Chapter 142
ACHILLES.
To say that I’m surprised would be an understatement. My jaw quite literally landed on the floor. It just feels so random but at the same time, it feels like it’s been laid out long before I even got here.
I look at Claudia and it’s like she’s seen a ghost. All the enthusiasm has been sucked out of her and now, she just looks like a ghost standing next to me. I wrap an arm around her as a way to assure her, but I don’t think it did anything. I don’t think it helped at all, because she just continues to stare into the distance.
I admit that I don’t know them all that well. I just know that Ruth and Henry both refused to come with Claudia when she needed them the most. Nana is the one who blamed her for the death of Max. That’s the extent of my knowledge about them, and I have to say that it’s not really helping me form a proper welcoming mood.
Carlos seems to have felt that too, because he shifts in his spot. “So… um, what do I do?”
The honest answer is that I don’t know. I have no clue what to do. A big part of me wants to kick them out and never let them in because of what they did to Claudia, but another part of me wants to hear them out. If they had to come all this way just to go here, then it must be something big, right?
Or they might be here for a purpose. Working for Tristan.
Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but I can’t help but be afraid. I need to make sure that I won’t lose anything or anyone if I do decide to let them in.
“It’s okay,” Claudia says as though reading my mind. “It would be okay to let them in, that is if you want to. Ruth is my cousin and Henry is her husband. And you know Nana, of course. She’s the one who told me about who I am, though. She’s the first one who discovered that I’m a Siren Wolf.”
I freeze in my spot. Did she just say what I think she said?
Nana is the first one to discover her identity. Didn’t the Moon Goddess say something about that? The key being in the mountain of rebirth, and the one who first saw Claudia for what she is….
Maybe I was right when I felt like this was meant to happen. This might just be what I need. Nana might just be who I need to crack this case wide open.
“Let them in,” I tell Carlos, who immediately nods and gets to work. I then turn to Claudia who’s staring at the door like she’s scared. I know that she might be. The three of them didn’t really do a great job making her feel great, and didn’t help her ease her grief at all, especially since they all indirectly blamed her for the death of Max. I know she’s thinking about it right now. I hold her hand. “You don’t have to be here if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t want to,” she says with a little nervous laugh. “You’re right about that. I don’t think I’m ready. I just remembered how hurt, when they all decided to abandon me. I don’t think I would have anything good to say if I were with you, so I will let you handle them.”
“I understand,” I say, pressing a kiss on her forehead. “I will let you go to Aristea. We will meet later and tell each other what went on. For now, I have to face them.”
* * *
The awkwardness in the drawing room is one for the books. We’re all sitting in the drawing room now, facing each other, and it feels like there’s an invisible wall between us. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not angry or anything. The three of them look weathered and grimy and hungry, and I feel really bad for them. However, even though I had one of the maids prepare a small feast for them, they’re not even touching it. I don’t think they’re even looking at me right now.
Carlos is sitting right beside me. We exchange glances and he gives me a nudge, like he’s urging me to break the ice.
So I sigh and say, “So… what is it that you need from us, exactly?”
Ruth looks up, her eyes flitting around the room. “Um, I know that it might be standard protocol, but would it be okay to at least keep the guards out? Or at least, not have so many of them in the room?”
I freeze. Okay, I realize my mistake now. I have called so many guards inside just in case things go awry, but now I feel like it’s no threat. I motion most of them to leave, leaving only about three of them by the door.
And just like that, the tension seems to ease.
“Thank you for that,” Henry says to me. “We are grateful for your audience. We are happy that you managed to entertain us at all.”
With that, to my surprise, they all stand and suddenly sink to their knees to bow to me. Even the old lady who seems to be older than Aristea. I get worried about her because she starts to shake in her spot as though the position is hard for her to do, so I reach out and pull her upright.
“There is no need for any of that,” I say, watching them sit back down. “I just need to know what else you need apart from shelter. Also why you need that in the first place when all of you were just happy to go before.”
The three of them look at each other.
“We came from the Hollow Peak village,” Henry says. “We were planning to stay there for a long time since nothing ever happened there and the people seemed far removed from the war, but we were wrong. After a couple of weeks, we started to starve.”
“But I send supplies to every village every week,” I say, frowning. “That should not be possible.”
“It shouldn’t be, you are right,” Ruth says. “And that is because our supplies get stolen. Random men come there to the pack and steal our food and water and medicine. Soon enough, when they come, our population dwindles too.”
Carlos leans closer to them. “What do you mean?”
“More and more people get lost,” Ruth continues. “More and more people don’t come back. We started to wonder and investigate. We were afraid of the thieves at first, but Henry and I decided to follow them one night just to see where they were taking the people and the supplies. And we did see it at last.”
My heart starts to beat faster. “What did you see?”
“They take it up the mountain, where so many other men live.” Henry’s eyes are wide with fear like he’s still there at the spot where they saw everything happen. “There’s just so many of them there. They take those people from other villages too. They keep them in the caves, in captivity, no matter how much they scream for help. And the only thing they feed them is this liquid. They give it to the people in batches.”
“And what happens to them?” I ask in a low voice.
“The men become Rogues. There’s someone out there who turns them into Rogues.”