Chapter 126 You Are Already Dying
Even though her eyes were open and the screaming had stopped, the twins were completely hysterical. The primal, elemental bond tying them to Leela had broadcasted every terrifying second of her agony directly into their tiny chests. Seeing her pale face from the doorway wasn't enough to break the sheer panic gripping them. To their frantic little minds, the mother who was their entire universe had just been swallowed by the dark, and they demanded absolute, physical proof that she was still breathing. They thrashed and wailed violently in Ginny’s arms, their little faces red and tear-soaked, practically throwing their heavy bodies out of her hold as they reached their chubby hands desperately toward the floor.
Ginny didn't hesitate. Her own heart was breaking at the sound of their ragged shrieks. Ignoring the heavily armed, kneeling vanguards and the horrifying, strobe-lit cage holding the withered, dying husk of the High Councilor, she practically sprinted across the study, determined to bridge the gap.
Fennigan shifted his massive frame, his hands incredibly gentle but firm as he gripped Leela’s waist and shoulders. He carefully helped her sit up, propping her exhausted, trembling back against the sturdy oak of the bookshelves. He stayed right behind her, kneeling close, turning his own broad chest into a physical wall to support her drained body so she could receive her pups.
Ginny dropped to her knees on the hardwood and immediately lowered the frantic, flailing toddlers into Leela's lap.
The reaction was instantaneous.
The exact millisecond their little bodies made physical contact with Leela, the terrifying, ear-splitting wails simply cut off. It was as if a switch had been flipped. The absolute panic completely dissolved, replaced instantly by breathless, wet, hiccuping sobs of sheer, overwhelming relief. Their mother was here. Her magic was battered, but she was alive.
Leela wrapped her shaking, weak arms around them, pulling them fiercely against her chest despite the lingering ache in her muscles. She situated them gently, resting one heavy, incredibly warm toddler on each of her legs, letting their living heat seep into her freezing bones.
Driven by a pure, unadulterated instinct for comfort and survival, the twins immediately burrowed into her like tiny wolves seeking the absolute safest part of the den. Caspian pressed his tear-streaked face hard against her chest. Desperate for the undeniable proof of her pulse, he blindly shoved his little arm up under the hem of her shirt, forcing his hand deep into the warm, safe space of her armpit. He needed to feel her bare skin, to smell her raw, unfiltered scent without the taint of the necrotic clay or the battle. With his fingers pressed directly against her pulse and his mother's steady heartbeat thumping against his ear, he shoved his other tiny fist into his mouth, sucking aggressively to self-soothe the last of his terror away.
On Leela's other leg, Briar mirrored her brother exactly. She tucked her own little arm firmly under Leela's shirt, seeking that same undeniable, grounding warmth of her mother's bare skin, and popped her fist into her mouth. Her terrified, high-pitched whimpers finally melted away into soft, exhausted sighs.
Leela bowed her head over them, burying her face deeply in their soft, messy curls. She breathed in the scent of baby shampoo and pure, untainted innocence. Their solid, living weight on her lap acted as the ultimate anchor, completely severing the last lingering, icy threads of the Whisper Wind's dark void. She was impossibly weak, the magical exhaustion sinking deep into her marrow, but she was entirely, perfectly grounded.
Fennigan wrapped his massive arms tightly around all three of them, burying his face in the crook of Leela’s neck, his broad shoulders sheltering them from the rest of the room. He didn't care that the Elder Council was watching, or that a surrendered enemy vanguard was kneeling just feet away in his study. His pack—his entire world—was sitting on the floor in his arms, alive, whole, and breathing.
Across the room, the raw beacon stone finally gave a sharp, blinding final pulse before going dormant. The terrifying, spectral projections of the cages and the children vanished into thin air.
The study was plunged abruptly back into stark, undeniable reality. The heavy silence of the room was broken only by the crackle of the fireplace, the soft, wet hiccups of the twins, and the ragged, shallow, dying gasps of High Councilor Vane trapped inside the glowing cage of moon-salt.Elder Veda broke the heavy, ringing silence of the study.
The rhythmic thwack, thwack of her gnarled walking stick echoed sharply against the hardwood as she stepped forward, entirely ignoring the heavily armed vanguard guards kneeling in surrender on the floor. She walked right up to the very edge of the glowing moon-salt cage.
Inside, High Councilor Vane was completely unrecognizable. Stripped of the centuries of stolen magic that had kept him young and imposing, he was reduced to a shriveled, skeletal husk. He lay curled on the antique rug, his pale, thin skin stretched tight over brittle bones, gasping raggedly for air that his failing lungs could no longer hold.
Veda looked down at him, her milky eyes completely devoid of pity.
"For centuries," Veda rasped, her ancient voice echoing with the absolute, unyielding weight of the Matriarch. "We have stood by. We have watched and waited, trying to find the reasoning for the Earth and the Moon Goddess to allow you to hide behind your political loopholes."
She planted her cane heavily on the floor, her lip curling in deep, visceral disgust.
"And to finally find out the truth," Veda continued, her voice dropping to a lethal hiss. "To find out it wasn't rogue packs or other Alphas seeking dominance that destroyed the Elementals. It was you. It was always you, butchering our sacred children in your insatiable search for power and greed."
Inside the cage, Vane gave a wet, rattling wheeze. He couldn't even lift his head to look at her.
Veda tilted her head, listening to the frail, pathetic rhythm drumming in his chest.
"You are already dying," Veda stated coldly, the absolute certainty in her voice ringing like a tolling bell. "We can all hear your heart slowing to a stop."
A dark, merciless shadow crossed the old Matriarch's face. She leaned closer to the silver light of the barrier, looking at the agonizing, withered state of the monster who had terrorized their world for generations.
"And it is a pity, too," Veda whispered, delivering her final, brutal judgment. "Because the way you look at this exact moment... to live forever like this would have been so exquisitely painful for you."
Behind her, Leela kept her head bowed over Caspian and Briar, their tiny fists still securely tucked under her shirt against her bare skin. Fennigan tightened his protective hold around his family, his golden Alpha eyes watching the High Councilor draw his final, rattling breaths.