Chapter 86

Evelyn

I could still feel the echo of his absence. It was everywhere, in every room and every breath.

Logan’s silence had settled into me like a bruise, and I couldn’t help but continue poking at it, eliciting more and more pain. It all was so deep and dark. Tender to the touch.

I’d given him the truth, stripped myself bare in front of him, thinking maybe, just maybe, we could start again with honesty. It wouldn’t be simple, but we could refresh. We had already been through so much together, so why not this, too?

But the look in his eyes had said it all.

He didn’t know if he could ever forgive me. And now… I was starting to realize that I didn’t know if I could survive that kind of rejection.

I paced the floor of my chamber, restless and raw. The room was too quiet, too warm, too stifling. I felt like I couldn’t sit still, and every breath was tight and shallow. My skin itched with the feeling of being watched. How can a person feel so numb and yet be acutely aware of every breath and breeze?

I looked at the flowers Logan had left me, already beginning to wilt on my windowsill. I couldn’t live like this for much longer.

And then, all at once, she stirred.

It was so unexpected, I stopped midstride. I hadn’t felt her eagerly asserting herself in so long that it was jarring.

My wolf.

I felt her pacing in the back of my mind like a caged animal while I froze. She seemed confused and hungry. But her hunger was not for food or power. I knew immediately that it was for him.

“No,” I whispered aloud, pressing my palms to my temples. “You don’t get to want him right now. He walked away. He might never come back.”

I was frightened because I knew what it meant when your wolf reared its head at the prospect of a partner. When your wolf yearned, you knew that it was deeper than mere surface-level attraction. There was a word for that, one I wouldn’t—and couldn’t—assign to the feeling just then.

But she didn’t care about reason or fear. She only felt the bond and the pull toward him.

And it was growing louder and stronger. Harder to ignore.

My wolf had always been quiet and mostly dormant, the result of years of suppressing who I really was. She had never been one to assert herself. But now that the truth was out, she was awake, and…

I dropped to the edge of the bed and buried my face in my hands. The pressure behind my eyes built until I couldn’t hold it back anymore. A silent tear slid down my cheek.

It was all too much. I couldn’t deal with it all and endure this alone. I didn’t know how to fix what I’d broken. I didn’t even know if it could be fixed.

But I knew I couldn’t sit around waiting for a man who might never forgive me. So I pushed myself to my feet, squared my shoulders, and decided to do something that didn’t involve heartbreak.

Though so much had been resolved in the passing days, one mystery remained solidly open. Though I had sent the two medical assistants to investigate Emma and her rogue ties, they had never returned. They had disappeared without a trace.

If there was one thing I could do to distract myself and one mystery to occupy my mind, it was this: Find the missing assistants.

The war was tapering off. Summit negotiations were progressing. My proposal for female equality had moved into the next phase. That should have thrilled me, and maybe once, it would have. But right now, I had to get to the bottom of this mystery I was partially responsible for. I couldn’t let what happened to them go undiscovered forever; I wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt.

And again, it all came back to Emma. Emma, my perfect distraction and opponent. She was the loose end in all of this.

Her involvement with the war had always felt performative as she showed up when Logan needed her and never overextended herself.She had never been entirely helpful, but had always done just enough to put on a good face.

But I wouldn’t soon forget who she was. Someone had to remember.

Two of our assistants had gone missing after investigating her ties, which was something I hadn’t even had time to truly investigate. Everything had spiraled with the war, and their disappearances had been buried under the chaos of my kidnapping.

Not anymore. The truth of it couldn’t remain buried forever.

I pulled on my coat and made my way into the city, determined to speak with Scott, one of the only people who might still have access to information about the assistants. He might have heard something in passing from Emma that might be useful. It was a stretch, but it was a decent place to start.

But when I arrived at his office, dread crept down my spine. My feet staggered to a halt as I stared at the familiar building. It was hard to miss the boarded windows. A thick padlock had been placed on the door, and the lights inside seemed to have been turned off. A note taped to the front door said the establishment was now out of business.

My breath hitched as I realized: He was gone.

I stared at the building for a long minute, searching for movement or signs of life. I squinted through the windows, looking for his receptionist or even Scott himself. But there was nothing. Only silence and dust and the ghost of what used to be whispered through the breeze.

It didn’t make sense. Had he fled? Or had he been silenced? He had already been exiled, so what more could have happened to him?

With unease coiling in my stomach, I turned back toward the palace. There was no use in staring at a vacant, unyielding building, though it took significant effort to get my feet to move.

The city was quieter now than it had been in weeks, with less tension in the air and fewer patrols. People were returning to some version of normal. But as I passed the bakery near the east square, I noticed a few townsfolk watching me.

Whispers carried on the breeze.

“Is that her…?”

“The lost princess…”

“She looks just like the Queen.”

I kept walking, chin lifted, heart pounding. It had only been a few hours since my identity had been revealed publicly, but it was enough time for the news to spread like wildfire through the city. I couldn’t even blame them; it was juicy gossip.

But I hadn’t quite adjusted to the weight of it yet. Everywhere I went, eyes followed. Some filled with awe, while others filled with suspicion. It all was unbearable on top of the other recent developments that were ravaging my life.

None of them knew who I really was. Not even I fully did anymore.

I was nearly at the gates of the palace when the sound rent through the air, making my breath hitch and my feet falter into an abrupt stop. The sound echoed, long and melancholy, throughout the surrounding field.

Warhorns.

They blared across the city at my back, sharp and ancient, their pitch high and urgent. The signal was unmistakable. And they only signaled one thing: There was a threat at the border.

I turned slowly, eyes scanning the distant hills beyond the palace walls. No one had expected another strike. Not now, when the rogues were so seemingly defeated. How could they even still pose a threat to warrant this?

As the guards rushed to their posts and people scattered in panic, I stood motionless at the gate, heart pounding. I heard his name hissed between the passing people: Jesse.

My heart stuttered. So there was something wrong with Jesse? But he was supposed to be bound in the dungeons. A heavy sense of danger settled like fog over me.

As the sound of the horns echoed across the land, my wolf rose within me, eager and ravenous still, especially at the threat of whatever this new danger was.

And as she stirred anew inside of me, I felt her as she howled for him.

For Logan.