Lady Dhampir
Chapter 70

The rest of the breakfast was concluded shortly. It was obvious that the Queen was upset, and not only did she make all the candidates finish their meal promptly, she also hindered Milena and Philomenie to prevent them from asking more questions to the Oracle, focusing on other candidates instead. Not many people had really understood what was going on between those four, either. Rachael and Bella would send Milena some glances from time to time, but the young Duchess acted normally. She didn't want to involve her friends in her quest for answers. To Milena, replaceing the truth about Blanche and the Wendigos had become a personal matter. She would never forget the fright from that night. Moreover, Prince Rayan and Prince Ellias were both involved in that investigation. Somehow, she didn't want the other candidates to intrude that special bond she had with them.

Once it was clear the Queen wouldn't let her interact with the Oracle anymore, Milena stopped trying. It didn't matter much, anyway. She had the information she wanted to get. All she needed now was to let the Princes know. After breakfast, Milena hurried back to her room. Her brothers must have gotten her letters by then, but the one thing she wondered was how to reach the Princes? She let Blanche out of her pocket and made sure the door was locked and the bedroom empty before her friend shape-shifted into her human form.

"Oracle annoying! Queen too! No information at all!"

"She couldn't, Blanche," sighed Milena while taking off her high heels. "She did give me information, too."

"What? Nothing!"

Milena chuckled. This wasn't surprising. No matter what, Blanche's knowledge about the human language was still not perfect, let alone being able to read between the lines... Moreover, there was something else Milena was still worried about. She turned to her while taking off her jacket.

"Blanche, you said you've never seen the Saint before?"

"No. Never. No male."

"The Oracle clearly stated she had never seen him before either. Could it be he was created more recently?" "No, too old!"

"I know, but him looking older than you doesn't mean he is... Blanche, we used to be the same size as children, but now you look five years younger than I am. Same with the Oracle! When I met her, she looked older than I was, but she hasn't aged a bit! We can't trust your physical age. The Saint might have been born last year and I would believe it!"

"...Too weird," replied Blanche with a frown.

"I know, but you heard it too. He had absolutely no legal existence until Philomenie's family got a hold of him, just like you. You don't have any older memories than the laboratory and the cages, either. So, he might not have been born yesterday, but like the Saint at least, his existence could be as recent as a few weeks."

Blanche sighed. Milena's theories were way too complicated to her.

"You tell prince ugly?"

"I have to tell both of them. The question is how do I get the information to them..."

"You palace already! Go now!"

Milena nodded. She didn't really believe it would be as simple as that, but it was worth trying. She quickly changed into something more comfortable, as by now it was clear the Queen wouldn't be having lunch with them once again and walked out of her bedroom. Though she had never been to this aisle of the Castle, Milena had visited all of the buildings enough to know her way. However, when she arrived at one end of a corridor, in front of a large door that would have taken her closer to the offices, she was stopped by two guards. They immediately blocked her path despite the young duchess' glare.

"Sorry, young Lady, no guest of the Queen is authorized to leave this part of the Castle."

"Fine. But next time you don't call me with my proper title, you'll regret it."

It was a bit low of her, but Milena hated to be called "young lady" by a man who was barely older than her. The fact that she was refused the access may have played a part in her anger, too. She returned to her bedroom and let Blanche out of her pocket. "See? I told you they controlled our movements."

"Letter? Sneaky Prince and pretty Prince come here!"

Milena nodded, but she had a doubt. Would they properly deliver her letter if it was to the Princes? Without checking their contents, too? She hadn't received an answer from her brothers yet, and she couldn't wait that long for Rayan and Ellias to show up... This was a bit tricky. She didn't want it to be known that she would meet both Princes privately, but this was a bit too urgent. Finally, her eyes fell on Blanche, who frowned. "What?"

"Blanche, surely you could shape-shift into an owl, right?"

