CHAPTER 66: THE BURDEN OF AN ALPHA

CIAN

The sentinels carried my mother out on the stretcher. I watched them disappear through the door. My chest felt tight. My hands wouldn’t stop clenching and unclenching at my sides.

I turned to Thorne.

He stood there. Silent. His face was pale. His hands were still shaking. He looked like he wanted to say something but the words wouldn’t come.

I took a step toward him.

"You are this pack’s healer," I said. My voice came out in a dangerous growl. "And you could not tell that my mother wasn’t affected by the rot but poison."

Thorne’s knees buckled. He dropped to the floor hard. The sound echoed through the chamber.

"I know," he said. His voice cracked. "I know I have failed you, Alpha."

"No."

He looked up at me. Confused.

"You didn’t just fail me," I said. Each word felt like it was being dragged out of my throat. "You and Maren’s incompetence would have killed my mother."

Thorne’s face went even paler. If that was possible.

I looked toward the door. Two sentinels were still standing there. Waiting.

"Are there guards around?" I asked.

One of them nodded and stepped out into the hallway. Seconds later, four more sentinels filed into the room. They stood at attention. Their eyes locked on me.

I looked back at Thorne.

"Arrest Elder Thorne," I said. "He could be an accomplice for all I know."

Thorne’s eyes went wide. He slammed his head against the floor. Once. Twice. The sound made me flinch.

"Please, Alpha Cian," he said. His voice was desperate. "I am loyal to you and only you. I swear it on my life. On my family. On everything I hold sacred."

I stared down at him. At the way his shoulders shook. At the blood starting to seep from where his forehead had hit the stone.

"The investigation and torture will bring the truth out," I said. "Whatever it is."

I nodded to the sentinels. They moved forward.

And that was when Fia stepped between them.

She didn’t hesitate. She just moved. Fast. Her body blocked their path to Thorne. Her hands were raised. Not in defense exactly. More like she was trying to calm the situation.

"I know I cannot begin to understand just what you might be feeling right now," she said to me. Her voice was steady. Calm. Like she was talking someone down from a ledge. "But I think arresting Thorne is a mistake."

I scoffed. "A mistake?"

"He is innocent," she said.

"And you know this, how?"

Fia didn’t back down. She looked me straight in the eye.

"Before today and the events that are just coming to light, you trusted Elder Thorne," she said. "And you trusted Maren."

I didn’t respond. Because she was right.

"If one of them was the culprit," she continued, "with the joint work they did on Luna Morrigan, the one who wasn’t privy would have figured the other out and exposed them."

I opened my mouth to argue but she kept going.

"And if they were indeed working together," she said, "Luna Morrigan would, forgive me for the lack of better word, she would already be dead."

The words hit me harder than I wanted to admit.

"Most were already convinced it was the rot," Fia said. "Even you. And you said it yourself that it was bordering on terminal. If she died even today before I revealed this, you wouldn’t have suspected a thing."

I clenched my jaw. My hands balled into fists at my sides.

I hated that she was right.

"But how could you figure it out when they couldn’t?" I asked. The question came out harsher than I meant it to.

I didn’t mean to hurt. But I had a traditional healer and a fucking pack doctor and they didn’t know what was going on?

Fia didn’t flinch.

"Elder Thorne is a great healer," she said. "But his methods are set in stone. And while Doctor Maren is a bit more contemporary, the reason why they probably misdiagnosed her is because the poison that was put in her medicine was a cocktail of three or more."

"Three or more," I repeated.

She nodded.

"They haven’t had a real life experience with the rot before," she said. "The smell of the rot is usually earthy. I had my suspicions when Luna Morrigan smelled more like copper."

I thought back to the times I’d been in my mother’s chambers. To the way the air had smelled. Metallic. Sharp. Not like what Fia was now telling me the rot was supposed to be like.

"And before that," Fia continued, "after dinner with your mother, you told me she was terminal. But that is not how a terminal wolf with the rot should look."

I stared at her.

"Even though I don’t know all the specifics," she said, "I know what happens when Nightshade and Hemlock root are put together."

"Go on."

"The hemlock root slows the heartbeat and drains strength," she said. "The nightshade twists the nerves and makes the skin mottled. Together, I can see why they could create patches that mimic the affliction marks of the Rot."

