My heart was hers, served up on a silver platter.
Chapter 21
Elodie
Marciana was here. This was it. She’d take one look at me, see the traitorous thoughts that had been running through my mind basically nonstop, and boot me out of the order. Maiden no more, I’d be out on my ass.
I rarely panicked; they beat that out of you pretty quickly when you trained since your early teen years to be a warrior badass. Nonetheless, the closer we got to the castle, the tighter my chest got, the shorter my steps. It felt like walking to my own execution.
You have not betrayed your oath.
My wolf’s scolding tone nearly drew me up short.
I have in my mind.
She huffed, shaking out her coat as if I annoyed her.Your thoughts cannot betray an oath that you make with your blood and bones.
Okay, then. What the fuck was I supposed to say to that? Talking to your wolf side wasn’t in a shifter handbook somewhere. So I said nothing. I put one foot in front of the other, trailing the pack and trying not to feel like a child walking to the principal’s office for a lecture. Or, knowing Marciana, a paddling.
With a sword.
In a sparring ring.
Fuckity fuck fucking fuck.
But I was out of time to tie myself in mental knots, because we’d arrived back at the castle, darkness had truly fallen, and the head priestess stood on the backsteps, arms crossed over her blue robes as she stared down her nose at us. The light from inside limned her like one of the old saints, shining with the vengeful fury of the divine. Cristian began to politely ramble as he led her inside. He was ever hospitable, despite the fact that his castle had been burnt to a crisp and was a mere shadow of its former glory. You’d never know it from the steel in his spine.
Within minutes, we were led to the high alpha’s chambers, where a silver-adorned tea service waited, little buttery cookies and sandwiches on the side.
They made my mouth water, but I found myself edging backward toward the door just the same.
Never before had I wanted to turn tail and run quite as badly as I did right now. When it was just me and Galyna with the pack, I could pretend. I could act as if I weren’t making decisions that affected people by rolling the dice and waiting to see what happened.
But Marciana’s thousand-yard stare was sharp enough to strip paint, and more importantly, look right through all my crap to the real truth.
The truth I wasn’t ready to face.
So, as everyone began to snack and talk with the priestesses—Marciana had brought four others as her entourage—I slowly backed out of the room, into the blessedly empty hallway.
Goddess forgive me, I needed some space. I could do a lot of things, but I couldn’t look her in the eyes with suspicion in my heart and panic in my soul.
I made it out of the wing, into the knights’ hall full of blackened suits of armor, before it hit.
Searing pain consumed me, burning a hole through my abdomen so sharply, I whimpered as I crumpled against the nearest wall.
I cursed under my breath as I tried to get myself back under my own control, but the cramping wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t release its viselike grip on my body.
Soft, nearly inaudible footsteps in the hallway had me clamping my lips tightly shut around another whimper of pain. I was far too embarrassed to call for help, but in too much pain to move a muscle. My whole body had locked down under the internal assault. I just had to hope that whoever was walking this way was household staff, likely to scurry past me without a backward glance.
I was not that damn lucky.
“Elodie! What happened?” Valens was at my side in an instant, a muffled voice from the cell phone he dropped still audible as it clattered across the marble.
“Nothing, I’m fine. Just need a second.” I tried to give him a nonchalant wave and failed miserably as another cramp racked my middle, a hot flush searing across my skin.
“Are you hurt?”
“No,” I insisted through gritted teeth. It took every ounce of determination I possessed to force myself to stand straight instead of hunching over. “Totally fine.”
