1. A Secret of Snow and Ruin

Chapter XVIII

Elysia Wolfe

Blythe had answers I had trouble accepting. My tears were now wiped and a headstrong facade was washed over my face as I looked at Blythe with an inquisitive expression.

"I'm sorry Elysia but your dad is getting worse." Blythe says to me. I nod my head in understanding. "Is there anything you need from me?" She asks. Blythe is now my friend and I find myself chatting with her during lunch in the open and walking with her on strolls. She tells me about her journeys around the world and what wonders she's done with her healing magic. I tell her of my aspirations to journey some place quiet and out of sight and of mind.

The thought is peaceful but I blank it all out and look at my dad with the most empathy I've felt for him—it was a shred of empathy that could only withhold for a short while.

He was really dying.

The man who destroyed the innocence I was born with. The man who was so ashamed at me for being born it seemed.

Finally.

I've always imagined his death but not like this.

A knock breaks us out of our senses. I stand from the dungeon chair to see Freya walk in with hand full of flowers. She looks beautiful with her blonde curls pinned back with pink accessories. She wears a pink gown and looks far too innocent to be here around snarls and creatures with no good bone in their body. "Cousin." She acknowledges with a small smile.

"Cousin." I say with a nod. "Are those for my father?"

"No." Her bluntness catches me off guard. "They are for you. I just thought you needed some color especially right now with everything going on." Freya says. She shyly approaches me and hands me the bouquet with her lady like gentle touch.

"I'm Freya." She waves to Blythe. "Daughter of Alpha Bellator of The Lupine Clan in Autumncrest."

"You're an Autumncrest. I'm from there too...I'm a nature elf, your majesty." Blythe bows.

Freya quickly says, "Oh don't bow for me. Stand up straight. The only person you bow to is my father. I'm simply a Lady." She corrects.

"First born." I chime in. Freya was an Alpha and from the last time I saw her she was a beast when it came to training and throwing daggers. "Freya if you don't mind..."

"Oh I apologize. Elysia if you wish for my company I'll be down the hall. Goodbye." Freya smiles sheepishly. I nod and give her a chaste goodbye.

My attention meets my father's stiff and almost lifeless body that is chained. His eyes are so devoid of anything. I wonder if he feels something when he looks back at me or if he wonders about his past or even his mistakes. "Blythe?"

"Yes Elysia?"

"Do you read minds?" I ask her. I've had an anxious thought in the back of my head that I've been pushing away for the longest. I wanted Alistair to read my dad's mind but at the same time that trust wouldn't roll over so well with my clan. If I let Alistair display that magic in a way that's helpful to me, the last thing I want to be labeled as is a blood traitor for Onyx Crest. I had to do this impractically but Blythe she was a fae like me. An Elf which was different than Lycan but still fairly related to our species. She had magic that connected her to nature and to Goddesses and Gods. If I had her help, my answers to in-depth questions could finally be solved.