The Duke's Passion

Chapter 755  No, you won.

The sound of bones breaking sounded unnerving, as if something were crawling under their skin. Watching something protruded from Tilly's back and witnessing how it slowly ripped the fabric of her clothes was mesmerizing and equally staggering. In a blink of an eye, two gigantic wings spread free. But unlike what most people knew about wings, Samael and Claude studied the ones on her back as Tilly faced them squarely. Using one word, it looked like it was gigantic bat wings. But on a closer look, Samael's brows furrowed. The tip of her wings was sharp and pointy, but what confounded him was that instead of feathers, her wings were made out of flesh. It was as though Tilly simply broke her spine apart and wrapped her flesh to make it look like wings. "Did it hurt?" was the first question that came out of Samael's mouth as he set his eyes back at Tilly. "That thing… how painful was it?"

Tilly pressed her lips into a thin line. "I didn't measure," her voice bore the usual dullness. "But I ‌remember screaming for the first time when I unleashed them the first time."

"Is this a part of your spine?" asked Claude as he finally understood Samael's question after studying Tilly's wings for another minute. "It looks painful."

"It's in all of us," Tilly explained, glancing at her right wing. "Those higher-ups on the mainland knew about them, but we had never spread them open. This thing… set us apart from everyone. If we're not vampires, not a wolf, and not humans… where does the Grimsbanne stand?"

She slowly set her eyes back to the two of them. "If you have one, you can force it out of your body and use it to get into places."

Samael ran his tongue across his inner cheek while Claude let out a deep exhale. The latter planted his hands on his hips, keeping his eyes on the gigantic bat wings that had no skin and were made out of flesh and bones. "Is that the only thing it can do for us?" asked Claude after a minute of silence. "Flying is convenient, but at the same time, it brings more things to consider. This stagger even us, who were born vampires and carry the blood of Grimsbanne. I can imagine the reaction from those humans."

"Being able to spread it means acknowledging the blood running in you." Tilly looked away, setting her eyes up at the moon. "It will open your mind and soul to a power you might grow to despise. Standing at the top had always been lonely — lonelier than living in a house all alone."

Her eyes softened as her expression relaxed. Yet, she neither looked sentimental nor boastful.

"I'm not telling you this now, so you try to spread them on your own," she continued in the same soft tone. "I'm simply letting you know lest I forget, and also, to give you another card on your sleeve."

"A part of me feels like things will only grow complicated from this moment on," she added. "It was good that my brother had reached out to us, but that also means he was in a complicated situation. Hence, he'll wait for us until we take down the limbs of our enemies."

Enemies… yes. Who and how many there were was still unknown to them. What they only knew was that Quentin Moriarty was a part of it. Tilly moved her shoulders and her wings folded. Her jaw tightened as if to suppress the sudden pain. Her brows rose, stretching her neck to look over the roof. "Wow…" Rufus withdrew his hand over his brows when Tilly turned and looked down at them. "I have never seen such a hauntingly beautiful pair of wings."

Fabian chuckled giddily. "How ironic. They said angels had beautiful wings and vampires were creatures of the night who originated from evil. Yet, the Grimsbanne has wings like angels." His squinting eyes slowly cracked open.

"I'm starting to doubt the lores of the church," he added, lips curling into a dangerous smirk. "Since when did you believe in the homily?" Rufus arched a brow, looking at his brother in dismal. Fabian peeled his eyes away from Tilly to Rufus.

"Sir Knight, lest you do not know, I had a time when I stayed in the convent. I was once a sacristan." Deep lines appeared in between Rufus's brows at Fabian's claims. Fabian's smile stretched into a bright grin, telling Rufus what his brother was about to say was no good. "My time as a sacristan opened opportunities for me to venture on the spiritual edification and their doctrines," Fabian explained nonchalantly, tilting his head to the side. "I'd say it was a fun phase of my life."

"And it was proven staying in the church change nothing."

"Sir knight, of course. I came there out of pure curiosity, and it was too late for their righteousness and sacredness to bend me. However…" Fabian's lips stretched even wider as a glint crossed his eyes. "That doesn't mean nothing had changed. Since they couldn't change me nor convince me in the slightest, I had to convince them about my ideology of faith."

Rufus's face contorted, imagining how his brother tainted the sacredness of the church. But that didn't surprise him anymore. If Fabian came in there to change, but they 'failed' him, Fabian would surely teach those people how to bend others' beliefs.

"I cannot believe you…" Rufus shook his head in disbelief, uninterested in listening more to his story. He waved, turning on his heel. "I lost in the spar. You won. Now, go rest and prepare for your departure."

Fabian watched Rufus walk away. His eyes fell on the wooden sword in Rufus's grip. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ Noᴠelꜰire.nᴇt

"He had become stronger," he whispered, smiling subtly as he heaved a sigh of relief. That wooden sword Rufus was carrying was the weapon he had from the beginning to the end.

Rufus didn't lose; Matter of fact, he won. After all, Fabian's goal was to break that wooden sword, but he failed. "Now I'm at peace, leaving him for a while." Fabian glanced up at the roof one more time, catching Samael, Claude, and Tilly still discussing something. His smile stretched before he walked away silently.