A MAZE OF GREED

Edwin had never felt so excited and nervous at the same time in all over his life. He did not know what to do, how to behave, what to say or how to tie his damn shoelaces.

He was as excited as a kid eagerly, looking forward to going for a picnic that his parents had promised him long ago but finally managed to take him there.

His wolf was on the edge at the knowledge of his mate's presence in 'the great manor'. Only Edwin knew how much effort it took for him to not glance Ruth's way in Elsie's chamber.

While walking through the corridor of his building, he was well aware of her flowery scent nearby. He could faintly hear her heartbeats. Her stare on him tingled his skin, and he liked that feeling.

His wolf fought with his human to lift his head up and look into her beautiful hazel eyes, but he did not. He knew there were eyes watching him closely.

Having Ruth in 'the great manor' had solved his wolf's problem, but it could also create new problems if his human fell weak in front of his feelings.

~"Master... master."~ Someone knocked on his door, requesting him to allow them to reach him through the mind link.

Edwin recognised the female voice.

~"Yes, Ida?"~

~"Master, Lady Theodora has requested Miss Ruth's presence in the parlour."~

He sensed the worry lacing her words.

~"WHAT? But why?"~ Edwin stopped doing what he was doing, his eyes darkened by a shade.

~"I do not know Master."~ Ida told.

Edwin was tensed. ~"Where are you now?"~

~"I am waiting for Miss Ruth outside the parlour since twenty minutes."~

~"Do not move from there until she comes out."~

Edwin walked out of his office marching straight to the parlour.

"Edwin? Where are you going? What is wrong?" Lester and Elsie, who were on their way to meet him, stopped him.

Edwin did not take a risk of telling them everything verbally and used mind links for that purpose.

"Why do not you two wait for me in brother Edwin's office? I remember something important. I will meet you in ten minutes and then we can have lunch together." Elsie said out loud for the eavesdropping fools.

Lester wrapped his hand around Edwin's tensed shoulders and forcefully directed him back to his office. Edwin dragged his heavy feet, which were screaming at him to let them walk the way they wanted.

Elsie scanned her surroundings then marched towards the parlour. When she reached there, she saw Ruth coming out of the parlour. Her confused and exhausted face told Elsie that her stepmother must have put Ruth in a difficult conversation.

"Ruth? You are here?! I was looking for you everywhere." Elsie smiled after sparing a fleeting glance to Ida.

"Erm... yes." Ruth mumbled.

"Will you come to my chamber with me? I want to give you some instructions about the work. I do not want you to make any mistakes when you start working for me."

"Of course, My Lady."

The three women then walked away towards Elsie's room. Except for Ruth, the other two were aware of someone's watchful eyes on them, but they acted nonchalantly.

Ida took her position near the closed door as Elsie and Ruth walked further into the chamber. Elsie told Ruth to sit and walked towards a cupboard, that was lined at one side of the chamber.

Ruth was hesitant after what happened with Eloise and decided it was best for her to keep standing. Ida also did not sit with her mistress then why should she?

That was how the servants should act- polite and respectful, sometimes even at the stake of their self-esteem if it meant good for their lord.

"Here." Elsie came back with a red pouch and put it in Ruth's hand.

Its weight confused Ruth. "What is this My Lady?"

Elsie only smiled and gestured to Ruth to open it. She did as she was told, only to her eyes widened saucer shape.

"Th-this is... this..."

"Rees have told me how you lost your previous job at Mr Cooper's tailoring shop and do not have any savings left. This is one fourth of your salary in advance. You must need it till the pay day."

Ruth's throat constricted with a surge of emotions. She had not expected Elsie to be so considerate and kind.

"But... but..."

Elsie touched Ruth's hand that was holding the pouch tightly. "I am not showing pity for you, Ruth. I have to give you this money later if not now. But when i know how much you need it right now then why wait till the end of the month?"

Ruth did not know what to say. She only nodded and looked at Elsie with sincerity, in a hope that her eyes would convey how grateful she was.

They talked for a little while, and Elsie asked Ida to take Ruth's measurements for a uniform.

"I will see you at seven in the morning!" With that said, Elsie left to meet her cousin and mate.

