Chapter 157
I couldn’t leave her like this, regardless of our past conflicts. She was badly wounded and alone in the forest. Whatever she believed Kaius had done, whatever truths or lies existed between them suddenly seemed insignificant.
As I debated what to do, voices called my name from deeper in the rest–Kaius and Frost, searching for me. Relief and trepidation warred within me.
“Elowen!” Frost appeared first, his ice–blue eyes widening at the sigh of me kneeling beside Thalia’s bloody form. ‘Where did you
go?”
Before I could answer, Kaius pushed through the undergrowth, his expression thunderous.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” he demanded, closing the distance between us in three long strides. “You got us worried; I checked the whole house, and you were not in it; if you wanted to go somewhere, you would have told us.”
“I saw Thalia in the woods; she needs help,” I said, indicating Thalia’s broken body.
Kaius’s anger morphed instantly to something more calculating as he took in the scene. His reaction wasn’t shock or horror, but something closer to cold assessment.
“What the hell is going on with you?” he asked, his tone softer but no less intense.
“See that blood trail.” I pointed to the dark smears on the underbrush. “I had seen Thalia here.”
“Thalia,” he murmured, kneeling to check her pulse. His expression revealed nothing of his thoughts.
Frost moved silently around the perimeter, scanning the surrounding forest with the alertness of a predator expecting threat.
“We need to get her to the healers,” I said, when neither man seemed inclined to state the obvious.
Kaius nodded once, then lifted Thalia’s limp form with surprising gentleness. “Lead the way,” he said to Frost, who had already identified the quickest path back to the pack house.
“The ball would be coming to an end soon; the Alpha King and Queen have to be present,” Frost reminded us as we reached the edge of the forest.
Kaius nodded. “You are right; we would be right back.”
The healers had already gone to work on Thalia, but we all knew this would be different; she was an elder; elders don’t go to healers and her injuries seemed beyond them.
All I had to do was stand by Kaius as he gave a speech to the crowd; he was calm and controlled, even lighten the mood, but I, on the other hand, was tense. How could he be this calm?
in some little jokes to
His speech came to an end quickly as we bid farewell to the guests, welcoming them to stay the night if they wanted to. Most of them left, and now we could both return back to Thalia.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Kaius said as we walked briskly through the corridors toward the healing wing.
“How can you joke right now?” I couldn’t hide my disbelief. “Thalia is half–dead and you’re acting like nothing happened.”
Kaius’s expression hardened. “What would you prefer? That I panic and cause mass hysteria? The pack needs stability, Elowen.
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Especially now.”
Frost met us outside the healing room, his face grim. ‘She’s awake. And talking
“What’s she saying? Kaius asked, immediately alert.
“You’ll want to hear it yourself.”
We entered the room to find Thalía propped up on pillows, her body patchwork of bandages and healing salves. The scene medicinal herbs hung heavy in the air, barely masking the underlying smell of blood and pain.
“Kaius,” she began, “I don’t know if you already knew this, or perhaps even needed this to happen, and frankly, right now, i don’t care.” She took a ragged breath. “What I do care about is that Soren wasn’t the only one who escaped. Caleb is free ton
The name sent a visible ripple through both Kaius and Frost.
“They did this to you?” I asked, moving closer to Thalia’s bedside.
Thalia laughed, a harsh sound that ended in a wince. “I betrayed them; I turned them all in, and just as I had stabbed my brothers and sisters in the back, Caleb did the same to me.” She closed her eyes briefly. “In all the centuries I lived, I had never experienced pain so intense that I longed for death. All for what?” Her gaze found Kaius. “I shouldn’t have betrayed them. I was stupid to believe you’d make me Queen. This is exactly what I deserve.”
“Whether you betrayed them or not, I was going to kill every elder for getting the crown. You included, Thalia. As for making Queen…” He shrugged. “That lie just made you betray them faster.”
I stared at him, startled by his casual confession of such a brutal plan.
“Thalia, if you want them dead, then you have to give us more details.” Kaius leaned forward, his intensity focused entirely on the wounded elder.
“I don’t have to do a thing; you would discover it all on your own,” she replied, turning her face away.
“Fine, you would be attended to by the healers; you should remain in this pack; this way you would be safer. If you change your mind about talking, then you know where to meet us.” Kaius straightened, clearly frustrated but unwilling to push further.
As we left the room, I grabbed Kaius’s arm. “What do you think they did to her?”
“The elders are ruthless sets of individuals. I had never seen an elder torture another, but I’ve heard of their ruthless method of torturing other people. For a very graceful set of people, they could be quite animalistic.”
“Soren is an elemental, and why that is a cool gift, Caleb’s is even worse,” Frost explained, his voice low. “Some say he is descendant of Hades, but I don’t believe it; I think his ability is more of a curse than a gift. He could seize life from anything living: this way he gets stronger; he had made sure she was weak enough, that explains why she looks so… tiny. More to that, she must have been assaulted in other ways.”
“Physically or… Sexually?” The question came out before I could stop it.
Clearly both, Kaius confirmed grimly. “Soren and Thalia had a thing going on some centuries ago; they separated, but I guess Soren never did let it go.”
“And then the betrayal–it had added to their fury,” l’added, piecing it together.
“I had no idea Caleb still lives.” Kaius paced the corridor, his mind clearly racing. “They could have killed her, I guess they were trying to send us a message – yet another threat from them.”
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“You are right, that must have been their intention,” Frost agreed.
Suddenly, Kaius stopped pacing and turned to me. “What had you been doing out there Elowen?”
“Yeah… what were you doing out there? Frost’s tone mirrored Kaius suspicion.
The abrupt shift in focus caught me off guard. “I just needed some ait.”
“You didn’t tell me that; you told me you would be right back,” Kaius pointed out, his eyes narrowing.
“Then maybe I should know what exactly you both were doing in the secret‘ room, I countered, tired of being interrogated.
“That’s where you went to?” Frost’s voice dropped dangerously low.
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