My mind raced. I tried to find a hole in her logic. Something I could use to argue. But there was nothing.

"And what if he is guilty?" I asked nonetheless. "What then?"

"I know he is not," she said.

"Maybe you just like seeing the best in people," I said. The words came out cold. Cruel. "It is how you were tricked into marrying me in the first place."

Her face didn’t change. But something flickered in her eyes. Something I couldn’t quite read because she was shielding now.

I knew it was cruel. But I needed her to see that she had a flaw. That blindly trusting people could get her hurt. Could get her killed.

"Just like you see the worst in people," she said. Her voice was quiet but firm. "Even supposed allies."

The words hit me like a punch to the gut.

I swallowed. My pride stung. My throat felt tight.

"I might be good at detecting poison," she said, "but Doctor Maren and Elder Thorne might be needed to make an antidote for the Grand Luna if the poison has already eaten her deep. Who would you trust if not them?"

I didn’t have an answer.

We stared at each other. The silence stretched. I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears. Could feel my wolf pacing in my chest. Restless. Uncertain.

She was right.

Goddess, she was right.

If I arrested Thorne now, I would lose one of the only people who could save my mother. And if Maren was innocent too, I would alienate the only two healers in Skollrend who had been working on her case.

My mother was sort of a secret. I didn’t want a lot of people to know what happened to her. So there was plenty of logic in the things that Fia had said.

But if I let Thorne go and he was guilty, I would look like a fool. I would look weak. It wouldn’t be lost on majority that I couldn’t protect my pack or my own mother.

The door burst open again.

Another sentinel rushed in. His face was flushed. His breathing was uneven.

"Alpha," he said. "We have gathered all ten of them."

I looked back at Thorne. He was still on his knees. Still staring at the floor. His forehead was bleeding. The blood dripped onto the stone in small drops.

I turned to Fia.

"I hope you are right," I said.

Then I looked at Thorne.

"Make sure my mother wakes up if you wish to keep your head."

Thorne’s head snapped up. His eyes were wide. Terrified. But he nodded.

"Yes, Alpha."

I looked at the sentinels who had moved to arrest him.

"Let him go," I said.

They stepped back immediately.

I walked past Fia without looking at her. I couldn’t. Because if I did, I would see that she had won. That she had made me question myself. That she had made me second guess my own judgment.

There was also the fact that I was horrible to her this morning.

And I couldn’t afford that right now.

I reached the door and stopped. I looked back over my shoulder. Just once.

Fia was still standing there. Her arms were crossed. Her expression was unreadable.

"I hope you are right," I said again.

Then I left.

The hallway outside was crowded with sentinels. They parted as I walked through. Their eyes followed me but no one spoke.

I followed the sentinel who had brought the news. He led me down three flights of stairs. Through a narrow corridor. Past the kitchens. Past the servants’ quarters.

We reached a large chamber near the base of the fortress. The door was open. I could see inside.

Ten people stood in a line. Six Omegas. Four sentinels. They were all wearing their uniforms. Their hands were clasped in front of them. Their heads were bowed.

They looked terrified.

Good.

I stepped inside. The door closed behind me with a heavy thud.

The room went silent.

I walked slowly down the line. My boots clicked against the stone. I stopped in front of the first Omega. A young woman. She couldn’t have been older than twenty. Her hands were shaking.

"Do you know why you are here?" I asked.

She nodded quickly.

"Yes, Alpha."

"Good."

I moved to the next one. A male sentinel. Older. His jaw was tight but his eyes were steady.

"How long have you been serving the Grand Luna?" I asked.

"Three months, Alpha."

"And in those three months, have you noticed anything unusual?"

"No, Alpha."

I studied his face. Looking for any sign of deception. Any flicker of guilt.

Nothing.

I moved on.

One by one, I questioned them. Their answers were all the same. They hadn’t noticed anything. They had only followed orders. They had been loyal.

I wanted to believe them.

But someone in this room was lying.

Someone had been poisoning my mother.

And I was going to find out who.

Even if I had to tear this entire fortress apart to do it.

"Get me heavy duty rubber gloves and a barrel of wolfsbane juice. Torture is now the way forward."