten minutes. Twenty. Thirty minutes.
But Asil still did not come.
The servants exchanged glances, but no one dared to say anything. Finally, one servant coughed softly and asked:
"Your Highness, should we begin without the Lord?"
"No," Remesis replied. "I will wait."
She waited another hour.
She never touched the food.
When the hands on the wall clock showed half past nine, Remesis understood — Asil might not come at all. But why? It was very strange and unusual. After all, the princess was always very enthusiastic when they managed to eat together, and for this she was easily willing to put aside all other matters, even the most important ones.
But... not this time.
Remesis frowned.
Only one guess came to her mind. If the princess had not come, ignoring even Remesis's invitation, then there could be only one explanation. Something had clearly happened.
She rose from the table so abruptly that the chair nearly tipped over.
"Where is the princess?" she asked the nearest servant.
"I... I don't know, Your Highness," the servant lowered his gaze. "The Lord did not leave her chambers today."
"Didn't leave?" Remesis frowned. "At all?"
"That is correct, Your Highness."
Strange. Very strange.
Asil had never locked herself in her chambers before. Except perhaps in childhood, when she resembled more a feral beast cub. But those times were long in the past. Now Asil was the ruler of the North — and behaved accordingly.
Something was wrong.
"I will go to her myself," Remesis said decisively and headed for the exit of the dining room.
The servants did not dare stop her.
The corridors of the northern castle at this time were long and dark.
Torches burned, and shadows danced on the stone walls, giving the familiar passages a sinister, almost otherworldly appearance. Remesis walked quickly, not looking around — she knew this path by heart.
Asil's chambers were in the west wing, at the very end of a long corridor. It was quiet there — too quiet. Even Remesis's footsteps sounded muffled, as if the stone floor absorbed sounds.
When she turned the corner and saw the door to the chambers, her steps slowed.
A guard stood at the door.
This was a man Remesis vaguely knew, although she had never met him personally. All because he was Asil's loyal servant, who was almost always near her. Previously, Remesis had never encountered this man at all. But after their return to the castle, she encountered him more and more often.
It seemed that, for some reason, the princess had decided there was no longer any need to hide this man's existence.
In any case, Remesis had never been interested in his identity. She only knew that this man was Asil's closest servant. And, she believed, his name was Boris.
Now the man stood by the door with a sword at his belt and a face that expressed absolutely nothing. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, looking straight ahead, not noticing the approaching Remesis.
Or pretending not to notice.
"I need to enter," Remesis said, stopping before him.
The guard slowly shifted his gaze to her. His eyes — gray, cold — swept over her face for a moment.
"The Lord is not receiving anyone," he replied in an even, lifeless voice.
"I am her wife," Remesis raised her voice. "I have the right."
"The Lord is not receiving," the guard repeated insistently.
Remesis gritted her teeth.
"Then inform Her Highness that I am here," she tried a different approach.
"The Lord ordered not to be disturbed," the guard replied.
"But this is important!"
"That does not matter."
Remesis felt anger boiling in her chest.
She stepped forward, and the guard immediately put out his hand, blocking her way.
"I advise you not to do that, Princess," he said.
"And I advise you not to stand in my way," Remesis replied, her voice trembling. "You know who I am. You know that the Lord will not forgive you if something happens to me."
The guard hesitated for a second. Doubt flickered in his eyes — tiny, almost imperceptible, but Remesis caught it.
"I will enter," she said firmly. "You can try to stop me. But then I will have to scream. And if I scream, other servants will come running. And then everyone will become curious why the Lord of the North is not letting her wife into her chambers."
The guard was silent.
"Or I might suddenly feel unwell," Remesis continued, "and, let's say, faint... then you will have to explain yourself to the Lord. Are you ready for that?"
The guard looked at her for a long ten seconds.
Then he slowly lowered his hand.
He sighed very heavily.
"You have ten minutes," he said, stepping aside. "If the Lord gets angry, I will say that you entered by force."
"Agreed," Remesis nodded and pushed the door.
It was dark in Asil's chambers.
The heavy drapes were drawn, the candles were not lit, only the dim light from the corridor fell on the floor in a narrow strip, illuminating the edge of the carpet and the corner of the bed.
Remesis stepped inside, and the door closed behind her with a soft click.
The room smelled... of blood.
She would have recognized that smell out of a thousand.
It immediately gave her a bad feeling.
"...Your Highness?" Remesis called softly, taking a step into the darkness.
No one answered.
She took another step. Then another.
Her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and she began to discern the outlines of objects. A table. Chairs. A wardrobe. And the bed — a large, wide four-poster bed on which someone was lying.
"Your Highness?" Remesis repeated, approaching.
