Page 21

Leanna Avery

Family lineage.

Personal backgrounds.

The victims have nothing in common.

However, I find it hard to believe that these kidnappings were random. And after they tried to take me, I find it even more improbable. If these people could orchestrate such an organized kidnapping attempt on me, there is no way they’ve just been picking out victims at random. There would be no reason to expose themselves to such a risk. No, there is some method to their madness, and if I can just pick out a pattern, it might help us.

The only common denominator seems to be the marks left around the victims’ belongings. In the human world, serial killers often leave behind a sort of signature. This looks like the same kind of thing, a sign of arrogance. None of the information that the intelligence unit has gathered mentions this being a sort of signature, but they don’t deal with humans all that much.

As I sift through the information about the victims who have gone missing, I can’t find anything in common among them. All of them seem like regular, average shifters, from all walks of life. I have to look harder. There has to be something that connects them.

Cassian, who has been helping me with the desk work, is reading through the files I handed him earlier, a frustrated expression on his face. “What are we even looking for?”

“Anything that stands out. Anything that links one of the victims with at least one of the others. I already know that career wise, they had nothing in common. It’s not like they were all working at the palace or something. Aside from Harold, none of them held any position that would be considered close to the king. They were all ordinary.”

Cassian looks up at me. “Exactly! That’s what I’m saying. What are we expecting to find? There’s nothing interesting about these people.”

“We’re looking for anything out of the ordinary.” I take out my notebook and write down the name of the clinic one of the individuals volunteered at. “Was any blood drawn from Harold?”

Cassian shakes his head.

Why does that not surprise me? I look over at him. “I want you to find out the daily routines of the victims. Places they liked to visit, friends, their route to work. There has to be something that connects them. How soon can you get me this information?”

Cassian looks thoughtful. “A week?”

I nod. “Okay, then.”

“What are you going to do in the meantime?” he asks curiously.

I give him a faint smile. “A different kind of research.”

As I utter those words, I look out the window and see Cedric standing in the distance. His arm muscles are flexed, and Finn is hanging from his bicep like a monkey. I grin at the sight of my nimble son trying to win in a feat of strength against his father. He’s desperately trying to bring down Cedric’s arm while the latter watches him.

My son looks like he’s having the time of his life.

No, not my son. Our son.

“Why does Cedric look so angry?” Cassian asks, following my gaze.

“He’s not angry,” I murmur absentmindedly. “He’s amused.”

“Really?” Cassian comes to stand beside me, looking dubious. “That looks like a scowl to me.”

“It’s not.”

“How can you tell?”

“I—” I snap my mouth shut, feeling a strange emotion. “I just can.”

The last part is whispered. I know how Cedric is truly feeling, even though he looks irritated. How? After all these years, how am I still able to read him?

After all, Cedric has changed. He’s not the same man I knew eight years ago. His eyes are the biggest indicator. They’ve become gentler, and sometimes I see something like heaviness in them, as if he’s been carrying a hefty burden. And then there’s his behavior. He is more considerate, almost cautious around me. I don’t know how I feel about this side of him. Something about it makes my heart ache. It’s almost as if he lost a part of himself over the years.

But why did he change his mind so abruptly last night?

“Does this mean we have to leave here and go to the North?”

“No. You’re—I think you’re safer here.”

I didn’t expect Cedric to say that to Finn, not after he’s been so adamant about us going back with him. And when he said it, he looked very sad.

Why is this so hard?

My decision should be simple. But he’s making it harder because I don’t like seeing the hurt in his eyes. I don’t like the way he makes me feel safe and secure. If it were only my wolf pushing for him, I would understand, but my human side is also starting to.

Finn’s laughter makes my heart twist in my chest. Cedric is pretending to let him win. Our son looks delighted. Derrick is shaking his head at the two of them.

Would it be the same if I returned to the North with Cedric? I’ve always wanted to keep Finn happy, to give him the best life possible. Last night, Cedric expressed in front of him that we don’t have to go back with him. I should be pleased.