Milena quickly wrote the two notes, asking the Princes to meet her whenever possible. She didn't want to include anything else just in case Blanche was caught, so she kept it short, for her friend's security. Truth was, she wasn't too comfortable letting Blanche go replace them by herself. First, a silver owl would grab attention and secondly, she had to replace them as fast as possible before anyone noticed. Milena had a rough idea of the Prince's possible location at that time of the day and tried to explain the locations to Blanche the best she could before letting her friend fly out the window.

To her surprise, Blanche came back quickly with the answers. Both brothers agreed to come and meet Milena in the late afternoon, in the same salon she had tea with Ellias previously. Apparently, Blanche hadn't been noticed at all, but maybe the heavy snow had helped. Her friend went to curl up in front of the chimney and slept like a baby until Milena went to have lunch with the De Iris sisters. Both Prudence and Clorence didn't ask much about her earlier exchange with the Oracle. Their family was a family of scientists, and they weren't much interested in prophecies and the likes. Milena tried to discuss with them about the properties of vampire blood, like what she had learned with Prince Ellias about his ancestor Prince Severius' research, but neither of them really knew anything new that Milena hadn't heard already. However, Clorence promised to ask home about it, as their family probably had some more books on the subject.

When she returned to her bedroom, Milena felt strangely excited to see both Princes again. Without thinking, she put on a prettier dress, one that she could also wear to dinner, and brushed her hair for a long time. "You mushy."

"What are you talking about, Blanche?"

"You mushy. You think Princes again."

"No, I'm just preparing for tonight's dinner! I had to run to be on time after my talk with Prince Ellias yesterday, remember? I am just being a bit careful this time." "Milena liar!"

Milena clicked her tongue and glared at Blanche, but her friend shape6shifted into her cat form specifically to hiss at her, just as upset. Eventually, the young duchess ignored her to look into the mirror. Maybe Blanche was right, but Milena didn't want to admit it. Prettying herself up to meet the Princes was something any candidate would do, so why did she feel a bit embarrassed about it?

Another question popped up in her mind: who was she getting ready for? She didn't have that confusion in her heart until recently. She had always been closer to Prince Ellias. They had exchanged thousands of letters since their childhood, so much that she felt like she knew her dear friend by heart. Did she, though? She could have listed all of his favorite books, his favorite foods, his daily activities, his relationships, but... Things had changed a lot between each of the last letters. Somehow, since she had come back from the Vermillion Lands, something had changed about Rayan. She had always despised him. He was cold, cunning and calculating, and too much like her. Milena didn't like not knowing what he truly had in mind, and she knew Rayan had no problem lying through his teeth. So what had changed, then? It wasn't because he had started pursuing her. That had always been some sort of competition between Ellias and Rayan, who could get to Milena's heart. She was aware that Rayan played that game mostly to piss off his brother. However, since the episode with the Wendigo, something had changed... Since the bite. She had never felt the arousal she had felt when Rayan bit her. She even hated her body for reacting to his, but she knew it wasn't just a conditioned response. Ellias had never touched her like Rayan did, he was too much of a gentleman for that. Milena blushed every time she remembered those bites. Her inexperience in the pleasures of the flesh was cruelly showing... Was Rayan playing with her on purpose? He said he didn't love her, so why was he after her? Because she was smart? Because their minds were on par?

Milena kept obsessing about this as she went to her meeting with the Princes. Her heart could stay still, she felt the blood in her veins running with adrenaline before she reached the door. Blanche carefully hidden in her pocket once again, she took a big breath and walked in.

The two Princes were already there. Ellias was standing, and Rayan was laying on a sofa opposite him. The awkward atmosphere made it obvious that they hadn't talked to each other before Milena walked in. The both turned to her, curious. Ellias walked up to her, looking a bit worried.

"Lady Milena, are you alright? Your note wasn't saying much, I was worried..."

"Your note wasn't saying anything at all," added Rayan. "What happened?"

