Chapter 15

Chapter 15
Selene’s POV

The Fae folk arrived a little before sunrise, and I was still half asleep in my bed in the packhouse when the sudden clang of alarm bells began ringing through the packhouse. The sound was loud enough to shake me completely awake, as it was only used for emergency purposes. It had rattled the windows and doors so hard that I jumped out of bed, barely catching my balance, and rushed straight toward the window to pull back the curtains to see what was happening.

I had thought there was a fire or maybe we were being attacked, but it seemed to be the latter. Several dark, winged figures were already soaring high above our pack and were circling the treetops like birds of prey. Within seconds, hundreds more appeared against the grey morning sky.

Fae.

Hundreds of them were descending along our borders, and my heart immediately began pounding against my chest.

Violetta had literally come here, acting like she was working with us. She had even confessed what she swore she’d never tell anyone to Lyra and we had agreed we’d come up with a better plan after she discussed it with her council.

So why were they here, looking like they were looking for war?

I threw on the first tunic and pants I could find on the chair, pulled on my shoes, and ran down the stairs as fast as I could. By the time I pushed through the side doors and reached the courtyard, Lyra was already standing at the front line with Kade by her side, while Silas, Qamar, and several armed pack guards took defensive positions behind them.

“What is happening?” I asked breathlessly as I reached Lyra’s side, my eyes darting toward the sky where the winged warriors hovered.

Lyra looked at me. “The Fae are demanding Violetta.”

My stomach dropped. “What? I thought she left yesterday?”

“She did. And for some reason, they want her brought to them immediately,” Lyra explained, her hands clenched at her sides. I could tell she was extremely angry by their sudden hostile presence.

“Why?” I demanded, confusion and panic rising in my chest at once. “Why would they come here for her?”

Lyra’s expression grew even more grim as she kept her gaze on them. “They’re accusing her of betraying their kingdom, and they believe she fled here to seek refuge with us.”

I stared up toward the clouds, my mind spinning into overdrive.

She could have been here. Violetta knew our lands better than almost anyone, and she knew this was the one place she could come if she had nowhere else to go and needed help. And yet, when I looked around the yard, there was no sign of her magic, no scent on the wind, and no indication that she had even crossed our borders.

“Tell them she’s not here,” Lyra ordered, glancing back at our guards with a nod.

Just then, the wind whipped violently across the courtyard as one of the fae commanders descended from above, landing on the ground right in front of us.

“Alpha Lyra,” the soldier said.

Lyra stepped forward, refusing to back down an inch as she met his gaze. He was trying to intimidate her, but if there was one thing I’d learned about Lyra, she was not someone you could intimidate. After everything she’s been through…

“You know why we’re here.”

“I do,” she replied smoothly. “You sent a letter which we responded to before you showed up here. Which means you all were lurking around instead of staying in your lands and waiting for a response.”

“We demand that Queen Violetta be surrendered to us without delay,” the commander said, resting a hand on the hilt of his drawn blade.

“She isn’t here,” Lyra told him plainly.

The fae’s eyes narrowed into slits as he looked past her toward the packhouse. “You expect us to believe that? We know she has allies here who would hide her.”

“She has friends here,” Lyra corrected. “That doesn’t mean she is here, and you have no right to make demands on our soil.”

“Then where is she?” he snapped.

Lyra’s face turned cold. “Even if I knew, I’d not tell you insolent lot.”

The fae stared at her for several long seconds, measuring the pack’s strength before he finally stepped back and raised his hand to signal his troops. “This will not end here, Alpha.”

“I know,” Lyra replied. “But I would warn you against being stupid. You may think you have magic and an advantage, but you forget that a hundred of you are not a match for me.”

He harrumphed like that and with a snap of his wings, he launched back into the air and joined the formation as they began turning away toward the mountains. I watched them disappear into the early morning mist, my hands shaking uncontrollably at my sides.

She wasn’t in the fae lands, but she also wasn’t in the pack. But the problem was that she had nowhere else to turn in this entire realm, and yet she hadn’t come to us.

Again.

I turned toward Lyra, the frustration boiling up in my throat until I couldn’t hold it back anymore. “Why didn’t she come here?”

Lyra let out a sigh, running a tired hand over her face. “Selene…”

“No,” I said. “She knew we would help her. She knew we would protect her from them. Why are they even after her? She wouldn’t betray her pack.”

“I am not sure why they are demanding for her head,” she admitted. “But as for why she didn’t come back here, she probably didn’t want to put our entire pack in danger by bringing her council’s army to our door,” Lyra explained gently.

“That’s bullshit, Lyra,” I spat, crossing my arms.

Lyra frowned, taking a step toward me. “Selene, please.”

“She would rather disappear and let everyone think she’s dead than ask for help,” I said. “She always does that. She always decides what everyone else can handle without actually asking them, cutting people off so she can carry the burden alone. God it’s so frustrating when people do this.”

Lyra stepped closer, resting a hand on my shoulder. “You can’t keep sacrificing your life and tearing yourself apart every time someone you love makes a bad decision. I know how hard you love people Selene… I mean the things you’ve done for me I can never repay but still.”

I looked straight into her eyes. “This isn’t about me sacrificing anything.”

“It is,” Lyra said softly. “You are already thinking about going after her.”

I didn’t answer her, because deep down, I knew she was right.

“I know Violetta,” I said quietly, looking down at my foot. Truth was, right now I wasn’t really sure I knew her. I mean she had abandoned me for four years with some stupid excuse.

Lyra’s expression softened with sympathy. “If she had nowhere else to go, where would she go, Selene?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she would come near here, but she wouldn’t enter the pack borders.”

“Then she hasn’t reached us yet,” Lyra pointed out.

“Then maybe she’s hiding somewhere close,” I said. “I could—”

Lyra’s brow furrowed with concern. “Selene, don’t—”

“I need to find her, Lyra,” I said, pulling away from her touch.

“You don’t even know where to start looking in a forest that vast,” she warned.

I stared into the distance where the morning light was finally breaking over the hills. Maybe I didn’t have a map, and maybe I didn’t have a plan, but even though she had become a stranger in those four years, I still knew Violetta better than anyone else alive, and that had to count for something.