Call Of The Dark

Naomi looked at her with wide eyes. She didn't know what to say to her and at the same time she was way too angry with her. "Just get out, Olya!" she snapped. "And don't show me your face. You would never understand!"

Olya gulped down, feeling horribly humiliated. Her eyes prickled with tears but she blinked them away. "Naomi, I don't understand your agitation about this whole thing, but you can't talk to me like this. I have had enough of you ordering me around like a puppy who belongs to you. You have done whatever you liked with me. But now no more!"

Shocked at her words, Naomi got up. She rose to her feet. Placing her hands on her hips she challenged Olya, "What are you going to do Olya? Huh?"

Olya didn't back out. "I will just stop talking to you unless you come back to your senses."

"My senses?" Naomi lifted her hand and slapped Olya hard across her face.

Olya squealed and fell on the floor. "Naomi!" she rasped, her hand on her cheek that was stinging with sharp pain.

Naomi towered above her and hissed, "Know your place, Olya. You are nothing but a pawn in this whole game. You are a worm who is wriggling and that is what you shall remain all your life. Even if Lazarus doesn't marry Emma, she will remain in the forefront. Didn't you see how he took Emma out of this room, as if you don't even exist? Don't you see how Emma is around him?"

Olya's tears came out unbridled. She never expected Naomi to slap her. She glanced at Cain who was sitting there watching her with equal hatred. She knew she couldn't expect him to butt in because it was his interests that were mainly hurt. Olya got up to her feet and said, "I know how Lazarus is with Emma and that was why I told you that I don't want to marry him. Yet you are the one who is insisting that I marry him." Her gaze darted between Naomi and Cain. "And now I am thinking that since you know so much about Lazarus and Emma, why are you pushing me in this alliance? What is your real purpose?"

Naomi's mouth fell to the ground as Cain shifted in his place. Olya gave them one last look and then ran out of the room with her hand on her cheek, tears flowing out. She ran through the palace and stopped only at Magnus's quarters. As soon as she was in the bedroom, she crashed on bed with a cry.

Magnus saw her running to his bedroom. He was talking to Lazarus and Emma at that time. As soon as he saw her running, he too ran after her, leaving the conversation in the middle.

"Olya!" he called her and rushed to sit by her side.

"I hate Naomi!" Olya said, hitting the pillow. "She is too rude!"

"Look at me, Olya," Magnus said as he placed his hand on her shoulder. He was so anxious that it hurt his heart. He could feel his chest tightening. He hated it when Olya cried and lately, he was feeling as if his life was only revolving around Olya. He didn't know what was going wrong or right, he only wanted to be with her. Seeing her crying was making him restless.

She shook her head. She didn't want to show him the mark of five fingers on her cheek. "I am fine. I just-- just--" she hiccupped. "I just don't understand why is she so--"

"Greedy?" Magnus completed the sentence for her. He stroked her back and then pulled her towards him. "Olya I--" And then his eyes went to the mark on her cheeks. Anger blasted in his chest like a volcano. "I am going to kill her!" he growled. He got up, ready to trace to her room when Olya pulled his hand.

"No!" she said. "You can't do that."

Just then Lazarus traced to their room with Emma. One look at her and Emma rushed to Olya. "Who the hell did that to you?" she asked.

"Naomi..." Olya said through her tears in a low voice.

"I am going to fucking kill her and then hang her body upside down in front of the palace!" Magnus shouted. "I am going to make sure that Cain is stripped naked and whipped and--"

"Calm down," Lazarus growled at his brother. Magnus looked mad as hell. It was as if Olya was his mate and he could go to any lengths to keep her protected. "We will find a way around it."

Magnus began pacing his room. "I want to marry Olya now!" he declared. "I just want to marry her now. We will run away to the cabin in Wilyra Mountains and stay there for the rest of our lives! But I will take her away from all this nonsense!"

"Shut up, Magnus!" Lazarus growled at him. "Let me think on how to tackle this issue."

---

Rage was simmering inside her like a wound. She didn't want to part with that piece of land. She had looked after it after her father's death as her own. Her father had willed it to Olya but she always thought of it as his repayment towards bringing up Olya. Every minute that passed, this thought ingrained in her mind. She had to talk to Olya and make her understand this. Naomi picked up her shawl and wrapped it around her gown as she started to go out of her room.

"Where are you going?" asked Cain. It had been a few hours, and dawn was approaching soon. They had to sleep now.

"I am going to meet Olya!" she said through her gritted teeth.

"Are you mad?" Cain scolded her. "What for?"

"To make her understand my point of view. She is nothing but a child who is going to spoil everything I had built and dreamt. And I won't allow her. I am going to make her see what that land means to me." Basically, Naomi wanted to manipulate Olya into thinking that the estate was her repayment of bringing her up.