CHAPTER 65: THE POISONED TRUTH

CIAN

I grabbed a wet wipe from the nightstand and knelt back down beside the broken frame. The blood had already started to dry on Madeline’s face in the photograph. A dark red streak across her cheek that made my stomach turn.

I pressed the wipe against the picture carefully. The blood came away in small patches, brown now instead of red. I wiped again, gentler this time, trying not to press too hard. But the more I cleaned, the worse it got. The blood began to smudge across her face. It blurred her features. Her smile started to fade under the brown stain spreading across the photo.

So I stopped.

My hand hovered over the picture. I stared at what I’d done. At the way Madeline’s face looked now. Distorted. Ruined in a different way than before.

I tried not to think about Fia as I set the wipe down and sat back on my heels.

You know how stubborn she can be.My wolf’s voice drifted through my mind. Low and knowing. Like it had been waiting for the right moment to speak.

I sighed and rubbed my face with my clean hand.

"I fucking know."

How will you make it up to her then? he asked. You know practically nothing about her.

I stood up fast. Too fast. The movement made my head spin for half a second before I steadied myself.

"Goddess, do you ever shut up?"

It didn’t answer. It didn’t need to. We both knew he was right.

I looked down at the picture again. At Madeline’s smudged face staring up at me from the broken frame. Then I looked toward the door where Fia had disappeared through just minutes ago.

"I do know she appreciates honesty," I said. My voice came out quieter than I meant it to. "So I’ll apologize. Honestly."

And if she asks about Mads, you’ll tell her?

My jaw tightened. I didn’t want to answer that. Didn’t even want to think about what I would say if Fia asked who Madeline was. What she meant to me. Why I’d reacted the way I did.

The silence stretched between me and my wolf.

"She has parts of her life she’ll never tell me," I said finally. "I don’t have to tell her everything about mine."

If you shield from her, she’ll be able to tell. It’s voice was firm now. Not asking. It was more like it was just stating. She’ll most likely feel you’re hiding something from her. That’s far from honest.

I ignored it. I bent down and picked up the frame. The glass was still jagged around the edges. I held it carefully and walked to the drawer where I’d kept it. I placed it back inside. Face down as always. So I wouldn’t have to look at it. So no one else would either.

Out of sight. Out of mind.

I closed the drawer harder than I needed to.

Then I turned and walked to the door. I opened it and called out to the nearest sentinel in the hallway.

"Get an Omega in here to clean this mess."

The sentinel nodded and disappeared down the corridor.

I shut the door and headed toward the bathroom. My hand had stopped bleeding but the dried blood still clung to my palm. Brown now. Flaking at the edges.

I turned on the tap and shoved my hand under the water. The blood washed away in thin streams. Pink at first. Then clear. The wound was already gone. Healed over like it had never been there at all.

I reached for the shower knobs next and twisted them on. Steam began to rise as the water warmed. I pushed off my clothes one piece at a time and let them fall to the tiles. When the temperature felt right, I stepped under the spray and let the heat sink into my skin.

I grabbed the soap and scrubbed. Hard enough that my skin turned red.

I tried not to think about the dream. About the way Fia had looked in it. About the way her voice had sounded in my ear. About the way my body had responded.

Again... Out of sight. Out of mind.

I scrubbed harder.

When my hands were clean, I dried them and walked back into the bedroom. The Omega had already arrived. She was on her knees near the broken glass, carefully picking up the pieces and placing them into a small bag.

"Good morning, Alpha," she said without looking up.

I didn’t respond. I just pointed at the blood stain on the carpet near where the frame had fallen.

She nodded and got to work immediately.

I moved to the wardrobe and pulled out a clean shirt. I buttoned it quickly and reached for my tie. My fingers fumbled with the knot. I couldn’t focus. My mind kept drifting back to Fia. To the look on her face when I’d shouted at her. To the way she’d flinched.

I pulled the tie tighter.

And that was when the door burst open.

Two sentinels stood in the doorway. Their faces were pale. Their breathing was uneven, like they had been running.

My brows pulled together. "You do not knock anymore?"

They both flinched. One stepped forward. "Forgive us, Alpha Cian. Elder Healer Thorne sent us. It has been discovered that someone is poisoning the Grand Luna."

The words hit me like a fist to the chest.

I froze. My hands still on my tie. My mind trying to catch up with what I’d just heard.

"What?"

