Chapter 18 18
Narnia's POV
I recognized them immediately. Warriors from the Regal Moon Pack, wolves I had known all my life. Thane walked at their head, his face grim in the light of stars. A fierce warrior who had never done anything with me except look down on me as he once stood one of the most trusted men in all of Alpha Corvin's army.
But there is desperate hope in seeing familiar faces, despite everything. These were my people. My pack. They would help me, listen to me, understand what had occurred.
I said and stepped forward, going around Elias over the rumbling in his throat. "Thane! It is me, Narnia. I am alive. I escaped the Guild fortress. I am so glad to see you."
Thane's expression did not change. His eyes were wooden, barren of all tenderness and recognition. “We know who you are traitor. We have come to take you down.”
The word was as though it physically struck me. "What? Traitor? I do not understand."
"Don't act innocent," Thane's voice was thick. "We know what you did. Lysandra told us everything."
My stomach dropped. "Lysandra? What did she tell you?"
“That you turned the pack over to the Guild,” Thane said. That you gave up our secrets, where we hid, our defenses. That you killed dozens of our people. Alpha Corvin demands you be returned in chains and put to trial for the treason of your kind."
I stared at him in disbelief. "That is a lie. Lysandra is the one who lied. When the men of The Guild arrived she informed them I was her. She allowed them to take me instead of her. I have been the captive of weeks, tortured and starved. I betrayed no one."
“That is not what she claims,” Thane said. “She says you offered to ride out with her. When you sold your soul to the human king. That you fell in love with our enemy, and chose him over your own people.”
The charge was so ludicrous I almost laughed. But via our link, I felt Elias’ anger growing, felt his wolf clawing to attack these wolves for accusing his mate of these offenses.
"Where is Lysandra now?" I demanded. “Let her come to my face, and tell me these lies.
“She’s on the pack grounds,” Thane said. “Wife to George, the Luna at Alpha Corvin. She’s been grieving for you, believing that you had chosen the humans above your own breed."
Married to George. It felt like a knife to the chest, his words. George, who all my life I had been promised. I had loved George in the uncomplicated, innocent way that young people love. He was wed to Lysandra, the cousin who betrayed me.
"Does that mean he won't come for me?" I say, my voice cracking despite my best attempts at being strong. Why, because she.just told him I didn't want to leave?" Because he thought I'd picked my captors?"
Thane's silence was answer enough. The other wolves shuffled and I saw several of them glance at one another. Maybe they didn’t all believe Lysandra’s tale. Perhaps some of them doubted.
But it did not matter. They were here at the command of Alpha Corvin, and they would do as commanded in spite of how they personally might feel.
Elias stepped closer to me, massive in his factored werewolf shape and exuding protective violence. Over the bond I could feel his need to fight through, to cut down these wolves and bring me home. But I also sensed him holding back, letting me make that choice.
They looked at him, the pack wolves looking at him for the first time, really looking at him, and recognition travelled through that mass of bodies like a wave.
“One of the Hunter King,” one murmured. "That is Elias Varron. The butcher of our people."
Weapons were drawn immediately. Knives and swords of bone, spears with stone points. The wolves took a step closer, their faces growing from unemotional to downright hostile.
"Back off of the human, Narnia," Thane ordered. "Whatever falsehoods he filled your head with, whatever hocus-pocus he worked on you, everything stops right now. Join us, or we will be obliged to accost you."
“He’s not a human being,” I murmured. "He is a wolf like us. My mother cursed him to become the thing he hunted. And has protected me, saved me, given up everything for me. I will not leave him."
“So then you agree with Lysandra,” Thane responded. "You've chosen the enemy over your own blood."
"My own blood tossed me in the dungeon to rot," I snapped, outrage now winning out over shock. "My very own blood left me to be tortured for weeks without rescuing. cn My cousin stole me identity and my fiancé while I was suffering. And don't talk to me about loyalty when my pack had none for me.”
Several of the wolves appeared uncomfortable at this point. Thane's jaw clenched, but he didn't answer my indictment, at least not directly.
"Rather, he said, "Lysandra is George's wife now. Her name is Luna, pack would and second to Alpha Corvin. She has held the pack together and given it stability and strength during these tough times. And she said you decided to stay with the humans, that you fell in love with the king and betrayed us for him.”
