Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 763(@200wpm)___ 611(@250wpm)___ 509(@300wpm)
They nodded and jogged away, shouting instructions. Nova grabbed something off the table and walked right, her gait unhurried. Ordinarily that would cause me to yell after her, something I’d never had to do before. Something I didn’t do now. She was incredibly good at reading the situation, she must know something was up. Given she went through the motions anyway meant she was playing along.
The woman was due for a promotion.
“Alpha.” Dante jogged over to me as I ducked back into the tent to grab some clothes. He stepped into the tent with me, the flap closing behind him.
I glanced at him in confusion. He didn’t usually enter my living quarters unless invited. “What is it?”
“I thought I should inform you that I saw Aurelia last night,” he murmured, his voice too low for anyone hurrying outside to hear.
Pants on, I turned to give him my full attention. “What’s that?”
“The woman has absolutely no sense of direction. She was angling my way instead of toward the town, making enough noise to rouse the dead.” He clasped his hands behind his back. “I pointed her in the right direction and then shadowed her for a bit to make sure she got there. She went off course again—she has literally zero sense of direction and is apparently hard-pressed to follow straight lines—so I guided her until she was close to town and then drifted away.”
My face was a hard mask to hide my surprise. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“You guided her?” I finally asked. “Why?”
“The same reason the dozen or so people she must’ve passed didn’t stir as she tramped by and are currently feigning surprise at her disappearance. She’s had a hard fucking life, Alpha, you must see that. We needed her journals and her knowledge of her products but she’s no more at fault for what’s going on than that gardener poet or anyone else in that village. She was a product of her environment, trapped there like everyone else. She didn’t know what was going on outside the village and she doesn’t seem like a person who would be okay with what her product has become. She’s not one of them, Alpha. She’s one of us. She doesn’t deserve to be on trial for Granny’s sins—she deserves a fair shake at a life that isn’t so gods-damned depressing. How can that woman find it in herself to smile, you know? Her stories have given me nightmares. I kinda hate hearing about her life. What a shitty existence.”
“Who else knows you helped her escape?”
He shrugged, looking uncomfortable but determined. “I didn’t see anybody else. Not sure if anyone noticed I wasn’t at my post for a while.”
I pulled on a shirt and grabbed the few things I’d need for the day’s ride. “You’d do best not to tell anyone else. There are a few people who would not understand. They want justice. The memory of their loved ones makes them irrational.”
Dante half bowed. “Yes, Alpha.” He hesitated in leaving, tone still quiet. “You let her go, correct? The weak sentry line was on purpose. Right?”
“Is that why you’re telling me of your involvement? Are you insinuating I played a part in her escape?”
His shoulders straightened, his head high. “No, Alpha. Of course not.”
He knew that I’d let her go. I assumed he also knew I couldn’t admit it. Only Hadriel would ever hear that confession, because I knew he’d keep it to himself for her sake. There was no one more trustworthy than Hadriel when he was helping someone he cared for.
“I would never relinquish my duty. Our kingdom is counting on us.”
“Yes, sir.” Still, he hesitated. “Just so we’re on the same page, in case no one says what they’re thinking . . . Going after the actual problem and not the decoy is your duty. Letting Aurelia go is doing your duty. We’d just be wasting time looking for her. Her journals are the sum total of what she knows, and we still have those. I see one just there. She can’t help us by being here anymore.”
“Thank you for your input, Dante. You may go.”
This time he did leave, and I heaved a sigh of relief. Ordinarily, no, letting her go was not part of my duty. The dragon royals had initiated this assignment and they should get the final say on Aurelia’s fate. As their commander, though, I had to be allowed some liberty to determine which leads to chase. As her true mate . . . I couldn’t stomach the idea of them hurting her, for any reason. She wasn’t evil, I was sure of that. She should not be punished for what were ultimately Granny’s sins.
The camp was pulled down and ready to go in no time. Those who’d go into the nearest town to look for Aurelia had been chosen, Hadriel among them. With him was Dante and Nova and a few others who held positions of power but had softened to Aurelia’s plight. Hadriel would tell them the goal and ensure Aurelia was not found.