And so the hunt begins...
Chapter 22
"Shh, you'll wake your sister."
But I was already awake, and wondering why I could feel cold feet pressed against my thigh, and hear my sister's giggle in my ear. Another lump was wriggling near the bottom of the bed.
"Who dumped them here?" I mumbled, bleary eyed and foggy with sleep.
No light crept past the shutters, and there was a thick silence in the air that only came in the dead of night.
"Your Father. It is. . .um. . .your mother is in need of tending only your father can give."
Ah.
Fionnlagh was probably milking his injuries to get out of having to look after his cousins himself. I couldn't smell my youngest cousin in the room though, which meant my Aunt had probably grabbed him and disappeared before being lumped with my brother and sister as well. Which left only us.
Niamh snuggled into the spot she'd managed to carve out for herself between my mate and I, her words distorted by a sleepy yawn, "Do you think Mamaidh will have another pup in the summer?"
"Maybe."
I doubted she would allow it. Before, she maybe thought about it, but not after losing Mànas. My mother had taught me, like all mother-wolves teach their females, the herbs and berries to eat that would keep one without a pup in their belly even if they'd gone through their time in season with a male. So it would be down to her choice. Father would respect it.
"It is still the early hours, my mate. Sleep more." Hati said as I sat up to see my brother curled up in fur at the end of the bed, his tail curled over his nose.
Soft snores were already coming from my sister, her lips slightly parted in her sleep. She would drool everywhere. And kick. And wriggle.
I tucked her head beneath my chin and wrapped my arm around her waist. Hati grazed his knuckles over her rosy cheek with a glimmer of a smile before he leaned down to press a kiss to my forehead. He lay back down carefully, his long legs at risk of kicking my other brother, and lifted his arm so it covered my sister, his hand resting on my hip.
From the redness rimming his eyes, I wasn't sure he'd slept at all before my father had hurried by, but I hoped he'd find sleep now. Some of my best naps happened when the pack tangled and piled together, mostly in fur in the cold of a winter storm, but with a bed to share, being in skin didn't bother me. As long as Niamh avoided my face with her knobbly elbows.
Despite the horrors of the last few days, watching Hati nod off with my siblings snuggling into his radiating warmth brought a smile to my lips.
When I woke again, a chill had set into my bones, one that was chased away by the sound of laughter.
Peeling an eye open, I was greeted with a sight that made my heart clench. A pup perched on each leg, Hati sat at the small round table overladen with food my siblings happily scarfed down. He picked up a spoonful of porridge, saying, "Grautr."
"Brochan," Niamh replied, using the Gaelic word for it.
Hati repeated it slowly, and might have even blushed when Niamh and Anndra giggled at his attempt. This went on for another few minutes; Hati picking food up and offering the word in his tongue, and then Niamh or Anndra saying the word in ours.
He was learning my tongue, I realised. His expression focussed and studious, alight when my siblings laughed, and pensive in quiet moments as they ate. My brother and sister were doing a better job of keeping my mate distracted than I could. He barely had the chance to eat himself between learning the Gàidhlig and making sure the wriggling pups didn't knock themselves, each other, or the table, to the floor.
Would this be what life would be like if Hati and I had our own pups?
When a loud bang did rattle the walls, I flew upright to see the door of Hati's bedchamber flying open and Caldar standing in the doorway, out of breath and grim faced. He hesitated when he spotted Hati with the pups on his lap, and averted his gaze as I slid from the bed to throw on a dress. . .because I knew. I knew that look. And my stomach clenched as I waited to hear the news.
"You need to get to the Healer's wing, now. Both of you. There's no time to explain. Go."
Hati picked up my brother and sister and sat them each on a chair. "Watch Eabha's siblings."
"What?" Caldar shook his head and started backing out the room. "No. No, I'm not good with pups."
"Then take them with you to find Oighrig or Fionnlagh."
He had no choice. Hati and I were already rushing out the door with no idea what horror we'd be walking into next.
One day. Could we not have one day?