Each word was a knife. George had married her. Had accepted her as his mate. Without question, he'd have believed her lies.
“Is that why he never came for me?” I asked again, because I needed to have him say it. " Yet she told him that I wanted to live with my captors? I could love the man who killed our people?”
Thane's face softened, the ice beginning to thaw a little. “George took Lysandra at her word. We all did. You told them through the Guild you’d found peace with them, that you wanted to stay. And weeks when not another word, no evidence that you’d tried to escape..."
“I was in a cage,” I told her, my voice ragged. “Bound by chains of silver that would not let me change. I was beaten, starved, humiliated. There was no way for me to send word, because I could barely keep myself alive.”
I noticed doubt beginning to enter some of the wolves faces now. But Thane remained firm.
“You’ll get a chance to tell your story to Alpha Corvin,” he said. "You'll do it in chains, as one accused of treason should. And the human stays here. He comes into the pack lands, we put him down on sight.”
There was a growl from Elias, a snarl of pure rage. Through the tie I felt his tenacious grip, his utter refusal to release me. Felt his certainty that these wolves were going to hurt me or worse. Felt his urge to punch through them and sweep me up safe in his arms.
But I also knew that if we fought now, wolves died. Maybe Elias would die. Maybe I would die. And nothing would be resolved.
I put a hand on Elias's head, soothing him through our link. "No more death. Not for me."
I spun, aiming myself toward Thane and the others. "I will return with you. I'll confront Alpha Corvin and tell him everything. But I want Lysandra there. I want her to look me in the eye and say what she said on a national radio show for all the people to hear.”
“I can make that happen,” Thane said.
“No,” Elias sent down our bond, the words so forceful they’d blown me over. "You cannot go with them. They will hurt you. Corvin hates you."
"I know," I sent back. "But I need this, Elias. And I want to know if my pack really left me, or were they just tricked. I need closure. I must look Lysandra and George and my uncle in the face, and hear from their own lips what is true.”
"They will kill you."
"Maybe. But if I don’t run right now, then there really is no way of knowing. The rest of my days will be spent wondering if there was a chance, if I could somehow have made them understand. I need to try."
I sensed his torment through the bond. I felt him struggling between accepting my decision and his overwhelming urge to keep me safe at any cost.
"Three days," I sent to him. “Just let me die in three days. If I fail to come back, if you sense over the bond that I am in peril, then seek me out. But please, allow me to do this my way first.”
“It hurt to watch the internal war I sensed through our connection. But at last, with a reluctance that sent the tears to his eyes, he replied: Three days. Not one hour more."
I turned back to Thane. "I will go with you. But he stays free. You don't touch him, you do not chase him. Do we have an agreement?"
Thane considered, then nodded. "The human is not our target. And he's a free man as long as he stays out of pack lands."
Two of the wolves came forward with coarse rope. They tied my wrists in front of me, not cruelly but securely enough that I couldn't wiggle out. The cord cut into my skin and I sent back a tare of anger through the bond at the sight of me being bound again.
“I’m okay,” I messaged him for the boys to hear. "I am choosing this."
The pack wolves fanned in around me, ready to trot me off into the trees, and I glanced over my shoulder at Elias one final time. Our gaze locked, my emotions transmitted everything to him using our bond. My trust in him. My belief that we would return to each other. It was him letting me do this.
“Don’t come after me,” I messaged clearly. “This is something I must do on my own. Though if I have not returned within three days, should you feel the thread fraying between us--come. Promise me you will come."
I swear,” he sent, and I could feel the heaviness of that promise sitting between us like an unbreakable chain.
Then Thane signaled, and all the wolves started moving. We walked with them towards the forest, abandoning Elias in the ravine with a decision that would shape everything that followed.
Honor my wish and wait. Or trust his gut and chase me down right now.
I felt him through the bond, watching until I disappeared into the trees. And yet the cord stretched thin but held, a silver line between me and wherever you were.
I was stepping back into that place that had haunted me throughout my whole life. Back to that uncle who loathed me, that cousin who deceived me, that man promised to me but married someone else.
But I was no longer that terrified girl who had been plucked from there. I was a Moonlight Guardian firmly bound to a wolf king and possessing my mother's power in my blood.
And one way or the other, I would have to get my answers.