Chapter 171 Chapter 171

Chapter 171 Chapter 171
AQUILA'S POV

Dawn came far quicker than it should have, but the forest itself remained as dark as it had been the previous night. 

Usually, sunlight spilled through the canopy with gilding mist and softening shadow, but today, a blanket of pregnant clouds swallowed the sky whole.

It was an unpleasant feeling, this much I can say. The only way to describe it was the feeling you got after eating too many sweets when you know you shouldn’t. But maybe describing the events of the past couple of hours like a stomach ache was greatly undermining the direness of the situation.

My brows drew into a heavy frown as I remembered how Crystal had gone running after Asher instead of calling Nayara or me. Or even Seth for crying out loud.

“She’s almost as crazy as he is,” I murmured under my breath as I pushed past the thickets with Seth sniffing ahead of me, eyes as sharp as ever as he hunted for any signs of where Crystal might have gone through.

Since the first night Asher had insisted on bringing Crystal home, I felt it. Though I can’t lie, the woman had grown on me; there was always just something beneath the surface whenever she was in a room. I felt it in the way the world around her responded to her presence. Especially Asher. I’ve known him pretty much my entire life, and not once has his Dragon behaved the way it did with Asher. This was the first time I’ve seen the both of them struggle for control or maybe…lose control.

“Any signs?” I called out to Seth when he stopped near a fallen tree, but he just shook his head with a deep frown on his face.

“No,” he growled with a deep huff.

I crouched, brushing my fingertips over crushed grass and hummed. Something had definitely passed through here recently.

“Keep looking,” I said as I stood straight again.

Seth nodded. Compared to when we’d been at the festival, he had barely spoken a word since we left the old library. Every now and then his movement would shift between crouching down and standing straight or something in between, like he was deciding whether to be human or beast. I could only imagine what was going through his head right now. On top of learning how to adapt, the one person he more or less valued was nowhere to be found.
And yet, he hadn’t complain even if he wanted.

And honestly, that silence worried me more than complaints would have.

“Asher cares about her, yes?” Seth said quietly, his voice tight.

I glanced back. “What?”

“Crystal.” He stepped over a fallen bough. “He was terrified.”

My jaw flexed under the skin before relaxing with a subtle breath. “Yeah, he is.”

Long ago, I learned the difference between two emotions that should have been more or less similar. Fear made you careful. You remembered the paths your bullies took to avoid them. Looked twice before crossing the street… Terror, however, was fear radicalized. It made you reckless.  And Asher had never been one to think before he acted — not when it came to the people he loved. Especially not now.

I stopped so abruptly that Seth nearly collided with me.

“What?”

I held one hand to my lips. “Shh.”

I closed my eyes as I angled my head just enough that I could pick up on the sounds around us. But there was nothing. The woods were dead silent. No birds. No insects. Not even the distant hoots of Owls around here.

It was almost as though…

I opened my slowly opening eyes. “This way.”

I moved with cat-like speed and grace as I came towards a path that had bushes with their branches snapped clean, not broken by wind or beast. But with blades.

As we approached, I drew in a deeper breath. What started off as small prints soon became multiple prints. Seth’s expression hardened as he pushed past me like I was in the way of his own discovery.

“Crystal. She was here.” Seth said, turning every which way, sniffing the air around. I smelt it too. That familiar scent she carried, but that wasn’t all.

Seth growled ferociously when he stopped on a particular spot, and I frowned when I saw it too. There, snagged on a broken branch was a scrap of white linen. I plucked it free.

“Blood.” Seth suddenly said, and my eyes went to the ground again.

I gripped the fabric tight and cursed under my breath.
“Her blood,” Seth said again as if I hadn’t gotten it the first time. Were we too late?

The air felt colder.

“We need to go back, now.” I forced myself to look away from the blood and back at Seth.

“No.” 

“I’m not asking, Seth. Let’s fucking go. Now.”

Silence stretched between the both of us for a long moment, and a trickle of sweat slid down my temple.

“I mean it, Seth.” I lowered my voice, careful not to startle the man. He was still young, inexperienced in the ways of this world. And honestly? I could understand, because if it had been another time, perhaps when I was much younger and my blood was constantly boiling, I would have encouraged the idea of following the trail to find Crystal. But these past few years have sharpened my senses so much so that I knew when to take a step back.

“I know you want to keep searching for Crystal; I do too,” I said finally, my hands curling into fists at my side before releasing again. But if we run off half-cocked, we’re going to walk straight into whatever is out there. And then who’s going to get her back?”

Hopefully my words reached him, but the way his eyes burned bright, fighting to stay human, told another story. And for a heartbeat I thought the beast would tear free right here, and I’d have to fight him too. But his jaw tightened, knuckles white at his sides, and he nodded once.

“Good.”I tucked the scrap of linen into my pocket and turned back toward the path the blades had cut. “Let’s get back to the others.”

A/N: This author took a month break to recover.