To Live Among Wolves (Legends of Arcadia Book 1)

Chapter 41

I closed my eyes, feeling foolish as I stood under the rippling sky next to the ruins.

Talk to Lycaon. He said that He would be with you.

“Where is Eden?” I asked aloud.

The air around me rumbled with thunder.

I opened my eyes. “Lycaon, where is Eden?”

The clouds above opened, rain starting slow and picking up to a torrential downpour.

“Lycaon!” I screamed, anger controlling my entire body, pulling it taut. “Speak to me! Show yourself!”

My throat felt raw and rough. My stomach turned.

“Sen aun atsta alla.”

A voice.

I pushed the wet hair out of my eyes, searching for the whisper in the storm. I hadn’t heard anyone approaching.

You cannot protect everyone.

“But I have to try!” I shouted, voice cracking. “Please.”

Wind picked up, shaking the tree branches in a wave of movement. It circled the ruins, faster and faster, whipping my hair around my ears.

“I don’t understand!”

The wind swirled up, ripping leaves free from their branches.

“Do you toy with me now in my hour of need?” I shouted at the gusts of wind.

Eddies of leaves whipped around me as I shielded my face.

Please. Panni.

If only I could speak to Lycaon. I would give anything, absolutely everything.

A torrent of leaves flew past me and the trees groaned, forging a path through a thick wood. The trees bent and creaked.

“Sen sun lo lukos kunan. Sen sun lo dumahn e lo feru.”

Wolf King, future of the wild.

“Thank you. Lycaon, thank you,” I whispered, throwing myself down the new trail that shouldn’t have existed.

The trees ended at the bank of the Great River, an eddy of leaves leading the way. The rolling water roared, attempting to escape its boundaries after the rain from the past two days. The gust of leaves stayed ten steps ahead, guiding me downstream.

I felt it when I crossed the boundary of Arcadia. The magic rippled, leaving me exposed and vulnerable.

The forest around me had been tinted in a deep green only moments ago, but now the deciduous trees held every shade of yellow, orange, red, and brown. A painter’s palette of autumn leaves littered the muddy river to my left.

I phased as I ran, struggling to keep up with the wind. The thought ripped a laugh from my lungs.

Like I could keep up with the wind.

I howled low, hoping it might carry its way back to someone at Arcadia.

Yes, I was king. Yes, I should have stayed behind and been more organized with my search. But Lycaon had shown me where to go. Eden had left Arcadia.

And Ransom had gone with her, along with the Elder and Aubrey.

What did she need with three Seers?

I didn’t want to admit how much it stung me. But her words—she had finally said she loved me, but what did I know? This whole time, maybe she had been waiting for the right moment to make her escape, to work her way out of this arranged marriage. Maybe she asked Ransom to guide her out. And how I acted now, bounding after her, wasn’t that the action of a lovesick fool?

My heart couldn’t take it.

If she rejects you, what will you tell your people?

Your family?

Your father?

Will it even matter come tomorrow?

The rain fell so hard now that it blinded me. I slowed to a stop, searching for the eddy of leaves or the wind to guide me to Eden.

I can’t lose her now.

Please.

A low howl downstream caught my attention.

Ransom.