Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
Over the last couple of days, time had completely lost its meaning. There were only two hours that really mattered in the village—when the sun rose and when it set again. The whole day rotated around those two points. Anything between them was either day or night. No further breakdown was needed.
At least that’s how it was as far as I was concerned.
For Kyre, the sky was easier to read. He could tell with a quick glance how many hours of daylight were left. And on our walk through the village tonight, I found he could do the same thing with the stars.
When I apologized to him for dragging him out of bed in the middle of the night, he told me there was no need to be sorry. There was only a little over an hour until sunrise anyway.
Even so, we were both still surprised to discover Calindra was already awake and out of bed when we arrived. Though judging by her wide eyes when she opened the door, she was just as surprised to see us.
“Kyre. Sophia,” she said, gesturing for us come inside. She sounded confused. Rattled even. “I was going to send for you at sunrise. How did you know to come?”
Kyre ignored her question and asked his own. “Why? What happened?”
“Thorn has returned.” Her eyes flickered from her son over to me and back again. Her frown deepened. “Though maybe it would be better if Kyre and I talked alone first.”
I appreciated that she was trying to spare my feelings, but it wasn’t necessary.
“It’s okay,” I told her. “I already know he didn’t find any trace of Felicity. Not dead or alive.”
I’d expected Calindra to be relieved she didn’t have to break the worrisome news to me herself, but the corners of her lips stayed down. “How did you know that?”
“Because I saw her.”
“Where?” Calindra demanded. “Here in the village? Outside the gate?”
I shook my head. “It’s complicated. Can we go somewhere to talk?”
“Follow me.” She led us through the sprawling house to the hall where I’d been introduced to her that first day.
But this time, she wasn’t alone. There were two alphas seated in high-backed chairs in front of the roaring fire. The moment we stepped inside the room, they both rose to their feet.
“You remember Thorn,” Calindra said, gesturing to the younger of the two alphas.
“Of course.” I nodded at him in greeting. “I’m glad to see you got home safe. And I’m sorry I ended up wasting your time.”
The alpha’s dark brows pulled together in confusion. “I don’t understand.”
“Sophia says she’s seen the other kirre,” Calindra explained.
“Where?” Thorn asked. “I searched everywhere within ten miles of the village. I couldn’t find a single track.”
“That’s because Felicity wasn’t actually here when I saw her,” I said. “We spoke in a dream.”
“A dream?”
The second man stepped forward. With gray streaks in his hair and lines under his eyes, he was clearly the oldest ferus in the room. Still, the energy and power he exuded were just as strong as any of the other alphas.
Though his wardrobe made it clear he wasn’t an ordinary ferus. Dressed in a long black robe that reached all the way down to the floor, he obviously held some special position in the pack.
“Sophia, allow me to introduce you to our pack’s Lore Keeper,” Calindra said.
Lore Keeper, eh?
I made a mental note to ask Hannah about that when I saw her next. Though between the title and the monkish robes, I could assume it was some sort of cleric. I could only hope a grand greeting wasn’t expected. The best I could do was toss him a little wave.
“Nice to meet you.”
The alpha inclined his head.
“I was hoping to speak with you earlier,” he said. “But every invitation I sent to your guardian’s door was denied.”
Was it?
“I’ve already explained this, Keeper,” Kyre said, sounding utterly unapologetic. “I’m not allowing anyone into the house to meet with Sophia. Not even my own mother. I’ve been tasked with keeping the kirre safe during her time with us, and I take that job seriously.”
“And you believe I am a risk to her safety?”
To my surprise, the Keeper didn’t sound offended, just curious. Very curious.
Not that Kyre sounded like he was backing down, either way.
“What I believe doesn’t matter,” he said. “The only thing that matters is her safety, and I will do anything to ensure it.”
“Interesting,” the Keeper mused before sliding his stony gaze back to me. “But you were telling us about a dream, kirre.”
“Uh, yeah.” I glanced over at Calindra. “Are you sure you don’t want me to talk to you about this in private first?”
She waved off my concern. “Unlike my son, everyone in this room has my absolute trust.”
Okay, then.
“This might sound strange, and I don’t know how it happened,” I started. “But tonight I spoke with Felicity in my dream.”
“You dreamed about her,” the Keeper said.
“No.” I shook my head, trying to come up with the words to make them understand. “I mean, yes, I was asleep, and I was dreaming, but this wasn’t some fantasy. It was actually her.”
