Chapter 279 Episode 279

One week later:

Adele could no longer remember what warmth felt like.

She remembered the feeling of sunlight on her skin, and the warmth of her bed, but those memories felt distant now.

Almost like something that had happened to someone else.

Her body lay curled on the frozen ground, with her knees drawn towards her chest. The chains around her wrists and ankles had become painfully cold against her skin. Every slight movement made them scrape against her already bruised flesh.

She tried to move her fingers, but nothing happened.

Adele stared at her hands.

They were swollen, stiff and discoloured. Her fingers looked unfamiliar, their tips a deep reddish-purple beneath the frost clinging to them.

She tried curling them into her palms.

A sharp, terrible ache travelled up her arms.

A small whimper escaped her.

She had spent the last few days clawing at the wooden bars whenever she found enough strength to move. She had scraped her nails against them, pulled at the gaps, and tried commanding them to open.

They had never listened.

Now, even lifting her hands felt impossible.

Still, she tried.

Her swollen fingers dragged weakly across the wooden sticks. Her nails caught against the rough surface, but she couldn’t get a proper grip.

She pulled.

The chains rattled, and the cage remained firmly shut. Adele let her head fall back against the ground.

Her breathing was shallow. Each breath seemed to hurt her chest, and the cold had settled so deeply into her body that even her bones seemed to ache.

Her lips were purple.

She could feel them trembling, although she could barely feel anything else. Her cheeks were numb, her nose painfully cold, and her jaw had become so stiff that speaking required more effort than she could afford.

She swallowed.

Her throat hurt. "Help..."

The word came out as little more than a breath.

She waited, and as usual, there was nothing.

Her surroundings had been silent for so long that she had almost stopped expecting an answer.

The wind moved above her, sweeping across the snow-covered trees. Occasionally, she heard the faint crack of a branch beneath the weight of the ice.

But nobody came.

Adele shifted slightly, and a sharp pain shot through her shoulder.

She gasped.

Her eyes moved towards it.

A large purple bruise spread across the torn exposed skin near her shoulder. It was swollen and dark, the surrounding flesh red and angry beneath the frost.

The skin had become painfully tender, and the area looked worse each time she managed to examine it.

She couldn’t remember when it had started hurting that badly. Perhaps when she had first fallen against the wooden bars.

Perhaps during one of the countless times she had struggled against her chains. She didn’t know anymore.

She only knew that it hurt. Everything hurt like never before without her wolf, or healing ability.

Adele squeezed her eyes shut.

She was so tired. Her body felt heavy, as though the earth beneath her was slowly pulling her into itself.

She wanted to sleep, but the thought frightened her.

She remembered the cold creeping into her fingers. The way her body had begun shaking uncontrollably before the shivering gradually weakened. She remembered trying to stay awake by counting the cracks in the wooden bars.

She had lost count. She had lost track of the days. And now she could barely keep her eyes open.

Also, she needed food. And just a drop of water.

Adele’s eyes filled with tears, but they barely moved before the cold dried them against her cheeks.

"Please..."

She didn’t know whether she was speaking to her father, the Moon Goddess, or anyone who might still be listening.

She thought of Torak. He never left her mind, but she never dwelled on the thought of him because she kept imagining the worst.

"Don’t be dead." She warned. Her eyes hardened yet her voice cracked.

She had to believe he was alive.

She needed to believe that he was somewhere beyond the forest, breathing. Because if he was dead, then she had lost everything.

Her fingers twitched.

Adele turned her head towards the wooden bars again.

She had to try.

One more time.

She dragged her hand across the ground. Her fingers scraped against the frozen earth before reaching the nearest wooden stick.

She pushed.

She tried again, gathering what little strength remained in her arms.

"Move..." The command came out weakly.

The wooden bars did not respond.

Adele’s breathing grew uneven. Her lips trembked, and her face crumpled. "Please, move." Her voice softened. She pleaded.

Her hand slipped. She fell back against the ground, and a broken sound escaped her throat.

She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t even lift her own hand anymore.

For the first time, Adele wondered whether her father had intended for her to die here. Perhaps he had never planned to return.

Perhaps nobody was coming.

The thought settled over her with a weight heavier than the snow above the cage. She had been so certain that someone would find her.

Adele’s eyes slowly moved towards the narrow opening between the wooden sticks. Through it, she could see only snow and the faint outline of trees.

Her body had nothing left to give. Then, somewhere deep inside her, something stirred.

Adele’s breathing stopped.

She felt it again.

Her wolf.

Adele tried to reach for it. She didn’t know whether it could hear her. She didn’t know if it could help her.

But she needed something.

Anything.

Her lips parted.

At first, no sound came out. She tried again, forcing air through her aching throat. And then she howled.

It was not the powerful cry of an Alpha’s daughter. It was not the commanding howl of a wolf calling her pack.

It was weak, broken and painfully small.

But it was a howl. It rose from the frozen cage and disappeared into the snow-covered forest.

Adele’s head fell against the ground.

Her eyes fluttered. She tried to draw another breath, but her chest barely moved.

The darkness came slowly. And this time, she didn’t have the strength to fight it.

Adele fainted.