"So what was Lady Theodora conversing with you for that long?" Ida came to Ruth's side as soon as they parted ways with Elsie.

Ruth told what they discussed. She saw Ida's brows furrowing, the corners of her lips stretching down and her occasional nodding.

Ida walked Ruth till the front gate of 'the great manor'.

"I will see you tommorow morning Miss Ruth. Have a good day!"

"Yes. Good day to you too!" Ruth smiled back and waved at Ida.

For the first time, she stepped out of 'the great manor' with a smile on her face, and relief in her heart. She had walked a short distance when she heard a familiar sound coming from down.

"Oh, my sweety! Where have you been huh? How much I missed you!" Ruth scooped Zoe in her hands and snuggled her closer to her body.

Zoe mewed, rubbing her head on Ruth's chest. Unlike every day, Zoe abandoned Ruth as soon as they reached near 'the great manor'. Ruth called her name, but she did not stop and disappeared behind the bushes that aligned to the roadside.

As a centre of werewolves, Zoe was neither welcomed nor safe anywhere near 'the great manor'. Any werewolf had sniffed her supernatural scent. So she decided to wait for Ruth at some distance away from 'the great manor'.

She wished if she could shift into her human form so she could meet Edwin. Alas!

That night Ruth was happy... very happy. She was eager to share her happiness with Thea and Mrs Payne. That night Ruth told everything that had happened in the past days to Mrs Payne.

She and Thea assured her that now everything was fine and there was no need to worry. Ruth finally got a peaceful sleep after many days with a dream of a blue-eyed monster.

*

*

*

"Father, please say something." Darius looked at his father expectantly.

During the past one hour, he was the only one speaking in the coven meet, till his throat turned dry. The coven members only shook their heads in negation to everything he suggested except for Mr Hilton.

Ambrose had a serious face as he sat propping his one leg over the other. Aurora waited patiently for her husband to react.

"Marcus." Ambrose finally said, and the man stepped ahead to fill their goblets with fresh and warm blood.

Drinking the red liquid, Ambrose felt at some ease. "Son, I understand what your perspective is. But we can not rush into anything. We are a coven and we decide everything together." Ambrose said firmly.

Ironically, he was the one who pursued the other coven members into agreeing with his decisions one way or another.

"Does that mean you do not agree with me, father?" Darius's eyes darkened.

"I am sure your father does not mean that Darius. You should first listen him before jumping onto the assumptions." Aurora warned her son.

"Darius, we can not declare an open war against the werewolves or the O'Dells. Although we have allies like the goblins, we are still unsure of centaurs.

Those creatures are proud warriors, and they sent their spy to work with us only because we made them believe that what happened at the time of the great war was all George O'Dell Sr.'s misjudgement and selfishness.

We can not rely on them for long if we plan on a face to face battle. And then there is the crown. How are we going to handle them?"

The other coven members nodded their heads in agreement. Ambrose's rationality was his strongest virtue that gave him enormous authority over the vampire breed.

Unlike others, Darius did not look convinced by his father's arguments.

"His eyes turned red in anger, his claws exposed themselves for the onlookers.

"You are saying this because you are done with your reign father. After you, I will be the leader of the vampires. I have done my share of sacrifices for this. I have done everything that you told me to over the centuries, never asking questions.

I did everything that will make me a great leader. And now when that bastard is challenging my authority, you are stopping me from retaliation?! WHY?" He yelled, his pale skin looked paler than before and his eyes spitfire.

"I am stopping you because I CAN!" Ambrose lost his cool as he raised his voice. His eyes matched the colour of Darius's.

"Darius... you were not there to witness what happened during the great war. You do not know what the Garfield family had to lose against George O'Dell Sr. Your father has seen it all, lived through it over the centuries. He had to accept the humiliation, just to keep our breed safe.

And now you want to put that everything at stake? For what? Your damn ego! If he and the coven members think that we should wait for declaring open war against the werewolves, then we WILL WAIT!"

Aurora had walked to stand right in front of her son, matching his angry eyes with her sharp ones.. Having had enough of all this, Darius stomped out of the room with flared nostrils, and in search of prey to hunt.