Chapter 16

Chapter 16
Selene's POV

I went home later that morning, hoping to slip in quietly, but my parents were already waiting for me in the main parlour. My guess was that Lyra had told them I was coming home finally.

“Selene,” my mother called out the second I walked through the door, her hands folded neatly in her lap. “Are you finally ready to sit down and discuss the suitors from the neighbouring packs? There is this fine gentleman from RedClaw. A relative to Alpha Gayle and—”

“Not now, Mother,” I said, stopping dead in the doorway, staring at her with complete disbelief that she was bringing this up now of all times.

She frowned, standing up from her chair. “You cannot keep avoiding this conversation forever, Selene.”

“I said not right now,” I repeated, my patience wearing thin.

“Your father and I are only concerned about your future because—”

I didn’t wait to hear the rest of the lecture. I walked straight past her, ignoring the way she called my name up the staircase, and hurried into my bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind me.

For several minutes, I just stood in the room, leaning my back against the door until my breathing slowed down. Then, I crossed over to the back of my wardrobe and pushed aside a pile of old clothes, reaching for the small wooden chest hidden in the corner.

I hadn’t touched it in years, and dust already covered the lid. I wiped the dirt away with my sleeve and clicked open the brass clasp, looking inside at the remnants of a life I had tried to forget.

There were old letters folded neatly, a few pieces of silver jewellery, and small tokens from my youth that I had once considered important. And resting at the very bottom, wrapped in faded cloth, was the communication crystal ball.

I picked it up carefully, my chest aching as the cool glass touched my palm. This was how Violetta and I had once stayed in touch during the late hours when duties kept her in the fae realm and she couldn’t fly to me during the Great War the wolves had. I hadn’t touched it since the day Azythar’s dark magic had somehow severed the connection and now that he was gone with his dark magic, it was the only thread I had left. After all, the crystal was slightly glowing as opposed to the ashy grey it ended up turning to in that period.

Maybe it would work.

I placed the sphere on the table, staring down into its cloudy centre. “Please,” I whispered.

Nothing happened, the glass remaining the same colour.

I rested both hands against the crystal, pouring every ounce of focus into it. “Violetta, please answer me.”

Still, nothing answered.

I closed my eyes, bowing my head over the table as tears of frustration stung the corners of my eyelids. “Please, just let me know you’re alive.”

There was only silence, and I was just about to give up and put the orb back into the chest when a faint sound drifted through the room.

I froze instantly, holding my breath. At first, I thought it was only the wind outside or my imagination playing cruel tricks on me, but then the noise came through again.

Water rushing over rocks…

The distant roar of a waterfall. And the faint, sweet chirping of mountain birds echoing around.

I slowly opened my eyes, and my breath caught in my throat as I saw the crystal glowing brighter than before.

My heart started to pound with hope. “Violetta? Are you there?”

Still there was no spoken response. The only thing that I was able to hear was the sound of rushing water and the rustle of leaves in the background. I pulled the crystal closer, pressing my ear against it to listen harder, and the familiarity of the noise suddenly struck me.

I knew that exact sound because I had heard it dozens of times before.

Outside the Outbounds, along the rocky cliffs near one of our borders, there were several deep caves hidden behind a lot of bushes, and one of them had a waterfall running straight through its centre.

I set the crystal onto the bedside table, and as I did, my gaze landed on the carved wooden bird sitting right next to it. Looking at it hurt.

I grabbed a cloak from the hook of my closet and put it in a bag together with some daggers, then jumped out of the window to avoid my parents. One of our guards looked at me oddly but I gave him a glare which meant that he wasn’t to tell my parents a thing.

The cave was much farther than I remembered, and the journey took everything out of me as I had shifted into my wolf and ran the entire way through the rough mountain terrain. Tree branches scratched against my face and hind legs as I tore through the overgrown brush, and my breathing grew heavier and more ragged with every uphill step.

The distant roar of the waterfall grew louder with every passing minute, until I finally reached the narrow, shadowed entrance of the cavern. I shifted back immediately to my human form, the bag I had hung around my neck before shifting still there. After dressing and securing my daggers well within reach in case I was attacked, I stepped forward some more.

“Violetta?” I called out, leaning against the rock wall to catch my breath.

Nothing answered except the rush of the water inside.
I drew my blade and stepped past the hanging vines into the dim interior. The cavern was dark, cold, and smelled so much of moss, with water crashing violently into a basin deeper within the tunnels.

I moved forward carefully. “Violetta? It’s Selene, please answer me.”

Still, there was no voice, but as I rounded the first bend of the cave, my eyes caught something dark glistening in the dim light.

Blood.

A dark trail of fresh blood was smeared across the floor, leading deeper into the cavern, and my heart stopped dead in my chest.

“No, no, no,” I chanted under my breath, my panic reaching a breaking point as I followed the blood stains along the narrow path.

The trail wound past some stalagmites, and as I stepped into a wider chamber, I noticed soft feathers scattered across the damp ground.

Pure white feathers at first, stained with blood and then, further ahead there were deep black ones.

My breathing stopped completely, and I crouched down on trembling knees to pick up one of the torn feathers. I knew these feathers better than my own skin; I had touched them, smoothed them, and rested against them years ago, and my fingers began shaking so badly that the feather slipped from my grasp.

“No…” I whispered, my voice breaking into a terrified sob.
I forced myself to stand and moved around the final pillar of rock near the waterfall, and then my eyes landed on the horrific sight in the centre of the chamber.

Two massive, beautiful wings were lying abandoned in a wide pool of dark blood, severed cleanly at the bone and discarded against the floor.

My knees gave out completely, and I collapsed onto the cavern ground, staring at the bloody feathers in absolute horror as the breath was torn from my lungs.

They were Violetta’s wings.