Chapter 86: Beneath the Surface

Lucian was gone.

I didn’t trust it.

Lying there in the dirt, my chest rising and falling in ragged breaths, I waited for the sharp return of his blade. For some cruel trick. For something.

But all I heard were the howls—familiar ones. Ours.

Reinforcements.

I forced myself up, my muscles screaming in protest. My sword was still in the dust, blood dripping from its hilt. My own blood. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, smearing red across my skin.

I was still alive.

Barely.

A figure burst through the smoke—Alexander. His golden eyes locked onto mine, and for a moment, relief crossed his face before it was buried beneath something sharper.

“Mariana!” He closed the distance between us in seconds. His hands found my arms, my waist, searching for injuries. When his fingers brushed my side, I sucked in a breath.

His jaw clenched. “What happened?”

I exhaled shakily, gripping his wrist. “Lucian.”

The name alone was enough.

His gaze darkened, his hold tightening. Around us, more of our warriors emerged, their wolves growling at the scent of blood and fire.

“He’s gone,” I said before Alexander could ask.

The tension in his shoulders didn’t ease. If anything, it sharpened. “Why would he run?”

I shook my head. “He didn’t run. He let me live.”

Silence.

And then—Alexander swore under his breath.

I looked up at him, my voice low. “He said this wasn’t over.”

Alexander’s eyes burned with fury, but beneath it was something else. Something I had seen in him before.

Fear.

Not for himself.

For me.

I swallowed hard. “We need to move. If he was here, he wasn’t alone.”

Alexander nodded, but I could feel his eyes lingering on me even as he turned to the others.

The battle had ended.

But the war had only just begun.

The fires still smoldered as we moved through the battlefield, the scent of ash thick in the air. Bodies lay scattered, some of ours, some of theirs. I forced myself not to look at the familiar faces among the fallen. Not now.

Alexander strode ahead, his presence commanding even in the wreckage. Warriors parted for him, their eyes wary, expectant. They were waiting for orders, for direction, for certainty.

But there was no certainty.

Not with Lucian still out there.

Eva fell into step beside me, her expression grim. “We lost too many,” she muttered.

“How bad?” My voice was hoarse.

“Bad enough.” She hesitated, then dropped her voice lower. “And some of the council isn’t happy about it.”

Of course they weren’t.

We had won the battle, but the cost had been high. And now, with Lucian slipping through our fingers, the cracks in our foundation were beginning to show.

I caught Alexander’s gaze as he spoke with one of the warriors. Even from a distance, I could see the weight pressing down on him, the sharp tension in his jaw.

He knew it too.

We weren’t just fighting enemies outside our borders.

We were fighting the ones within.

I exhaled, my fingers curling into fists. “Let them be unhappy. It doesn’t change the fact that we’re at war.”

Eva gave a dry, humorless laugh. “Tell that to the ones who are already looking for someone to blame.”

I didn’t have to ask who.

The council had been divided since Marion’s fall, and despite Alexander’s claim to the title, his leadership was still under scrutiny. My place was still under scrutiny.

And now, with Lucian’s presence proving that our enemies weren’t done with us, that scrutiny would only grow sharper.

I forced down the frustration burning in my chest. There was no time for politics. No time for doubts.

We had to prepare.

We had to be ready.

Because I had no doubt that Lucian would return.

And next time, he wouldn’t let me walk away.