The Rogues Who Went Rogue
Chapter 90

Like the previous time, Margaret fell to her knees and grunted in anguish. Tate knelt before her and pulled her into his chest, increasing the intensity of the sparks and hoping that it would soothe some of the pain. It did. information, the vision ended.

Margaret felt less uncomfortable the moment the sparks intensified, and she focused on the vision that her wolf was seeing. She and everyone else around her were in a dimly lit space, and there was something...suspicious about the surroundings. Before Margaret could get anymor

That was it? Her rosewood eyes blinked in disbelief, and her awareness brought her back to the present moment. Everyone formed a circle around her and Tate, giving Margaret enough room to breathe but also allow them a good enough look at her. Tate was stroking her shoulder with his thumb, and his scent comforted her wolf and eased her anxiety.

Lucianne studied her in concern. Toby had had enough of the silence, and cleared his throat as he prompted, "Luna?"

Margaret jerked at the title, and Tate shot Toby an 'are you kidding me' look, which made Toby respond in hushed defense, "What?"

Margaret then got up with Tate's help, and she started explaining what she saw.

Greg pinched his nose bridge before he commented, "It'll be a lot nicer if you had more details and elaboration, maggo- Margaret."

He promptly replaced the nickname he gave her after noticing the sharp glare Lucianne was throwing at him. The Alpha was glaring at him too but the duke didn't really care about that one.

They weren't in a dim place yet, so nothing could be done at that moment. Their attention returned to the task at hand. Lucianne turned to look at the metal cover with the symbol of a papilio, her brows pulled together in contemplation. Octavia muttered, "We're meant to come here."

"What do you mean?" Lucianne asked.

Octavia gestured at the cover and explained, "The papilio is only found in the castle pond, and those animals only reappeared after Pelly's birth."

Xandar asked Pellethia, "When did it last appear before your birth?"

Pellethia responded simply, "When Count Dracula was still alive. The fact that his birth and mine were the only times in history that brought about the papilionibus' existence in the castle pond was more of a taboo than a celebrated coincidence. Father forbade it from ever being raised or spoken about, so not many people know about this. Dracula is said to be...a disgrace to our community for certain stances that he took which were abhorrent to the general society of his time. Father, naturally, didn't want any creature to start a rebellion to dethrone me for the coincidental similarity I shared with Dracula."

Lucianne's sights went back to the papilio on the metal cover as she said, "It doesn't feel like a coincidental similarity anymore."

Xandar agreed, "You've probably the heiress to this forest. The papilionibus were a sign of inheritance."

Pellethia begged to differ. "It's strange though. I know my family's history, and I'm not related to Dracula in the faintest way. Out of all the rulers that led the empire after his death, why am I the destined one?"

"That's the billion-dollar question," Greg muttered to himself from the side.

Lucianne's hand reached for Pellethia's shoulder, and she gave it a gentle squeeze as she spoke with an assuring smile, "Maybe we'll find out one day. Together"

After Pellethia returned her smile, she gave Duica and Bernadette a firm nod to open the cover, and they did. Like the last time the vigils came on their own, nothing came out, much to everyone's relief. The two vigils entered first, and when they turned on the lights and announced that it was safe, the royals dropped themselves down the hole.

The vast space surprised them. It was large enough to house villages of vampires. The moment Margaret entered after Tate, she recognized the surroundings as being the one in her recent vision, and she immediately told Tate, who then linked Lucianne about it. Lucianne paused in her footsteps, turned and reminded everyone to exercise caution, to be careful of where they step on or what they touch. There may be a trap that the vigils were lucky enough to avoid the last time.

The walls were the first structures Greg checked as soon as his feet hit the ground, but he felt nothing but dry dirt. He then checked the ceiling, and it was odd to him that there was no technology there either. He kicked some dirt off the ground, trying to see if there was any technology underneath the surface but after about half a foot into the dirt, which effectively created a hole, he found nothing. He wasn't satisfied, so he and his top four dug another few holes of equal depth around the area.

Blackfur even asked him why he and his people were 'playing' with dirt. Greg would have retorted with sarcasm had the queen not explained to the dim duke first that Greg may be looking for detectors and traps.

As the royals stood in the middle of the main room, looking for any clues that might lead them to the culprits, some dirt started fragmenting off the ceiling onto Pellethia's hair. She moved aside and looked up, and Octavia pulled her further away. Before anyone said anything, a small object dropped on the ground and the dirt stopped disintegrating.

Even Greg didn't have the technological knowledge to understand how that worked, so he asked, "Okay, what was that?"

Christian answered with a shrug, "Magic."

Greg sighed in frustration as his narrowed eyes found its way to his distant cousin, who didn't even bother pressing back his smile when he exchanged a cheeky look with Xandar. It was nice to annoy Greg for a change.

Lucianne, who Xandar firmly held by her abdomen during the dirt disintegration, tried to lean as close as possible to the pile of dirt to see the last thing that fell. The king was not letting her go any nearer as he studied the ceiling, which didn't seem to be disintegrating anymore. Octavia made Pellethia stay where she was, and walked forward to retrieve the object. The consort handed it to the empress, and everyone gathered around her to see that it was a scroll. Upon unrolling it, foreign linguistic characters were presented before them, ones that no lycan could read.

"Succoglyphs," Xandar murmured.

"Translation?" Greg reluctantly muttered, once again reliving his hate for history.

Lucianne responded, "Ancient vampire writings."