But I’m not. I’m not happy.

I let out a troubled sigh.

I was never this indecisive before.

Cedric looks up as if he has sensed me watching him. His eyes meet mine from across the vast garden, and I feel a jolt of desire go through me. I can’t help but remember last night when he loomed over me by the kitchen sink.

I’m still attracted to him. And he wasn’t a beast to me when I lived in his castle, not the way I had imagined. So, I can’t hate him. I have no reason to.

“Leanna?”

I clear my throat. “You can go deal with this. I have to talk to Erik.”

I watch Cassian leave before I take a deep breath. I have a feeling that Erik isn’t going to like my request. Opening the door, I summon one of the footmen standing around. “Could you ask Healer Jerry to come here?”

The man nods and hurries off.

I pace in the room anxiously. I need Jerry to be on my side to convince Erik. The king may be open-minded, but even he has his limits. If I can just convince Jerry…

I turn around mid-stride and see Cedric entering through the window. A startled cry leaves my lips, and I stumble backward. My ass would have hit the floor if his arm didn’t loop around my waist, yanking me toward him. I hit his chest, and the breath is knocked out of me.

“What’s wrong with you?” Cedric asks, concerned.

“I—You scared the life out of me!” I shove him, not that he moves. “What were you thinking, coming through the window? There’s a perfectly functioning door right there!”

“The window was closer,” he says bluntly. “Are you free now? Finn is hungry.”

“I’m waiting for Healer Jerry.” Cedric releases his grip on me, and when he moves away, I feel the loss of his body heat. “And I want to see Erik.”

“Why?” His expression grows dark, and I wonder why he’s getting jealous after I’ve confirmed there’s nothing going on between Erik and me.

I rest against the edge of the desk I’ve been using. “I want to convince him to let me have an autopsy conducted on Harold.”

“An autopsy?” Cedric looks confused.

“It’s a human term for cutting up a deceased person’s body. It’s a way to find the cause of death after someone has passed. It’s an invasive procedure, and I know that our kind considers it sacrilegious to tamper with the corpse of a deceased shifter, but Harold’s body could give us the answers that we need. There exists nothing that can knock us out, at least that we know of. What if the people who tortured Harold have found a way to incapacitate our kind? I need a sample of his blood. It’s been a year, but we still might be able to find some clues. There are other victims out there. I know it’s frowned upon, but we have to save those we can, and—”

“I agree,” Cedric replies calmly. “At times like this, what is sacrilegious or not shouldn’t be at the forefront of an argument.”

“Y–You agree?” I stammer, taken aback by his words.

“You make sense,” he says simply.

“I agree, too.” Healer Jerry enters the room, his expression drawn.

“But what if Erik doesn’t?” I murmur.

“His Majesty is a stickler for some rules.” Jerry looks thoughtful. “But maybe we can convince him to change his mind.”

Not ten minutes later, we are met with a resounding “no.” It’s rare to see Erik so angry.

“I won’t hear of it!” he bellows. “His family won’t allow it. Harold may not have had any immediate family, but his extended family would be very much against this. And it’s been a year, Leanna. Even if you tried, you wouldn’t find anything.”

“But what if we did?” I argue. “You want to find the people responsible for Harold’s death, don’t you?” I press. “I need that autopsy. They managed to subdue him, Erik. That shouldn’t have been possible. There is no sign of a struggle at any of the kidnapping sites. No trace of blood, nothing. We’re at a loss. Unless the victims walked off with their kidnappers, the only possible answer is that they were given something.”

Erik looks displeased. “We have no one skilled to perform an autopsy.”

“No one in our world, true.” I meet his gaze steadily. “We need a medical examiner. Only humans work in that profession.”

Erik’s eyes tighten around the corners. “No.”

I try to reason with him. “Erik, we’re running around in circles. I can do all the ground research possible, but we also need to know why it was so easy to kidnap all these shifters without leaving any trace of them.”

