CHAPTER 482: DRASTIC

No one would notice if she took another sip of Silas’ blood from the amulet he had gifted her, right?

It still coursed her system since that morning but with the amount of mental effort Arabella was forced to exert for hours on end, renewing her drive might be worth it.

A whole century back in time those maps had taken her and there were many more to study. She noted every spot, every piece of land that underwent change, every tree that once was then became no more but despite going that far, nothing stood out as a plausible enough hiding place.

Thus, there was more digging to do on her part. Silas wouldn’t be upset at her if he remained unknowing of her plans to stay awake all night.

It was necessary in order to retain all of her sharpness and wit while examining those papers.

Ada took her sweet time to return with answers which did not quell the fire burning at Arabella’s core either.

Waiting for such life altering information truly was a blight to live through.

Her mind constantly kept switching between Allegra and Arthur, costing her more time in trying to focus on the map than need be.

Eventually, however, an hour or so past midnight, a familiar knock landed upon the door. Ada’s hand had a way of tapping the wood sheepishly yet determinately, gently yet audibly.

Arabella had never paid much attention to the uniqueness of that melody until her lungs started holding every breath twice longer than they should in expectancy of her visit.

The young woman leaped off the chair to meet her friend halfway to the door despite giving her the permission to enter. It was as though waiting for her to cross those few extra feet towards the desk was going to be the drop that would have caused the dam to flood.

"Are you alright?" was the first thing she asked, "Did anything strange occur during your outing?"

After Allegra’s abduction, questions such as those meant every bit of sense they could scrape.

"Yes, yes!" Ada nodded, "Nothing bizarre or scary happened. I picked one of the witches the Eleazars never dealt business with. At least as far as I know,"

"But she must have seen the family crest on your cloak," Arabella bit down on her bottom lip.

"She asked no questions, and I took the initiative of telling her this affair was personal to me. That should help," Ada handed her the box containing the ear, "And...," she trailed off, no sign of joy on her features.

"And?" Arabella gave her a verbal nudge, her hands wrapping around hers as well as the box.

"I truly wish the answer I got was different but... This ear does belong to your brother indeed," she grimaced when uttering those words as though fighting a foul taste in her mouth.

The chance of it being true was always there but no matter how much she expected it, that fact did not stop the colors on her face from draining.

"Are you sure?" Arabella stammered, her voice growing meeker with every word, "I haven’t seen my father since my wedding perhaps-"

"The witch was adamant that the bond linking your hair to that ear was a brother sister bond and not a father daughter one," Ada’s voice dimmed as well.

It was her luck that Arabella collapsed on a chair that had been standing behind her and not on the floor as she no longer paid any attention to her surroundings, her entire body visibly trembling.

Ada rushed to her side, rubbing up and down her friends’ arms as if to fight the shivers riddling her, "I know this is devastating but now that you have confirmation, informing Lord Silas is the next step. His insight on the matter wi-"

"No!" Arabella hopped back to her feet very briskly, eyes sharp and strictly on poor startled Ada.

It took a few seconds, but Ada seemed to digest that response before asking a question of her own, "What do you mean no? What else can be done after this step? We are at an impasse and neither of us holds the power to handle this without his help!" eyebrows furrowed, her hands waved around as though it would give shape to her words.

"I wish to consider the matter before bringing more attention to it," Arabella cleared her throat and broke eye contact then walking back towards the desk.

"Consider what exactly? The only measures that can be taken here are drastic ones. What could you possibly-" Ada’s breath hitched in her throat as something appeared to dawn on her, "You are not thinking of giving yourself up to the prince, are you?"

That had the merit of earning Arabella’s full attention, "What? No! Of course not!"

"Then what is your plan? I don’t see any reason to keep Lord Silas in the dark about this," her head shook profusely as she spoke, "If you don’t have the strength to tell him then let me do it," her hand flew to land flat on her chest.

"Please, Ada," Arabella took a deep breath, uttering her words at a much calmer tone than Ada did, "Don’t do that. I will do it myself when the time comes but for now, I truly just need to think about a plan that would yield the least severe of consequences because like you said, our only options at this point are drastic ones,"

Ada deflated, her shoulders slumping as her weight fell onto the nearest chair, "I don’t like this one bit but... Fine, I will hold my tongue. Just please, whenever you reach a decision let us in. Don’t try to be a hero and carry all of it on your own,"

"I know I am no hero. Life has proven that to me time and time again," she looked down at the surface of the desk where a map lay open, "You will be the first to know about my plan if I ever reach one. I am asking you to please trust me,"