Chapter 178: 178-Closer to her goal
The blueblood gave Evelyn one last curious glance before turning away.
Left on her own, Evelyn stepped through the doors. The atmosphere changed almost immediately. The air inside felt colder and more still. She found herself inside the tower, surrounded by unfamiliar corridors and the quiet signs of royal privilege.
Without her escort, she had no idea which direction to take and for one brief moment, uncertainty threatened to overwhelm her.
She had crossed the border, passed through the gates, endured the search, and entered the tower but none of it had brought her closer to Maisa.
She could be wandering deeper into danger with every step and if someone stopped her now, would the feeder pass protect her or merely tell them exactly what she was?
She tightened her grip on the feeder pass. Now that she had made it this far, she couldn’t afford to waste time.
Somewhere inside this academy was her niece and there was danger looming overhead so she had to hurry.
Evelyn drew a slow breath and forced herself forward. But how was she supposed to find Maisa?
She had barely taken a dozen steps into the whiteblood tower when she realized she had a problem. She had no idea where Maisa was.
The tower rose around her like a palace carved from winter. Its polished floors gleamed beneath the pale light pouring through towering windows and reflecting every movement in ghostly fragments.
Elegant portraits watched from gilded frames along the walls, their painted eyes seeming to follow her, while corridors branched away at every turn like the limbs of some vast, gleaming maze. The place was beautiful, certainly, but Evelyn had never felt so conspicuous in her life.
She clutched the feeder pass and glanced around. "Think, Evelyn," she muttered. "There has to be someone who can help."
She couldn’t simply wander around asking for Maisa Loven. Her niece was living under a different identity, and the fewer people who knew the truth about her, the better. Besides, if the wrong vampire discovered that a member of the Everheart family had entered their territory, her visit could turn into a disaster.
She needed to be careful. Unfortunately, the academy seemed determined to test her patience.
A group of blackblood students who had volunteered to clean the tower approached from the opposite corridor, their laughter chiming against the high stone walls.
Evelyn immediately stepped aside, lowering her gaze as they passed. She had barely relaxed when a voice stopped her.
"A human?"
Her shoulders stiffened. One of the students had turned back. She was a beautiful vampire with long, silver-blonde hair that shimmered like spun metal and eyes that glimmered like pale gemstones. Her gaze dropped to the pass in Evelyn’s hand.
"You’re the princess’s feeder, aren’t you?"
Evelyn forced a polite smile. "Y...yes," she stuttered, her voice shaking from fear.
"What are you doing standing here?"
"I was hoping to find someone who could direct me to the princess’s quarters," she made an excuse.
The vampire raised an eyebrow. "You don’t know where you’re supposed to go?"
Evelyn resisted the urge to remind her that she had never been inside the tower before.
"No. I’m afraid I wasn’t given any directions."
The student’s expression shifted from curiosity to mild amusement.
"Wait here."
Before Evelyn could ask anything else, the girl turned and disappeared down the corridor, her footsteps fading into the tower’s echoing silence.
Evelyn watched her go, uncertain whether she had just been helped or had made a terrible mistake. She hated how quickly she had begun relying on the vampires’ goodwill. She needed their help, but every favor brought her closer to being noticed.
A few minutes later, another vampire appeared and motioned for her to follow, "Come with me."
Evelyn followed without complaint. They climbed a staircase whose white stone steps gleamed beneath their feet, passed through a quiet hallway lined with silver sconces, and eventually reached a set of tall doors guarded by two royal attendants. The vampire escort exchanged a few words with them before gesturing for Evelyn to wait.
Her heart began to pound. Was Maisa here? Could she finally see her niece? And if she did, would she have the courage to tell her everything?
The attendants opened the doors. "Enter," one instructed.
Evelyn stepped into the room. It was a spacious sitting chamber furnished with pale sofas, a polished table, and shelves filled with books and decorative objects. Sunlight filtered through the windows in long, silvery beams, softening the room’s otherwise imposing elegance.
Dust motes drifted through the light like tiny sparks suspended in air but Maisa was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, a young vampire sat beside the window, reading a book. She looked up when Evelyn entered, her eyes settling on the feeder pass.
"Are you the new feeder?"
Evelyn hesitated. "Yes. I was hoping to speak with the princess."
The vampire closed her book. "You’re in the whiteblood tower. You’ll need to be more specific."
Evelyn’s stomach sank. She had come so far, risked so much, and still hadn’t found Maisa. For one bitter moment, she wondered whether warning the vampires had been a mistake. Perhaps she should have gone straight to Maisa and kept the rest of the danger to herself.
Before she could respond, another voice sounded from the adjoining room.
"What’s happening?"
A second vampire appeared in the doorway. Her gaze moved from Evelyn to the pass in her hand, and her expression sharpened.
"A human feeder?"
The first vampire shrugged. "Apparently, she’s been assigned to the princess."
The newcomer studied Evelyn for a long moment. "What’s your name?"
"Evelyn."
"Evelyn what?"
Evelyn’s fingers tightened around the pass. "Evelyn Loven."
The name came out naturally, but the moment she spoke it, she felt a flicker of unease. She hadn’t used her real name on the pass because she had needed an official identity to enter the academy. Yet hearing it spoken aloud in this place made her feel as though she had stepped too close to the edge of a cliff, with darkness yawning just beyond her toes.
The vampire’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Loven?" that name sounded awfully familiar because it was Maisa’s name and the redblood had been trending since the day that girl arrived.
Evelyn’s pulse quickened. Had she recognized the name?
She maintained her composure even as a dozen possibilities raced through her mind. If the vampires connected her to the Everhearts, she might lose her chance to protect Maisa. If she concealed too much, they might dismiss her warning or worse, assume she had come to deceive them.
Then the vampire looked away. "Wait here. I’ll inform the princess that her feeder has arrived."
Evelyn released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. At last, she was getting closer to her goal but as the vampire disappeared through the adjoining doorway, Evelyn’s thoughts returned to the message she had carried across the border.
The reason she had come here. The reason she couldn’t afford to waste another minute and the reason for her haste. It echoed loudly.