My voice came out low.

"Someone has been poisoning the Grand Luna," the sentinel repeated. "Elder Thorne requests your presence immediately."

I saw red.

The tie slipped from my fingers. I didn’t bother fixing it. I just moved. Fast. Out the door. Down the hallway. The sentinels struggled to keep up.

My mother’s chambers weren’t far but the distance felt endless. My boots pounded against the stone floor. My heart hammered in my chest. My mind raced through a dozen scenarios. Each one worse than the last.

I reached the doors and slammed them open with both hands.

The room came into focus all at once.

Thorne was standing near the center. His face was pale. His hands were shaking.

And Fia.

Fia was kneeling on the floor. She was holding my mother. Her arms were wrapped around her shoulders. Her hands were steady. She had a wet rag in one hand and she was pressing it against my mother’s neck. My mother’s face looked damp. Her skin was red and inflamed from another flare up but Fia didn’t pull away. She didn’t hesitate. She held her like she didn’t care about the rot at all.

My chest tightened. Because while I was horrified for her, my mother took precedence first and she did have gloves on.

"What happened?" I asked.

Thorne stepped forward. His voice was shaking when he spoke.

"There was poison in the medicine. Someone has been poisoning the Grand Luna."

"Who?"

"We don’t know for certain," Thorne said. "But I believe it has to be Alpha Gabriel. He must be using someone on the inside. An Omega or Sentinel."

Gabriel.

The name burned in my mind. My uncle. My father’s younger brother. The one who’d left Skollrend in anger when the council chose me over him.

I didn’t respond. I just moved.

I crossed the room in three strides and dropped to my knees beside my mother. My hand hovered over her shoulder for half a second before I touched her. Gently. Like she might break if I pressed too hard.

"Mum."

Her eyes fluttered open. Just barely. She looked up at me. Her lips moved but no sound came out at first.

"Cian."

"I’m here."

She reached up. Her hand found mine. Her grip was weak but it was there.

"Don’t let them win," she whispered.

"I won’t."

Her eyes closed again. Her hand went limp in mine.

I looked at Fia. Her face stayed calm but her eyes were too sharp for this to be luck. She was studying my mother like she was reading something hidden beneath the skin. I did not need a mate bond to understand she had a hand in this discovery. She had a history in healing. She had proved it the day she mixed something together in seconds to pull me out of the Mourning Moon poison. Seeing her made everything click into place.

"Is she going to be okay?"

My heart broke when she said it.

"I don’t know."

The words hung in the air.

I heard movement behind me. Footsteps. The sound of equipment being dragged across the floor.

I turned my head.

Four sentinels entered the room. They were wearing full hazmat suits. Gloves. Masks. Face shields. They carried a stretcher between them.

Fia stood up fast.

"She doesn’t have the rot," she said. Her voice was firm. "It was the poison in her system. She doesn’t have to be treated like she’s diseased."

I looked at her. Really looked at her. At the certainty in her eyes. At the way she stood between my mother and the sentinels like she was ready to fight them if she had to.

I stood and turned to the sentinels.

"Hold."

They stopped immediately.

I walked toward Fia. I stopped just in front of her. Close enough that I could see the flecks of brown in her dark eyes.

"What makes you so certain?" I asked.

"She was misdiagnosed," Fia said. "Whenever you believed she had the rot was the moment she started getting poisoned."

I stared at her.

"Whoever did this has healer expertise," she continued. "Or at least some knowledge of poison. They knew the effect they wanted and they made it happen."

I believed her.

I didn’t know why. Maybe it was the way she spoke. Maybe it was the way she’d held my mother without fear. Maybe it was something deeper than that. Something I didn’t want to name.

I turned back to the sentinels.

"Lose the fucking hazmat suit."

They hesitated.

"Did I fucking stutter?"

They moved immediately. The suits came off in seconds. They set the stretcher down and carefully lifted my mother onto it. Fia stepped back but she didn’t take her eyes off them. Like she was making sure they handled her gently.

I looked at the two sentinels who had brought me the news.

"Lock down Skollrend," I said. My voice was cold. "Bring to me every Omega and sentinel that was charged to take care of my mother since the start of her disease. I want to investigate them myself."

They nodded and disappeared through the door.

I watched them go. Then I looked back at my mother. At the way her chest rose and fell. Shallow but steady.

She was alive.

For now, that was enough.