Bastian slumped against the wall on one side of the door and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up a little. “I remember that. There were . . . problems with the Fervis Order. They made claims that our allegiance to the Narchis Order was weakening, and we thought Rynn’s presence would quell those rumors.”
I leaned against the doorframe, and Sorin took up a similar position on his side of the wall as he stared at the floor between us. “Our mother got sick around that time and Rynn didn’t want to leave her. That was genuine,” he said quickly. “She wasn’t using it as an excuse not to go to you.”
“We never thought she was,” Bastian muttered, and I made a noise of agreement. Back then, I’d been frustrated at Rynn just because I hadn’t understood why she didn’t want to be a part of our pack. The Alphas were everything to me, but I understood one’s obligation to family, and so had they.
“Yeah, well, you could have made that more clear,” Sorin snapped, raising his head to look at us. “Altair told our father to fix it, so Rynn was thrown down here. She was given the option of staying in that cell and seeing our mother for one hour a day or immediately going to the Alpha stronghold. She chose to stay.”
My hands pressed against the cold stone behind me. She’d chosen to suffer through this hell to spend just a little more time with her mother. “And you?” I rasped. “What did you do?”
Sorin stiffened. “There wasn’t anything I could do. My uncle is our Alpha, and he approved of my father’s plan.”
“So you just let them throw your sister in the dungeon?” Bastian sneered.
“Oh, fuck you, Bastian.” Sorin pushed off the wall but halted abruptly, his gaze bouncing between us. “My father might have made the decree, but I have no doubt it was my cousin Ivan’s idea. He might be Altair’s son, but that doesn’t guarantee him the Alpha position when the time comes. Everyone knows I’m stronger and more dominant than him. Rynn being put in that cell was a punishment for her and a test for me to see if I would step out of line.”
“You could have told us.” I crossed my arms. “Your hands may have been tied, but ours weren’t.”
“Rynn wanted to stay,” he said stubbornly. “If I’d found some way to tell you, you would have forced her to leave, and she wanted to be with our mother in those final months, even if her time was limited.”
The three of us stared at the cell.
How many nights had Rynn lay in that bed all alone? Feeling like the walls were going to crush her? Cut off from the forest. No view of the sky.
I looked across the doorway and caught Bastian’s eyes, a silent agreement passing between us. We couldn’t do anything about it now, but Rynn’s family would pay for this one day. It would be her decision what happened to Sorin.
“Rynn didn’t return to this cell just to reminisce.” I turned my attention to Sorin. “Why did she stop here?”
“A way out.” Sorin sighed and moved farther down the hall until it dead-ended and then ran his fingers over the wall like he was searching for something. He clearly found it, because a few seconds later, the wall simply vanished, revealing a tunnel.
“What are you up to, Princess?” I muttered.
“Let’s go find out.” Bastian stepped into the tunnel, and the two of us started walking.
“What should I tell my father and uncle?” Sorin called after us, frustration lacing his words. “You’re supposed to be meeting with them all day.”
“Tell them something more important came up,” Bastian tossed over his shoulder.
I smiled as Rynn’s scent swirled around me. We’d track her down in no time and figure out what she was plotting, and I had my own ideas for how to punish her later.
“Nothing,” Bastian said as he leapt down from the trees. “Well, a few broken branches that could be from her, but there is no scent at all.”
“I couldn’t detect anything either.” I swiped my pants off the ground and tugged them on.
We both glared at the box. Rynn’s scent still clung to it. If I had to guess, I’d say she had retrieved it from the strangler vines, because her scent was there too, along with a patch of earth that had clearly been dug up recently. I also strongly suspect that whatever had been in the box was the reason Rynn’s scent trail had vanished.
Even in my wolf form, I hadn’t been able to detect any clue as to where she’d gone.
Bastian’s brows furrowed together as he looked west. “Lake Malov is pretty far, but it’d be doable for her to get there and back in a day.”
“But she can use the mirror at home. Why go through all this effort?” I rubbed at a spot on my chest that felt tight. Sometimes after shifting back to human form, my skin would be itchy for a few minutes, but this felt different. Probably because of how pissed I was at Rynn for going out into the wilds on her own like this.
“Because”—Bastian grimaced—“I frequently drop in to check on her while she’s there and sometimes Cade stays there the whole time. If she wanted to ensure privacy, she’d have to find another way to get there.”
“Drudonia is another option.” My gaze drifted slightly south. “It's almost the same distance.”
“We can’t check both unless we split up.” Frustration laced Bastian’s words. “Your instincts are rarely wrong. What does your gut tell you?”
It’s telling me that I never should have let her walk away from me in that cave.
