Chapter 50 Chapter fifty
Sylvia’s breath hitched. He dropped his gaze to the floor tiles, where moonlight flickered around their feet.
Sylvia blinked at him, his expression steady and wide-eyed, as though bewildered by the very question he’d asked.
“What do you mean, Claus?” he whispered, pressed his fingers against his temples.
Claus studied Sylvia face closely. Too closely. Sylvia’s lashes fluttered a beat too fast, his brows were knitted tightly.
He asked again, slower this time, voice deliberately calm.
“Why did Ellie hit you, Sylvia?”
Sylvia wet his lips. “Claus, I… I don’t know. Truly.” He let out a shaky breath and touched his forehead. “She just held her stomach suddenly, and I thought she was in pain. That’s why I went to her. Maybe she misunderstood? Maybe she panicked?” he shrugged helplessly.
A lie. Claus knew it. Something in the way his eyes flickered left and right. Sylvia was rarely compose when he wasn’t telling the truth.
At the other hand, Sylvia was wondering why his brother was asking this question again in the middle of the night. He thought they have gone past it yesterday. One thing he know about his brother is jealousy. He don't share his thing with others.
“Hm,” he murmured, his eyes dropping to the floor briefly. “If you say so.”
Sylvia shoulders slackened, relief slipping through his features quickly. He had did well by hiding every hint of nervousness.
“Let’s go inside, It will be morning soon” Sylvia said simply, pointing to the sky.
But Claus felt heavy. A weight settled in his chest, spreading, tightening. Sylvia’s words didn’t soothe him. They wrapped around his mind like smoke, transparent and impossible to grasp. The more he thought about Ellie’s reaction, the fear on her eyes when she saw him, the more something inside him tugged, insisting he was being kept in the dark.
And he hate being keep in the dark. It make him feel naive.
Even when he laid beside Ellie in the bed, the unease clung to him. She curl up beside him in the bed, her breathing was shallow and even.
Sleep still refused to come. He continue staring at the ceiling.
The next day, there was a loud murmuring and wailing in the pack. The entire pack was shook to it core.
The pack healer, Cyprus has gone missing. She had vanished without no note. No trace. No scent trail.
Claus heard the gasps and murmurs before the soldier even finished delivering the report. Ellie shot up from her seat, clutching her robe tight around herself.
“What do you mean she’s missing?” she demanded. “People don’t just disappear in the middle of the pack!”
Claus remained still for a long moment, forcing his thoughts to steady. “When was she last seen?”
“Last night,” the soldier said. “She left the infirmary. She told an apprentice she needed to review some herbs at home.”
“And she never arrived?” Claus pressed.
The soldier shook his head. “No, Alpha.”
Ellie paced restlessly, her fingers knotting and unknotting her belt. “The healer doesn’t leave the pack grounds without telling someone,” she muttered. “This makes no sense.”
Cyprus wasn't just a healer to her, she was friend and sister she never had. and now she's missing today. What is even going on around the pack from one calamity to the other.
Panic rippled through the pack like a gust of winter wind. People whispered in clusters, others arguing, some already assuming the worst.
“She must be dead.”
“She was the only one who knew how to treat the poisonous water…”
“No healer means no protection. Someone planned this!”
Claus raised a hand, silencing their fear as best as he could. He instructed the soldiers to search all territories. The forests, rivers, the healer’s gardens, every trail leading out of the pack.
“Find her,” he ordered. “Leave no stone unturned.”
"Yes Alpha." The soldiers roared before sprinting out to carry out the assignment.
As everyone scattered to obey, he turned to her. “I will search her home,” he said.
"I'm coming with you," Ellie said standing up from the throne.
He declined "No, it could be dangerous out there. I will make sure to bring Cyprus back home safely."
He know how much is wife care about Cyprus. She wasn't just a healer, she was like a family, she's Ellie's best friend and safe heaven.
Nodding her head "okay," Ellie agreed hesitating. She returns to her seat.
Claus follow her from behind, he peck her on the forehead, and caress her shoulder gently before leaving.
The healer’s home sat at the end of a the pack, a simple stone cottage. The place smelled faintly of mint and smoke, as if someone had recently burned cleansing incense.
Claus pushed open the door. It wasn’t locked.
That was odd enough.
The inside was neat. He walked through slowly, scanning shelves, corners, furniture. Nothing was out of place. Nothing looked disturbed. No signs of a struggle, no scent of fear or blood.
If anything, the absence of disorder felt like a clue itself.
Claus moved to the long cedar desk where the healer often wrote her records. Stacks of parchment were arranged in perfect lines. Jars of ink sealed. Quills sharpened and placed precisely beside paper.
He started flipping through the documents.
Herb inventories. Patient treatments. Ritual notes. Nothing unusual.
Then he reached the medical records.
His fingers slowed.
Something felt off even before he read a single line. The cover page was recently replaced, newer parchment threaded into older sheets. The ink on the first few entries gleamed slightly dried recently but not old enough to belong to the past week.