62 – Secret Meeting
Iris.
I was not at peace. I could not sleep. I was up and walking towards the infirmary. Tomorrow would be the meeting concerning her rescue,
and I was anxious. We and the elders would talk in–depth, and I needed to be more informed. I had left the book at the infirmary. I would study it a bit more before I slept, so at least I would have more of an idea of what was to come from the meeting.
I turned the corner just as the door of the infirmary opened, revealing a delta and Rolan. I blinked, to make sure that I was not seeing things and froze. He had not come to see her once since the incident. Was he only pretending not to care but secretly did? Somehow, the possibility sounded unlikely. Rolan did not seem like the type of person to secretly meet his sister when no one else was around.
He strived for chaos far too much from what I could tell. His mere presence here felt wrong, like a storm cloud hanging over a peaceful sky. I tried to listen in to their conversation but I could only pick up little of the words that they exchanged.
My heart stopped when one word in particular caught my attention. It was a name. One that had been stuck in my head for a while. Alaric. And his reaction to the name also caught my attention. He almost looked like he froze in shock, his complexion paling. I watched as he dismissed the delta with a curt nod and turned to go back inside. The delta left him alone with Ione. My anxiety spiked.
I stood there, conflicted. Should I confront him or leave it be? My curiosity got the better of me, and I quietly approached the infirmary door, pressing my ear against the wood to listen. I could hear whispering but I could not fully decipher what was being said. I needed to open the door. So I reached for the knob and turned it, an inch at a time, until I heard a little creak. I froze hoping that he had not heard. But the whispering continued, uninterrupted, so I knew that he had not heard.
I pushed on the door, little by little until I could decipher his words.
“Where have you gone to, little sister?” He was whispering, but with it being night, it almost sounded like an echo. “Have you gone to see him?” he
asked her unconscious form.
No answer.
His expression turned dark. “Let the dead stay buried,” he whispered harshly. “I know you can hear me, little sister.” With that, he turned on his heel, back towards the door and towards where I was. I fled, hoping that he would not realize what I had heard.
“But I am not a seer,” I tried to say. I could not quite wrap my head around what the elder was saying. “It is only a seer that can travel the way Ione
does.”
He continued to regard me, his gaze contemplative rather than scornful. “I know it’s not easy to understand, Luna,” he said carefully. “Yet, this remains the only possible way that she can be retrieved from within you. More and more of her soul is lost each day that she is trapped within you.
You have to find her from within and aid her exit,” he tried to explain.
I remained stumped but it was becoming increasingly clear that whether she returns or not was something that was in my hands.
I glanced nervously at Cassian, his expression was hard. I could see the dilemma etched into the hard planes of his face. His eyes found mine and he put his hand over mine. “Be calm,” he soothed. “He would not be saying this unless he was sure.” He turned to face the elder again, his expression hardening in warning. “Isn’t that right, elder?” he asked, an obvious note of threat in his voice.
“Yes, Alpha,” he replied.
I took a deep breath, trying to envision Ione’s return to boost my morale. “So how will this happen?” I asked.
The elder rose from his seat and came towards me.
My heart leapt and not in a good way as he stalked towards me. Cassian tightened the grip on my hand.
“It looks like our dear Luna is afraid. I thought you cared for my sweet sister. Or was that all pretend?” he snorted as he walked into the meeting
room.
“Watch it,” Cassian growled in warning.
Rolan turned to regard Cassian with his own cold stare. “What?” he demanded. “Are you always going to protect your little wife from harmless jokes
all the time? Can she not handle it?”
“Rolan,” Cassian’s mother who had been quiet since the meeting said. “Don’t provoke your brother.”
“Mother, don’t tell me you are on his side now,” he asked, slightly taken aback.
“That is not the case…” But he cut her off.
“Then what is it?” he demanded. “Why are you pretending that it is not good that she is gone?”
Silence engulfed the room in a second as all eyes fell on Rolan. But he simply shrugged. “Why is everyone pretending like I am not telling the truth?” He faced Cassian again. “I heard that our darling sister was moaning the name of her dead lover when you were trying to save her,” he said snidely.
Cassian said nothing but his dark expression said everything.
“She moaned the name of the man that slit your throat, did she not?” he asked.
My eyes widened as it dawned on me. Alaric had been lone’s lover, and he had tried to kill Cassian.
Setting
21.05
62 Secret Meeting
“She always had a thing for maggots. First it was the Alpha’s son and then…”
“I’d be silent if I were you, Cassian’s voice was cold, almost belying the menace that hid underneath.
Fear briefly flashed in Rolan’s eyes.
Alaric had been a werewolf, I realized
“You should hate her the most, Rolan said. “You should wish her dead.” His voice was filled with disdain.
“She was not the one that slit my throat.”
“She might as well have done it herself. She was the one who brought the bastard to us. She let him past our defenses.”
“She was as clueless as all of us,” Cassian countered, his patience wearing thin. “She was rescued by him.”
“That was what she told us, but was that really the truth?”
“What are you insinuating, brother?” Cassian asked with a raised brow.
“She is…”
With that, the doors of the meeting room slammed open, and a delta ran through, her face etched with panic. “Alpha, your sister…* Cassian shot to his feet, his face turning ashen. “What about her?”
The delta took a moment to catch her breath, then stammered, “She’s gone. We can’t find her anywhere.”
The room erupted into chaos. Cassian’s eyes blazed with fury and concern. “How could this happen? She was under strict guard!” “We don’t know, Alpha,‘ the delta said, trembling. “We found her room empty, and there’s no sign of struggle.”
Rolan smirked, crossing his arms. “Perhaps she went to see her dead lover again.”
Cassian’s patience snapped. He moved towards Rolan, but I stood to stop him. ‘If you had anything to do with this… ́*
Rolan sneered, but there was a flicker of fear in his eyes. “You think I’d risk everything to harm her? She’s your problem, not mine.”
Cassian released him with a shove, turning to the elders. “Have the search guards dispatched now.”
They have been dispatched.” Cassian turned to me, his expression softening slightly. “Iris, go and stay with Abel. We’ll find her but you have to be safe. I will double the security outside the room. Expect anything, Iris. This could be an infiltration.”
I hesitated, wanting to argue and stay by Cassian’s side, but I knew he was right. Abel needed me, and I couldn’t risk putting myself in danger. I nodded reluctantly. “Alright, but promise me you’ll be careful.”
Cassian’s eyes softened, and he kissed my forehead. “I promise. We’ll bring her back.” He did not seem to care that his subjects might have seen him show affection to me in such a way. If what he was saying was true, the castle had indeed been infiltrated; it could be the last time. The thought of that made my stomach sink.
He turned away from me, but I reached out and grabbed his hand. He faced me again, and without any thought of the consequences, I obeyed my body and kissed my husband on the lips.
I barely registered the way his eyes widened. “Come back to me,” I whispered.
Without letting him answer me and with a final glance at the chaos around me, I hurried to find Abel. The corridors seemed longer than usual, each step echoing my growing anxiety.
Ione was gone; if she could not walk and leave by herself, it would mean one thing. She had been taken.
