Chapter 379: A Closed Mouth

Chapter 379: Chapter 113: A Closed Mouth

Quiet settled over the chamber. She turned to the people who remained. “What’s going on?”

Dane glanced at Destiny, and Destiny met Aurora’s eyes. “There are things being investigated. Things that happened long ago.”

“What things?”

Destiny hesitated. “Your father can explain them better.”

Aurora did not like that answer. She looked at the closed door and thought about how her father had always been the one to answer her questions, even when he was angry, even when he was busy, even when the answer was something she did not want to hear. Now there were things moving around her that nobody seemed willing to name.

She sank back into the pillows. “I want to go to my room.” She suddenly remembered she wasn’t in Silvercrest. “Can you have a room prepared for me?”

“There’s a room prepared for you,” Dane said. “One of the guest rooms in the temple.”

“Then take me there.”

The priestess shot him a warning look. “She needs rest and close observation.”

“I know,” Aurora said. “I just don’t want to lie here with everyone staring at me. You can come and observe me in the room.”

No one argued after that.

A short while later, with Dane steadying her elbow, Aurora crossed the corridor on legs that felt borrowed. Each step reminded her that although she was awake, she had not yet recovered her strength. She kept one hand lightly against the wall whenever she could, refusing to let anyone carry her.

The room waiting for her was quieter than the chamber she had left. A bed stood against one wall with a small table beside it, and a chair sat near the window, where thin light fell across the floor. Someone had laid clean clothes at the foot of the bed. Aurora lowered herself onto the mattress and let out a breath she had not known she was holding.

For a moment, she simply sat there, listening to the quiet. It felt strange to be somewhere unfamiliar after spending so much of her life in Silvercrest. She wanted the familiar walls of home, but she was not strong enough to leave yet.

Vance came in a few minutes later and shut the door behind him. For a moment neither of them spoke. She watched him drag the chair closer to the bed and sit, and she noticed how tired he looked, how the lines around his eyes had deepened since she had last really looked at him.

“What did Marcus want?”

Vance pursed his lips tight and looked away. “He had questions.”

“About me?”

“About what will happen to Destiny.”

She frowned. “Oh. Did he find something?”

Vance took a moment before he answered. “We just can’t hand Destiny over to the cursed wolves. She might be a homeless farm girl, but she did save my princess. We also won’t be letting any cursed wolf curse me. There are things we need to understand before we make a move, but time is running out. The cursed Alpha of the cursed wolves is losing control of the cursed pack. Soon they will be everywhere, attacking every wolf in sight.”

“We could just wage a war and kill all of them.”

He chuckled like a boy. “You’ve only just woken up. Let yourself recover before you worry about the rest.”

Aurora looked down at her hands. “What if I start getting cursed again? I’m afraid to even shut my eyes.”

“You won’t get cursed again.”

“What if I do?”

Vance leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Then we’ll find the cure that will save you permanently.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

She nodded slowly. She knew she could believe him, and she was surprised by how much. Her father had been her guiding light since she was a baby, her protector, her partner in crime. Even now, after everything that had happened, his presence made the room feel less frightening. She had no answers yet, but at least she did not have to face the uncertainty alone.

A knock sounded at the door, and Vance turned toward it. “Come in.”

The door swung open, and Elara stepped inside. Aurora’s face softened at once. “Elara.”

Her friend crossed the room in a few quick steps and stopped beside the bed. “You scared me.”

Aurora managed a tired smile. “I seem to have a talent for that.”

Elara sat down beside her. “I heard you woke up.”

“I did, and imagine my disappointment when my best friend wasn’t there by my side.”

“I wasn’t allowed into the temple because they thought you would curse me. How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been hit by a wagon.”

Elara laughed softly, but her eyes stayed worried, and Aurora caught it. “You really were scared.”

“Everyone was.”

Aurora glanced at her father. He had already risen from the chair. “I’ll give you two some time.”

She caught his hand before he could go. “Father.”

He stopped.

“Don’t go far.”

His expression gentled. “I won’t.”

When the door had closed behind him, Elara waited a breath before she turned back. “So what do you remember?”

Aurora stared at the window, at the pale square of light on the floor. “Barely anything.”

“Nothing?”

“Pieces.” She hesitated. “Pain. Darkness. The feeling that I couldn’t control my own body.”

Elara’s face tightened, and Aurora saw it. “I never knew it was that bad.”

“It was so bad they thought I’d die.”

“Was that what they were saying? That you might not make it.”

Aurora swallowed. “Yes, they said I almost died.”

“Then they don’t know how tough you are. You would’ve broken that curse on your own.”

The room went quiet. Aurora touched her chest and felt the steady rhythmic beat of her own heart against her fingers. “They put something called the Heart Stone on my chest.”

“Destiny’s,” Elara said.

“The priestess told me her blood awakened it.”

“Hmm, I heard. There was gossip amongst pack members that she is the reason the cursed wolves came to their pack seeking out the Heart Stone. That’s what they all believe, that she is the cure.”

Aurora studied her. “You don’t?”

“I don’t know what to believe.”

Aurora leaned back against the pillows. Neither did she. She looked toward the closed door and thought of the promise her father had made, and for the first time since waking she let herself rest.