Ezekiel Geimhreadh
"We'll see for ourselves," I said, gesturing our leave to Cedric with a jerk of my head. Whatever came next was dependent on what we found.
And I had a feeling I knew what it would be.
The scent she carried confirmed the information that had first set us sniffing on her trail, even if her claims had me pausing. What we would find would determine if she was telling the truth regarding the role she played when it came to Sebastian. She couldn't have been the one to take him, she would have been too young, but how did she know him? Was she a friend who was trying to help my brother, like she claimed, or was she a foe who played a hand in his suffering? The answer to that question would determine her fate.
Turning, I made my way to the door that led out of the interrogation room that reeked of old blood, my brother's holding my senses captured despite being the weakest scent in the room. The strongest was the metallic scent of the human's mortality. I could practically taste her blood in the air despite not a single blade being lifted to spill it. Some of it older; some of it fresh. Her condition which only seemed to be getting worse as the rattle in her chest deepened would have been improving at just as rapid of a rate if she was fae.
The human's protests followed after me. "He was gone when I went back! He broke free-" A harsh fit of coughs cut her short before Cedric silenced her altogether by shutting the iron door to the soundproofed and isolated room behind him as he followed me out.
While he paused to shut and lock the iron door, dawning the protective gear necessary, I continued forward, impatience making me pick up my pace while pulling my phone out to send Rory a hastily typed-out summons. I didn't need the girl dying on us while we were gone.
When Cedric was done, it took him a short jog to catch up.
"I want to set out immediately," I informed him, breaking the silence that only the light drop of our footfalls interpreted as we made our way down the length of the hallway, nearing the end that connected to another that led back to the barracks through underground tunnels. Last night's snowfall made the journey on land a challenge that I didn't need delaying our departure.
"But what about matters here?" Cedric questioned.
They were nowhere near as important as my brother was... to me. A key detail that Cedric had been pointing out far more often these days... It was typically accompanied by a remark reminding me that I wasn't just a brother, I was a King too.
But I was Sebastian's brother first.
My jaw tightened as it always did when I realized I was the only one still holding out hope that he would be found. "Durin can stay back to ensure everything runs smoothly."
"He's not going to like that," came his response, sounding like he was the one who didn't like it.
"If you have a problem with my decision, Cedric, just say it." This wasn't the first time I had sensed him holding his tongue where he would have once shared what was on his mind. Things had changed ever since the five-man team he led had returned with one dead.
We had lost men before, but not like this. Calvin was different. He wasn't just another soldier, he, like the other three members of Cedric's hand-picked team, had become family.
On that day, we had all lost another brother.
In the ripples of the aftermath, while my resolve had strengthened, needing to know Sebastions fate as surely as Calvin's cooling body had told us of his, it weakened for the others. They were done. They hadn't said it yet, but I could see it in their eyes, see them building up to it.