“How can you be certain?” Calindra asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “You have to believe me. I just was.”
I let out a frustrated sigh, feeling myself floundering, but then Kyre squeezed my hand, and my sense of calm came back to me.
After a deep breath, I tried again.
“The thing is, Felicity is a very spontaneous person, and I’m not,” I explained. “So, before tonight, any time she showed up in a dream, it was a version of her that had been filtered through my brain. But not tonight. When we talked, she sounded like herself. Her real self.”
I breathed a sigh of relief as Calindra nodded in understanding. “Go on.”
So, I did.
I told her and the alphas about the cave. I explained how Lash had kept them off the valley floor to avoid tracking. Then I relayed what Felicity had said about Nelissa’s plans to draw warriors out of the village to go after Calindra.
I told them everything important.
And left out anything that had to do with me.
And once I was done, a heavy silence draped over the room.
After a long, thoughtful moment, Calindra looked over at Thorn. “Does how she described the cliffside ring true?”
“It does.” He nodded. “I know a ridge about twenty miles north of here that is riddled with small openings like she described. I’m guessing that’s where Lash took the other kirre.
It’s a slow and dangerous way to travel, even for someone as strong as him, but it’s also nearly impossible to track someone through. ”
“I see,” Calindra said. “But now that you have a starting point, do you think you’d be able to pick up their trail?”
“I believe so,” he said. “I can leave at first light.”
“No!” I shouted, my voice echoing off the stone walls. Every head snapped my way. “Felicity told me to stop looking for her. She’s afraid that any search would only lead Nelissa to her before she could get here.”
“She said she’s coming here?” Thorn asked. “To the village?”
I nodded. “In a few days. That’s all she would say.”
“But how?” the Keeper prodded. “I find it difficult to believe an alpha as ruthless as Lash would allow a kirre to simply run away.”
“Maybe he was the one who left her,” I suggested. “Thorn said that those cliffs are hard to navigate. Isn’t it possible that when he got tired of lugging her around, he simply abandoned her there?”
“More than possible,” Calindra said. “I have no trouble imagining Lash doing exactly that.”
“But what are the chances that a lone kirre could find her way through miles of wilderness to the gate of this village?” the Keeper asked.
“You don’t know, Felicity,” I told him. “No one believed she’d survive that first night, but she’s lasted days. Trust me, if anyone can find her way through the wilderness to safety, it’s her.”
“And what about this attack Nelissa plans to blame on Lash?” Calindra asked. “Did she give you any more details on that?”
“Unfortunately, no.” I shook my head. “You know everything I do.”
“Do we?” the Keeper asked.
Kyre stiffened at my side. “What does that mean?”
“It’s a simple question,” the stoic cleric said. “I’m just wondering if we actually know everything that this kirre knows, or if she might be keeping some information to herself.”
Apparently, the Keeper’s eyes were every bit as perceptive as Calindra’s.
“I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few details,” I admitted—some deliberately. “But nothing important.”
“Then you won’t mind me asking you a few questions,” he said.
“I do,” Kyre said, stepping in front of her. “I brought Sophia here to share the details of her dream. And now that she has, it’s time I bring her home.”
“You can stay five more minutes,” Calindra said.
“No, we can’t, mother.”
Straightening up in her seat, she glared down at her son.
“I wasn’t asking as your mother,” she declared. “I’m giving an order as your Lykaon.”
A low rumble of protest shook Kyre’s chest.
But the sound didn’t seem to worry the Lore Keeper. If anything, it only deepened the inquisitive look in his eye.
“Is there a reason you don’t want me speaking with this kirre?” he asked.
Kyre glowered in response. “Ask your questions, Keeper. The Lykaon has given you five minutes. I won’t give you a second more.”
“Somehow, I doubt I’ll need more time than that.” The corners of the Keeper’s mouth twitched upward in haughty amusement as he turned his gaze toward me. “You experienced an incredibly detailed prophetic dream tonight, child.”
“I’m not a child,” I told him. “Call me Sophia.”
“Certainly.” He nodded. “Do you have any idea how rare a dream like that is, Sophia?”
“I’m guessing pretty rare,” I said.
“In your kind, it is nearly unheard of.”
“Wow,” I deadpanned. “Lucky me.”
The Keeper ignored my sarcasm and kept right on going. “In fact, there’s only one other kirre that I know of who has had similar dreams—Tauren’s mate, Hannah.”
“Great,” I shrugged. “Then we’ll have something to talk about the next time we get together.”