Page 94 of Gothikana

Corvina nodded. ‘Yes. A long silhouette.’

‘The body would’ve been here already.’ He gritted his teeth. ‘Let’s get back. I need to get the forensics here.’

Corvina gladly left the shack, her arms pebbled with goosebumps, unable to understand how she even knew any of this. Had her subconscious mind picked up some clues the day they’d been there? And who the hell was the female?

‘Corvina,’ Ajax said, after locking the door as they started their trek up. ‘How well do you know Vad?’

Corvina paused on the incline. ‘You think he had something to do with that?’

Ajax put his hands up defensively. ‘Hear me out. I like him but my personal feelings cannot get in the way of the investigation. That body’ — he pointed to the shack — ‘has been there for a long time, longer than most people here. And this is a part of the woods even I, an ex-student who loved roaming in the woods, never knew about. He knows these woods like the back of his hand. I would bet anything he knows about the shack. And I’m certain he had something to do with a suspicious death before. Question is, could he have done that?’

Corvina shook her head even as snippets of memories flashed through her brain.

Him coming out of the woods immediately after their group that day.

Him getting angry that she’d gone to the shack.

Him not telling her what happened to his grandfather.

Her hearing the female voice for the first time right after talking to him.

Corvina walked up, and considered, truly considered if the man she loved with her whole being was capable of murder. She knew, without a doubt, that he was not. She could admit that he was dangerous,but she also knew he respected the circle of life, and he wouldn’t mess with it, not unless he had to.

More importantly, despite the flashes, she knew, just knew in her heart of hearts, that he hadn’t done this.

‘No,’ she told Ajax firmly. ‘He knows these woods because they’re his. But he didn’t do that. Because if he had?’ Corvina turned to the man beside her. ‘It would’ve been another suspicious death. Not a… grotesque horror like that.’

Ajax considered her words carefully as they emerged into the clearing, life continuing exactly as it had been like a horrific secret hadn’t been hiding minutes away from them.

‘You’re right,’ Ajax finally spoke, heading toward the admin wing. ‘I will talk to him anyway.’

He paused, studying her for a minute. ‘He’s a lucky bastard, you know. Most women would’ve run away from him a long time ago, especially after what we just found.’

Corvina huffed a laugh. ‘You got it all wrong, Ajax. I’m the one people would run away from, and he’s not. He’s the mountain I build my castle on.’

Ajax gave her a little smile at that. ‘And you really believe he’s not responsible?’

‘No,’ Corvina vehemently denied. ‘He’s dark and mysterious and has secrets I’m slowly discovering, but he’s not the evil we saw in that shack.’

Ajax nodded and left her to go find his team, and Corvina headed to the towers, her mind wrapped up in everything she’d witnessed in the shack, confusion and sadness and horror mingling together in an amalgamation that could not be separated. She climbed the stone stairs to her room, running her hand over the cool stone railing, gazing out the window on the stairwell at the beautiful day.

She wondered who the female had been, and how her mind could have picked up on her location. She wondered why she had been so brutally treated in death, and how she could’ve actually died.

And she wondered most of all who the silhouette in the locked shack had been, and if it was now out loose in the grounds of the castle.

CHAPTER 26

Corvina

‘Holy smokes, yourdress!’ Jade squealed as she entered the room.

Corvina gave her a grin in the mirror, fixing her long, raven hair up in a fancy high ponytail, a style she’d never tried before, one that absolutely rocked with her entire look. She’d gone all out for the Ball — exfoliation, waxing with the homemade wax she used, deep skin moisturisation with her lightweight oils. After her shower, she had returned to an empty room, taken out the breathtaking dress, and put it on. Then, she’d started to brush her hair, over and over and over, until her arms hurt, and it was falling in a sleek curtain, ready for the updo.

‘Your dress is gorgeous,’ Corvina complimented her friend’s reflection. A light pink colour that brought out the popping green in hereyes and melded with her white shock of hair, Jade’s wispy strapless corseted gown made her look like a fairy princess, exactly like she deserved to feel.

Jade twirled, her laugh a tinkle in the air. ‘Isn’t it perfect?’

Corvina agreed, clasping the star pendant around her neck and starry danglers from her ears, swiping on her lips a smudge-proof (she’d tested this one) lipstick the same shade as her dress, winging her black eyeliner to make her tilted eyes pop even more. She stepped back and looked at herself, amazed. She looked good, really good, so good she was going to test her man’s patience after their week away from each other. She couldn’t wait.

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