The stone floor was cool against my feet as I tried to keep up with Hati's longer strides. I was still heavy and foggy with sleep, the torches lighting our way nearly blinding me as I blinked bleary eyes and stretched muscles in an attempt to wake up. When I began to lag behind, Hati reached out for my uninjured hand and gripped it tight, yanking to pull me to his side. Tired pack members straightened as we stormed past, and their surprise was a relief. It meant whatever had happened during the night hadn't spread in rumours yet.
"Someone must be hurt," I murmured, looking up at my mate's face, his jaw clenched.
He didn't reply to my assessment. His determined steps slowed as we reached Eirny's territory, the air thick with sweet smelling smoke, and the sound of hushed whispers. I could hear movement in the room at the end, the room used for sick and injured wolves to convalesce, which only confirmed my guess.
The world moved in slow motion as we entered.
Astrid stood at the end of the very bed I myself had woken up in once, the sleeves of her tunic rolled up and her fingers covered in a green paste, as if she'd been helping her mother grind and sort herbs. Whatever help they'd attempted to give the wolf Eirny leaned over, it had been for nought. I could hear no rasping breaths, no heartbeat, no signs of life coming from the body on the bed.
Eirny turned, red faced and sighing, lavender eyes falling to the floor. "I did everything I could."
No. It couldn't be. Not someone else. Sköll had promised.
Eirny stepped away and the male on the bed looked like something from one of my nightmares.
He didn't look like himself.
She'd closed his eyes, eyes so swollen and red they barely looked like eyes anymore. The skin of his face was a bruised purple, blotched in red with lines of blue, his puffy lips a darker purple still with traces of foam Eirny hadn't managed to wipe away. If it weren't for the familiar finery of his clothes, the trim of fur at the hem of his coat, and the sturdy leather of his boots, I might not have seen the features of his distorted face that told me who this was. Even his scent was changed, sour with death and acrid with some unknown scent.
"Eitr," Hati said after a sharp sniff. "Poison. A tactic I'd put down to our spy."
"Ingrid is going to be devastated." I choked, moving to Gerlac's deathbed to take one of his hands in mine, pressing it against my cheek.
Hati tried to pull me away. "You shouldn't touch him."
"It's alright. It can't be spread by touch now." Eirny pat his arm and looked up with a stricken expression. "I'm sorry. If he had been brought to me sooner, if I'd had more time to find out what poison had been used-"
"This is not your fault." Hati wrapped an arm around his Aunt and brought his cheek to hers. "The traitor thinks they have been clever but this death was a mistake on their part. Do you know how he was poisoned?"
It was Astrid who moved, rolling on her feet at first as if shaking herself free from a trance, before crossing the room, returning with a basket of half eaten food.
A basket I had seen delivered to Gerlac myself.
If I hadn't already been kneeling at Gerlac's bed, I might have fallen to my knees at the sight of it. It wasn't Eirny's fault, it was my fault. I should have released Gerlac instead of trying to outsmart our spy by having them think we believed it was Gerlac who'd betrayed us. He was a loose end who could cry his innocence, and with enough allies who would believe him. . .including us. I had painted the target on his back.
"Ingrid gave the basket him," I said hoarsely. "Linnea dropped it off to her, she said it was arranged by her mother, Loa."
Hati's expression darkened.
Even from where I knelt, I could smell the same acrid scent on Gerlac's skin emanating from the food in the basket, but Hati leaned in to breathe in the smell anyway. Brow furrowed, he was silent a long moment before stating confidently. "Loa is not the traitor."
"How can you be so sure? She's on the council-"
"The traitor has connections, certainly, but if Sköll had someone in my inner circle, he would be using them for far more than the games being played here. I would know if someone on my council was behind all this. Gerlac's death does nothing for Loa. They had tight political ties, including promises for Gerlac to use his influence to provide a good match for Linnea. . .No, this is the work of someone else. Tell me, was Ingrid ever left alone with the basket?"