Somehow, Milena could feel neither of them was happy about their twin being here too. However, she didn't have time for their rivalry. She explained her short exchange with the Oracle from that morning and filled in each Prince about what he hadn't heard from her previous investigation with the other. Once Milena was done, Rayan and Ellias exchanged glances, though there was no warmth in it. That detail surprised her. Had their relationship gotten worse, or was she just imagining it?

"I didn't expect Mother to agree to let you meet the Oracle," said Ellias.

"What is it, brother? You sound like you're disappointed?"

"Rayan, don't you start," replied Ellias, annoyed. "I tried to get to her many times but Mother wouldn't let me. I'm just a bit surprised."

There was definitely something going on between those two, thought Milena. Was it because of the competition? After all, they would have to pick their wives soon... However, there wasn't much time for them to bicker. As soon as she would hear about this little meeting happening, Milena was sure the Queen would take action to separate her from the Princes.

"So, what was your conclusion, Lady Milena?" Asked Ellias.

"Don't you understand by yourself?" Chuckled Rayan.

Milena decided to ignore his arrogant tone to explain.

"The point of the Oracle was to talk about making many mistakes in order to achieve one precise goal. Do you remember, when we were searching about the Wendigos, how we read about Prince Sleverin' work?"

"Yeah, he had become crazy trying to bring the dead back to life..."

"What if this was exactly what it was? The Wendigos are those mistakes we were talking about! Those creatures were created in some clandestine laboratory by feeding on vampire blood. If so, what was their goal? The Oracle was created years ago, but now, we have the Saint appearing in the De Winter's family, with different powers."

"You think the wendigos are... failed versions of the Saint or the Oracle?" Whispered Ellias. "Milena, this is crazy..."

"No, think about the timing! The murders started happening months ago, women were killed and emptied of their blood. We know this is how they attract vampires into drinking vampire blood. That's why we thought there was another male wendigo roaming around, but since then, we didn't have any other murders."

"You think there was no more need for human blood because the first... Because they had reached their objective?"

"I think they used the murdered women as baits. That was our theory, right? That those deaths were just to empty those women of their blood while making everyone think this was just the work of a rogue. However, we know that all that human blood mixed with vampire blood for a vampire to drink could have created a male wendigo. However, what if this time, they had succeeded? What if it hadn't turned into a wendigo, but another creature like the Oracle, whatever species it is supposed to be?" "You think... The Saint was the one who drank the blood? The Oracle and the Saint are the... successful versions? This is insane..."

"They are trying to exploit the potential of the vampire blood," said Rayan, frowning. "Which means, whoever created them placed them by our mother's side and in the Family De Winter..."

"You think our mother has to do with this?" Whispered Ellias, shocked.

"I don't think so," replied Milena, shaking her head. "I'll admit, I thought Her Highness might have an idea, but she's definitely not in control... Or not anymore....She seemed surprised when Lady de Winter said the Church had placed the Saint in her family's hospital."

The brothers exchanged a quick glance, nodding.

"Then, the Church is controlling this, or at least part of the operations."

"It can't be simply the church," protested Ellias. "It's a too big organization to think everyone is involved. And the Head Priest would never, ever allow such a thing. You both know they are not that fond of vampires... That's why the Church is closer to all-human families like the De Winter or the De Boreal. To think they'd allow experiments on vampires... Moreover, there are murders. This can't be their doing."

"You can investigate, Ellias," said Rayan with a smirk. "Aren't you on good terms with them? They adore you."

"They root for me because I'm human, brother. Don't twist it."

"My bad..."

Ellias sighed.

"Fine, I'll ask around. I'm supposed to see Philomenie tomorrow morning, too, so..."

"Again?"

Milena shouldn't have said that out loud, but she couldn't help it. The unhappy tone of her voice surprised both brothers. Rayan chuckled, while Ellias glared at him before taking an apologetic look. "Milena, you know this is only for duty. I..."

"I understand, Your Highness," coldly replied Milena.

She really didn't want to hear his excuses again.