Chapter 50 Rescued
CHAPTER 50: Rescued
Seraphine's POV
I couldn’t even form a word. My brain was short-circuiting. Was this another hallucination? A final, cruel trick my mind was playing before I kicked the bucket?
“Lyrin?” I croaked and it came out as a dry, pathetic whisper.
Her nose wrinkled.
“Stars above, you look terrible. And you smell worse.” She turned to the two massive Lycan soldiers who had appeared behind her. “Don’t just stand there gawking. Get these chains off her. Now.”
They moved instantly, obeying her without a second’s hesitation. The heavy cursed metal that had been biting into my wrists and ankles for what felt like a lifetime finally clattered to the ground. The relief was so intense it was almost a new kind of pain.
I tried to stand. Big mistake. My legs were made of wet noodles. I pitched forward, my head spinning wildly. But I didn’t hit the gross cave floor. Two sets of strong, steady hands caught me, holding me up.
“Easy there, girl,” one of the soldiers grunted, his voice surprisingly gentle.
“Don’t bother trying to speak yet,” Lyrin ordered, already striding back toward the cave entrance. “Just try not to fall on your face. Let’s go.”
Supported on either side, my feet barely touching the ground, I was half-carried out of that nightmare cave. The sunlight was blinding, and I flinched away from it. Lyrin pointed to a large, flat rock.
“Put her there.”
They sat me down, and the world kept tilting. One of the soldiers offered me a canteen. I grabbed it with trembling hands and brought it to my lips, gulping the cool, glorious water down like I was trying to drown myself from the inside.
Lyrin snatched the bottle away.
“Whoa! Slow down, you’ll make yourself sick. Sip it. Were you raised by wolves?” She paused, then smirked. “Oh, right. Sorry.”
I took a few shaky breaths, the water already working miracles. A tiny bit of strength trickled back into my limbs. And with it, a sudden, panicked thought.
“Lyrin,” I rasped, my voice still rough. “You have to go. Now. If Vespera… if Aric’s men find out you let me go…”
Lyrin frowned, her head tilting like a confused puppy.
“What in the moon’s name are you babbling about?”
“Aric’s orders,” I insisted, the memory of Vespera’s smug face flashing in my mind. “She said this was all on Aric’s command.”
Lyrin’s face went from confused to utterly furious in half a second.
“He what? That little...!” She cut herself off, letting out a string of curses that would make a pirate blush. “Seraphine, Aric has no idea you’re here! He’s been tearing the territory apart looking for you! He thinks you ran away or the Grimhowls got you!”
The world didn’t just tilt then; it flipped upside down and shook me like a snow globe. All the air left my lungs in a whoosh. It wasn’t him. He didn’t know. He was looking for me.
The weight that lifted from my chest was so immense I thought I might actually float away. He still loved me. He hadn’t done this.
A sob tried to escape, but it got stuck in my dry throat, coming out as a weird, choked hiccup.
“That conniving, backstabbing, venomous little viper,” Lyrin seethed, pacing in front of me. “I am going to personally pluck every single hair from her head. She is in so much trouble.”
“So… Aric doesn’t hate me?” I whispered, needing to hear it one more time.
Lyrin stopped pacing and looked at me like I’d just asked if the sky was blue.
“Hate you? The man is a walking disaster zone without you. It’s embarrassing to watch. Now come on, we’ve got to get you back to the pack. My brother needs to see you’re alive before he starts a war with a tree out of sheer frustration.”
The soldiers helped me to my feet. I was still wobbly, but the dizziness was fading. As we started moving through the forest, with Lyrin leading the way like a tiny, furious general, I finally found my voice.
“How… how did you find me?”
“Pure, dumb luck,” she said, not breaking her stride. “I was traveling with my escort to the northern border. I caught the faintest trace of your scent... buried under a mountain of nightshade, mind you. It was weird. So I decided to investigate. My soldiers here,” she jerked a thumb behind her, “thought I was crazy. But I told them, ‘That’s the future Luna’s scent, and it smells like trouble.’ And here we are.”
“Vespera’s men… they grabbed me in the market. They killed Kael…” I said, the memory of my guardian’s fall hitting me fresh.
“Nightshade,” Lyrin confirmed grimly. “She used a ton of it to mask your scent and the scene. It’s the only thing that could have thrown Aric off the trail. It’s a clever trick. I’ll give her that right before I rip her throat out.”
We walked a little further, and the trees began to thin. I could see a clearing up ahead where the rest of Lyrin’s escort was supposed to be waiting with her servants and luggage.
But something was wrong. It was too quiet.
Lyrin stopped dead, her body going taut. She held up a closed fist, and everyone froze.
We emerged into the clearing. It wasn’t a peaceful waiting party.
It was an ambush.
Vespera’s men were everywhere. And they had Lyrin’s servants... kind-faced maids and young attendants... held tightly, with knives and claws at their throats. Standing in the center of it all, looking unbearably pleased with himself, was Sardor.
“Well, well,” he drawled, a nasty smile spreading across his face. “Look what the cat dragged in. Or should I say, what the little pup dragged out.”
Lyrin erupted.
“Sardor, you slimy son of a fox! Let them go this instant or I will use your intestines for ribbon!”
He just chuckled.
“Such fire, little Lyrin. But I’d cool down if I were you.” He nodded toward a terrified maid, and the Lycan holding her pressed his claw deeper into her neck. A small trickle of blood ran down her skin. “Tell your soldiers to drop their weapons. Unless you want their blood on your hands.”
The soldiers holding me tensed, their eyes darting to Lyrin for orders. Lyrin was practically vibrating with rage, a low growl rumbling in her chest. I knew she was a second away from launching herself at him, consequences be damned.
“Lyrin, don’t,” I said, my voice stronger than I expected. I gently shrugged off the soldiers’ supporting hands, standing on my own two feet. It took everything I had. “Be calm. I’ve got this.”
Sardor threw his head back and laughed, a harsh, ugly sound.
“You? You’ve got this? Look at you! You can barely stand! What are you going to do, faint at me?”
He was laughing, his men were smirking, everyone’s attention was squarely on the seemingly weak, helpless human. It was the perfect distraction.
While everyone was watching Sardor mock me, my hand had been moving, slow and steady. My fingers had brushed against the hilt of a dagger tucked into the belt of the soldier who’d been holding my right side. He was too focused on the threat ahead to notice.
As Sardor’s laugh echoed loudest, I didn’t faint. I moved.
I pulled the dagger free and threw it in one fluid motion I didn’t even know I still had in me. It wasn’t aimed at Sardor’s heart. It was aimed at the arm of the thug holding the maid.
The blade sank deep into his bicep with a solid thunk.
He roared in pain and surprise, his grip loosening. The maid shrieked and dropped to the ground and all hell broke loose…