She shifts in my arms, her warmth ebbing onto me. A look of longing surfaces in her eyes before she blinks it away and straightens.
“As amazing as that sounds, I can’t leave Jayme to rot in that dungeon,” she says. Her fingers draw lines on my skin. “What kind of Commander would that make me?”
“I know.” I clasp her hand and kiss it. “I don’t want to leave him like that either.”
“Speaking of which, didn’t we come out here to talk through everything we’ve learned so far?” Those golden-brown eyes blink up at me.
I brush away a leaf clinging to my shoulder as I sit up. “You’re right. Where do we start?”
“Do you really think Haron is telling the truth?”
“I believe thatshebelieves she is telling the truth.”
“Well, either Haron or Jayme is lying.”
I shake my head. “Not necessarily. As far as I could tell, they both believe they’re telling the truth.”
“Don’t start that again, Ethan.” Rhiannon gives me a look. “Jayme said he didn’t attack Haron and Haron says it was definitely Jayme who attacked her. That means one of them has to be lying about what happened. They can’t both be right.”
I let out a long breath. She’s not wrong. And things are looking bad for Jayme, given that Haron almost died and he can’t seem to remember exactly what happened.
Maybe that’s the key.
“You know, Jayme said he has no memory of what happened,” I say. “Is it possible that he blacked out or something? Maybe he had too much to drink at dinner and—”
“And randomly attacked a dignitary in a drunken state? Unlikely.”
I blink at her. “Why? Lycans can’t get drunk and disorderly?”
“Drunk and disorderly isn’t the same as wantonly violent.”
“Okay, let’s back away from the violence part of this and focus on the whole time loss part.Whydoesn’t Jayme remember what happened? If he wasn’t drunk, could he have been under the influence of something else?”
She scowls at me. “Like what?”
“Like a drug? Or maybe hypnosis or some other kind of mind control.”
Rhiannon shakes her head vigorously. “Impossible.”
“Impossible?”
“Mind magic does not work on Lycans. It is known.”
I slump my shoulders a little. I feel like I’m onto something here, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. “Somethinghad to affect him if he doesn’t remember, Rhiannon.”
She sighs. “Maybe you’re wrong about him and heislying. That’s actually preferable to him being controlled by someone else.”
“I don’t think I’m wrong, though.”
She just stares at me. “Ethan, there’s an implication behind the idea that Jayme simply can’t remember the attack. And that kind of revelation could unravel this summit faster than if he had done it willingly. It would mean he can’t control his wolf. This pack prides itself on being more man than wolf. It’s an image we fought hard for throughout the Moon Curse.”
“So what’s the alternative? Either he’s lying and doesn’t want to admit it because heisresponsible, or he’s telling the truth and he genuinely has no memory of it. And if he doesn’t remember, there has to be a reason, which could ultimately exonerate him.”
She bites her lip, thinking that over for a long moment. “Perhaps . . . perhaps he was sick. Some condition might exist that could have caused him to lose consciousness. If something like that happened, Haron would have been vulnerable to someone else’s attack.”
I shrug. “It’s a start. Listen, I’m not thrilled about any of this either, but I don’t think we can dismiss any possibilities. Maybe I should talk to Branson about it. If Jayme has some hidden condition that could make him do something like this, maybe he’ll tell me.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll come with you.”