I frowned, standing slowly while Astrid placed the basket on the chest at the end of the bed. "What? No. Linnea was still there when Vali and I arrived to-" But I was wrong. There was a moment. A short moment, when she'd run into her rooms to retrieve it. . . "I didn't smell anything from it, Hati. What you are suggesting is ludicrous."
"With Gerlac gone, Ingrid will likely be voted in to take his place on the council," he argued back. "Or at least inherit a great deal of influence. Many older wolves who befriended her father would seek to back her in return for her favour. Her options for a husband will open up too now it isn't just a dowry they will get should they marry, but the entire fortune; all the lands, income, and titles that come with it. Many suitors will fall at Ingrid's feet now her father isn't there to growl at any male he deems unworthy, which was most males. She could have her pick of everyone, or no one. Her status would soar in the pack and amongst the humans. And then Sköll would likely have a spy we could do nothing against without hurting ourselves. The pack relies on Gerlac's connections."
"Connections that are now Ingrid's" Astrid concluded.
I hesitated.
I believed Ingrid wanted more control of her life. I believed she would use underhanded tactics to gain the position she craved, that she would do much to assure she ended up married to a human male of equal wealth and influence to live a settled life raising pups she hoped wouldn't shift to fur so they wouldn't be persecuted as she was. But however much the tactics used to kill by our spy felt human in nature, I didn't for a second believe her capable of murder.
And we were overlooking the most important thing of all.
"Ingrid adored her father. Nothing and no one would make her kill him."
"There's a chance she didn't know the poison would kill him. She could have been simply following orders with no way out now she is in so deep."
I shook my head, adamant. "No. No. I can't believe that. I would need irrefutable evidence before I would even begin to."
"Think about it," Astrid urged, stepping to her cousin's side. "The attacks didn't start happening until you arrived and posed a threat to her. The first death happened shortly after it became clear to the pack something was going on between you and Hati."
Still I shook my head. I didn't care what it looked like when the spy had made it clear they had a knack for hiding and having evidence point to another. Hati was right about Gerlac's murder being a mistake, because it pointed to Ingrid, which was too easy.
"You bring Ingrid here then. You have her come and see her father's body, watch her reaction, and then dare accuse her of the act."
Eirny tried to sooth my mounting frustration by running her hand down my back, as if to brush away hackles that would be bristling if I was in fur.
Eyes of fire held my own, Hati trying to impose his will on mine by straightening up and letting out a warning growl. If he thought I wouldn't shift and fight for this, he was wrong, and he must have seen it as I rolled my shoulders in preparation to shift to fur and do just that. His mouth snapped shut, his eyes cutting away to Astrid.
"Bring Ingrid, but bring Loa too. She will need a maternal figure to lean on and Loa was close with their family." He paused, as if tasting the words before spitting them out, "Do not treat her as a prisoner, allow Loa to accompany her here alone."
"You have something else you want me to do?" she asked.
He nodded. "I assume those guarding Gerlac at the time have been told not to speak?"
"Caldar saw to it, yes. He sent them to their rooms with orders to remain until called for."
"Good, then I want you to make sure the news has not spread. You are my keeper of the peace, you know what to look for. Tell me what you find. Vali might be of use here too if you find him to have him help. He can go unseen in ways even the rats in the walls can't."
She nodded, reaching out to squeeze my hand before she left. I wanted to withdraw, to glare at her for siding with Hati, but there was no point in harbouring hurt. They were family. If only Hati could see past his rage to acknowledge his nose was leading him down the wrong trail. My nose was leading me to Loa, and he'd at least granted me the chance to see her reaction to Gerlac's death too.
Vali had said last night he spotted a female in the hall who'd remained quiet while debates of Gerlac's guilt flew around the hall. What if she was Loa? Quiet because she knew the truth. Maybe that was why Linnea was so timid, perhaps there was something to fear behind her mother's kind smile. . .
