Chapter 168

The shovel hit the dark loose soil concealing the dead beneath, ripping the earth apart under the pouring, angry rain that declared its presence with thunder and lightning.

Their robes stuck to their bodies, absolutely drenched but they didn't care.

Delice's focus was on the grave, whatever she would find in the coffin was about to define everything.

Finally, Akeem dragged the box out and he threw it open on her command.

Oliver's scent sipped into the air, along with that of rotting flesh. She at first thought that it was strange that Laura hadn't taken measures to embalm his body but given the circumstances, that couldn't have been possible.

Delice took a step back, already feeling terrible that she had defiled the grave of her best friend's mate because of some alcoholic delusional. Her eyes misted with tears and she blinked her tears away.

Frozen, she watched.

"Should I seal the coffin back, Milady?" Akeem asked after a long moment of her silence.

She didn't reply, instead, she stepped closer, yanking the scattered robes of the dead to find bones and the rotting flesh whose smell consumed the air.

She found none.

No body.

No bones.

Just this rotting smell.

"That is impossible," Akeem said beside her.

"His body has been stolen. Something is going on." She whispered, then she stood up sharply. "Seal the coffin and put it all back the way it was. Someone has been here before us. I must tell Laura. This might be the same person that stole the extract."

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"Laura! Laura! You need to know this! Oliver's body is missing and I think there is a witch in control of all this, it must be the same person responsible for stealing your extract. You need to come with me immediately." The words had rushed out of Delice's mouth the minute she made it into Laura's secret room.

She had gone up to her room in the Castle and had not found her there before deciding to rush here, to the underground abode. Delice knew that Laura might be displeased that she had gone to disturb Oliver's grave but she was ready to face the consequences of that, as long as they could catch the thief and she could help her friend.

The thought of someone using Oliver's body to get to Laura and fool her, made Delice sick to her stomach.

She would lose her mind if anyone were to use her Medallion's body to play tricks on her. It was a good thing that Laura had buried her son properly to ensure something like that would never happen. The fleeting thought of what he would look like and the life they would have had if he had just survived made it into her mind.

That reminded her of her suspected link with Ka'ik and it filled her mind with confusion. He must have slept with more than just her that night, that was if it had been him. There was something about that memory that just kept failing her.

She had a son, and Mira was a girl. The memory was one that was filled with uncertainty, she would never speak of it not to complicate things further.

But all that wasn't necessary now, she had to focus on the present, and that meant that she needed to talk to Laura.

She needed to protect her friend.

Whatever witch could do that was a powerful one and it was better for them to know of this opposing presence right now so they could be fully prepared to face them.

She had found Laura in the secret room, which was a good thing.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice sounded ragged, there was no natural light from the moon, and no candles were lit but all that was unnecessary.

Their sight was good enough that they could see in the dark.

"Did you not hear everything I just said, Oliver's body is missing. What I saw before wasn't an illusion, there must be a witch behind this, we have to tell your mother--"

"You went to Oliver's grave?"

"Y-yes."

"Why---" the words Laura said next seemed to evaporate and Delice took note of her dressed, or rather, her almost naked state.

She was in a matching pair of black leather underwear, and a whip was in her hand.

"What were you doing?"

"Attending to private matters."

Delice frowned. "Who is in here with you?"

"No one." Laura's brows arched with anger. "How dare you go to Oliver's grave? What---"

Her words were drowned out again, as Delice replayed everything in her mind.

When she had stepped in, she had been too overwhelmed to tell Laura about what she had discovered that she hadn't noticed that it seemed Laura had rushed into the room just as she had.

It clicked!

There was a secret door here.

In a flash, and with her memory of what she had seen when she stepped in guiding her, Delice raced past Laura, trusting her instincts to lead her right.

They did.

The walls shifted beneath her palm, and the gentle light from the candles in the room they led to almost burned her eyes from the abrupt change.

A sex dungeon.

There was nothing surprising about that though.

What Delice found absolutely surprising was the naked submissive who was on his knees, with chains around his wrists, with eyes filled with drunken lust, and a sly smile that graced his very much alive face.

"Hello, Sweet Bun," Oliver said, giving her a wink while tilting his head to signal to his erect dick, which had a low vibrating object wrapped around it. It must be a sex toy. "Want to join in?"

By the Blood, what was this?!

No, this was no ghost.

This was real!

REAL!

"It is not what it looks like?" That was Laura. She was still behind her.

Delice smiled, shaking her head as she moved away from Laura.

"This is becoming a very bad habit."