And then she saw.
Asil lay on the bed, and the sheet beneath her was soaked with blood. Dark, thick, not yet dried — in the dim light it appeared almost black.
Remesis was stunned by the sight and nearly collapsed.
Was the princess wounded? But why...?!
"Your Highness..." Remesis whispered, rushing to her. "What's wrong with you?..."
She fell to her knees beside the bed and grabbed Asil's hand — cold, lifeless. On her wrist gaped a deep wound from which blood still oozed, slowly, thickly, as if the departing life did not want to leave the body.
"Asil! Asil, wake up!" Remesis shook her by the shoulder, feeling faint. "Someone call for help! Help!"
But there was no one in the room.
She was about to run for the guard when the hand she was holding suddenly twitched.
Remesis froze.
Asil's golden eyes opened.
But they were not as they always were. They were empty. Absolutely, terrifyingly empty — like two pools reflecting only darkness.
"...Asil?" Remesis whispered, feeling a chill run down her spine.
Asil slowly turned her head.
She looked at Remesis, but seemed not to see her at that moment.
"Asil, what's wrong with you?" Remesis squeezed her hand tighter. "Did you hurt yourself? Do you need a doctor? I'll go..."
She wanted to get up, but Asil's fingers suddenly closed around her wrist with inhuman strength.
"Shh-h-h," Asil whispered. "Don't go. I'm so lonely."
She smiled.
Asil's lips stretched into an unnatural, eerie smile, and in her eyes — in those empty, dead eyes — something wild and hungry flickered.
"You came to me," she said, her voice sounding strange — as if someone else, hiding inside, were speaking. "You came. I'm so glad. Stay with me. Forever."
She sat up abruptly on the bed, and Remesis recoiled because Asil's entire chest was drenched in blood. Her clothes had turned into rags, soaked with crimson, and through the tears, wounds were visible — not only on her wrists but also on her shoulders, her neck, her stomach.
"What happened to you?" Remesis whispered, trying to free her hand.
But Asil's grip was like iron.
"To me?" Asil tilted her head, and her silver strands fell, covering half her face. "I'm fine. Now that you're here, everything will be fine."
She reached for Remesis with her free hand.
"Can... I eat you?"
Remesis, hearing these words, recoiled in horror.
"Asil," Remesis's voice broke, "I beg you, stop. You're not yourself!"
"Not at all," Asil replied with the same eerie smile. "I'm just very hungry. I need to eat... Quickly..."
She lunged forward, and Remesis, losing her balance, fell to the floor, breaking free from her grip.
"You have... a nice smell," Asil whispered, sliding off the bed and approaching her on all fours, like an animal. "I wonder... what you taste like."
At that moment, Asil looked at her with eyes full of absolute mad and hungry gleam.
Remesis doubted whether she was even aware of what she was doing.
It seemed she had completely lost her mind.
At that moment, Asil was ready to actually pounce on her.
Remesis screamed.
And at that moment, the door burst open with a crash.
That same guard rushed into the room and assessed the entire situation in a fraction of a second.
He was beside Remesis in two strides. He didn't even try to stop Asil; instead, he roughly and abruptly grabbed Remesis and dragged her away as quickly as possible. As if he were pulling her out of a cage with a very dangerous beast. In a fraction of a second, he literally pushed Remesis out of the room and immediately slammed the door behind them, locking it and pressing his back against it.
A dull thud came from the other side. As if someone had hit the door, trying to break it down.
The guard held the door with his back, as if fearing that without him it would collapse.
At that moment, he shifted his gaze and looked at Remesis, sitting on the floor with her eyes wide with horror, and gritted his teeth.
"You saw nothing," he said, his voice brooking no argument. "You came here to speak with the Lord, but the Lord was not in the room. You left. That's all. Understood?"
"...What is wrong with her?" Remesis whispered.
"The Lord will be fine," the guard replied evenly. "This is... a minor fit. Sometimes it happens. She will come to herself soon."
"That's not like a fit," Remesis rose to her feet, her knees trembling. "She wanted to kill me. She... she was not herself. She was..."
"You saw nothing," the guard repeated, and a threat sounded in his voice for the first time. "Forget everything you saw here. For your own safety."
Still holding the door, he looked at her with a stern gaze, and Remesis involuntarily swallowed and stepped back.
"Return to your chambers, Princess," he said. "And do not come here again. Ever."
Remesis's heart faltered.
She looked at the door, from behind which noise and decidedly inhuman sounds still came.
What is happening here? she thought. What is happening to Asil? And why did I know nothing about this...?
Remesis forced herself to stand and walk past the guard. On trembling legs, she shuffled back to her chambers.