Hati and I waited in heavy silence, the few feet of space between us feeling like a chasm. If it weren't for the way his body moved as I did, and the heat of his gaze sweeping over me now and again, I would have worried the chasm would be too great for us to overcome. We disagreed, that was all. After the events of the last few days, was it any wonder he was acting so rashly? But I was his mate. I stood Alpha at his side. It was my job to try and rein him in as Eirny had warned me I would need to.
The longer we waited, the more I could begin to smell the rot underlying the sweet smoke filling the room. Eirny worked to clean Gerlac up, perhaps trying to make him look less horrifying for when his female had to see him. No amount of colour rubbed into his cheeks would help.
"What poison was used, can you tell?" I asked, needing to fill the silence.
I frowned as Eirny shifted nervously and avoided Hati's questioning look as she murmured, "Tyrhialm."
If Hati had looked furious before, his face took on a dark, thunderous expression that cause a shiver to rattle up my spine. Neither of them provided me with a translation, but it had to be of some significance from their reactions. I didn't have time to demand answers before there was a rap on the door, and it creaked open so Farrin could step in.
He shut it behind him, keeping his voice low as he told us, "We could not find Loa, Astrid is still out looking for her, but Ingrid is outside. She would not wait. Whispers are circling, Hati, she knows something is going on. The pack knows someone was brought to Eirny early this morning."
"I imagine she knows exactly what is going on if I'm right," Hati grumbled back. "Let her in."
"I will let her in." I gave my mate a sharp look. "She must have at least one wolf on her side if you won't hold off judgement. How curious that Loa cannot be find, do you not think?"
Hati gave another warning growl. "Do not think me unable to change my mind should further evidence reveal itself, Eabha. I do recognise Loa's absence as suspicious."
"But not damning," I muttered as I prepared myself to show Ingrid something no pup wanted to see of their Sire. I struggled to see my father injured, trying to imagine how it would feel to see him dead caused a vice to wrap around my throat.
How could I possibly tell a female near enough my friend that her father, the patriarch of her family, was no longer here?
"Eabha?" Kohl lined green eyes widened in surprise when I opened the door. Ingrid's brow pinched, and she leaned to the side to try and peer into the room. "What's going on? Why did Astrid have me summoned here like some low-born servant?"
If it weren't for the situation, I might have rolled my eyes, or scolded her with a reminder that Astrid was cousin to the Alpha, and any pack member should come when called by their Alpha. In fact, she glanced down at me as if she expected as much too, and when all I could do was take her hand in mine, she drew back. Fear flashed across her eyes, and then she barged past me into the room only to immediately stop in her tracks again.
I made sure to shut the door to give some slice of privacy to the poor female frozen with glazed eyes as if her mind refused to see what was before her. Her hands fell limp by her side. Her lips parted on a sharp gasp.
Nobody spoke, Farrin and Eirny keeping their heads down while Ingrid tried to come to terms with her new reality. But my mate had no patience. Hati inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring, eyes brightening with condemnation. Whatever he found in the female's scent, despite her obvious shock, was enough to cast his judgement.
"You are under arrest for the murder of your father, the murder of Bruadar, and betraying the pack."
The colour drained from Ingrid's face and she staggered, doubling over with a grunt as if having suffered a physical blow. Hati announcing her father as murdered broke through her shock. She threw herself over her his body on the bed and let out such a gut-wrenching wail that it stirred me too. This wasn't an act. This wasn't the sound of a female who'd murdered.
"You have lost your senses," I hissed at Hati, rounding on him with tears in my eyes. I planted myself between his thunderous glower and where Ingrid grieved. "I won't let you do this. It was not her. Loa was the one who arranged the food Ingrid gave to her father, and now she can't be found, yet you want to pin this on a female you once thought highly enough of to take as your mate?"
"Who else could it be! Ingrid has played us all for fools. I can smell the sour stench of guilt on her skin."
"Can you smell mine?" I parried back.
Nothing would make me back down. Nothing. Gerlac should not have died on my watch. I was supposed to be a saviour, a protector, an Alpha Female, but the number of dead for whom I felt guilty was growing ever longer.
Hati frowned. His brow pinched together as he inhaled my scent, but any hesitation was overpowered by his need to put an end to this before more got hurt. However, rushing would be exactly what would cause our doom.
"I could smell yours," I continued. "When Sól fell to your claws, she died because of the machinations of another, but you still feel guilty. Just as I feel guilty for Gerlac. Just as I'm sure you do as well. That's what's driving you right now Hati, guilt. Do fall to your belief you must appear infallible to be Alpha. We have both made mistakes with this; I was the one who convinced Gerlac to remain locked up after all. Take a minute, my mate, consider our initial reaction is exactly what our enemies want."
A vein above his eye twitched, his jaw clenching as amber eyes burned a bright gold. I thought he might fly into a rage but his voice was eerily calm as he spoke, "Ingrid will return to her quarters and stay there. Farrin will stand at her door. She is to see no one, and receive nothing, until I decide what to do."
Farrin shook his head. "Hati, once this gets out-"
"I know! I know. Some will lose faith. There won't be a pack to hold together if we don't take action. Just do as I ask, take her to her rooms and keep her there!"
"Eabha!" Ingrid cried, shaking as she got to her feet. "You promised. . ."
How had so much gone wrong so quickly?
She looked pleadingly up at Hati with her hands clenched together so tight her knuckles whitened. "Do not send my father to his grave a traitor, I beg of you. Do not bury him when the pack think he has done wrong. Set things right. The memory of him should not be shrouded in doubt after all he has done."
Doubt that was now casting its shadow over her.
I had thought she was going to plead for her freedom, for her life, but the fact it was her father's memory she feared for is what finally made some of the angry fog lift from Hati. He stared at her hard, the fire of his eyes searching the quivering female who once stood to be his mate, a female he must have felt some modicum of affection for to agree to be hers.
Head bowing low, he lowered his gaze and conceded, "I am deeply sorry for you loss, my lady. Your father was a brave and honourable man. I vow he will go to his grave with his honour restored, and the help he offered my mate in catching the spy by remaining our prisoner will be told to the pack." Lifting his gaze again, Ingrid's relief soured to fear once more as he added, "We will catch whoever is behind all this, and if I find you had a part in anything, I vow you will know no such peace."
Ingrid wilted, and I reached out to brush my fingers against her hand in silent confidence. She wouldn't take the fall for anything while I still breathed. Much to my surprise, emerald eyes flared with as much fury as Hati's as she whispered harshly, "Find them, Eabha, but do not kill them. I would have a taste of flesh from whoever thought my father's life was theirs to take."
Head held up and dignified, tears wiped from her face, she leaned down to press one last kiss to her father's brow, whispering something unintelligible by his ear, before allowing Farrin to guide her from the room. Even now, she knew to help, she couldn't let the pack see her breaking. No mother. No father. Ingrid was alone in the world and had every right to turn her claws to Hati for his disrespect, but she remained the refined lady of the castle and I'd never had more respect for her.
As soon as the room was empty but for Eirny, I gave my mate such a growl, one that tore deep from my chest with such force, I swore I felt the walls shake.
"Sometimes, Hati Hróðvitnisson, you can be a monstrous ass."
"And sometimes, Eabha NicTabhin, you can be too quick to judge."
I choked a laugh and span away. Oh I was angry with him. I could have raged and screamed until my throat was raw, battered his chest until he was forced to see sense. But if Hati was going to let his emotions get the best of him, if he was going to let hate blind him, then I was going to be the one to end this.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly turned back to him. "Now is our chance. We need to play this right and catch the traitor once and for all before someone else dies, or we lose the pack to finger pointing between Vargr and skin shifter. We need to make our traitor show themselves."
Perhaps he wasn't as blind as I accused him of being after all. He straightened slowly, his interest piqued by my tone. "You have an idea?"
"I do. One that will restore Gerlac's honour and have our spy all but throw themselves at our feet."