“You expect me to trust a human to cut open one of our kind? Do you understand what sort of territory you’re asking me to step into? For centuries, we have made sure that humans don’t find out our secrets, and here you are, offering to have a human study our anatomy!”

His words are harsh, but I refuse to flinch. “What if our enemy is human? What if they have come up with something that can render us helpless before them? We need to know, Erik.”

I see the struggle on his face, but he shakes his head again. “There is no human I trust enough to even try something like this.”

“There is someone I trust,” I say quietly. “Dr. Maya Sorin.”

I feel Jerry glance at me but I keep my eyes on Erik.

“No. She’s a human. You may trust her, but I won’t take the risk of endangering my people. If she sells information, even the hint of—”

“Maya has had plenty of opportunities to sell my secrets, Erik. She has had access to Finn and me, around the clock, for eight years. I’ve trusted her to be alone with my child. She’s our best bet. She”—I hesitate at this part—“has also created medicines for me that have worked. She already has a working knowledge of how our bodies function. On top of that, she was employed as a medical examiner after she graduated. She had earned a degree in forensic pathology before she went back to school for veterinary medicine. Nobody is as qualified as her in this matter.”

“Her being human disqualifies her,” Erik says grimly. “Your friendship with Maya has made me expend a lot of resources to keep an eye on her. I admit that she has safeguarded your secrets, but all it would take for her to betray us is one moment of greed.”

I know Maya would never do anything like what he is implying, but clearly Erik has made up his mind.

“We could bring her over to our world.” Jerry interjects. “She is skilled, Your Majesty. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve taken in a human.”

“Yes, you’re right,” Erik agrees, “but only with the expectation that they cut all their ties to the human world. Relationships, friendships, family. They have to disappear from the human world. And the humans who have done this were old, near the end of their lives, and they had no one, but their knowledge was valuable to us. This woman is young. You expect her to give up everything to join us?”

I deflate, crestfallen. Maya has a mother with dementia who lives in assisted care. She would never walk away from her.

Erik sees the reluctance in my eyes. “Exactly. Even you can’t ask her to abandon her world.”

“What if she teaches Jerry?” I suddenly say. “What if she doesn’t have to be the one to conduct the autopsy?”

“I haven’t even given permission for the autopsy to be conducted. There will be an uproar in the kingdom if I allow such a thing.”

Frustrated, I turn to Cedric, who has been silent. Finally, when I gesture with my head, he speaks. “It is something to be considered, Erik.”

“Don’t tell me how to run my kingdom, Cedric. I don’t tell you how to run yours.” Erik scowls. “And this is not a subject I will budge on. The decision is final.”

I open my mouth to argue, but Cedric touches my shoulder, shaking his head discreetly. I follow him out of Erik’s office, and after Jerry leaves us, disappointed, Cedric murmurs, “If you want, I can take Harold’s body and that loud-mouthed human friend of yours to the North.”

For some reason, the idea of Cedric sneaking off with Maya and a corpse in the middle of the night is morbidly amusing, and I chuckle despite the circumstances. “Thanks, but I’ll figure something else out. I just wish they had done more than only take a few photographs of Harold after he died. I still think this could be the work of humans.”

“The people who attacked you were shifters, though,” Cedric points out. “Unless you’re implying a collaboration?”

I shake my head and shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know what I’m implying. I don’t even know what I’m working with right now. We have nothing. We need that autopsy. Humans have a lot of information that we don’t have. Maybe they have access to a drug that was able to tranquilize him. Human tranquilizers don’t work on us, but what if they have been able to come up with a formula that does? We have no way of knowing because our kind hasn’t tested on ourselves any new formulas or drugs that are on the market. We need a human on board, someone who has access to such things and is aware of our unique anatomy. Maya works with a biological pharmaceutical company that focuses on veterinary medicine. She has the knowledge we need. If only Erik would understand.”

“His reasoning is understandable, though, Leanna.” Cedric walks alongside me as we head to the palace gardens. “He has to keep his people under control. After Erik took the throne, there was a lot of unrest and conspiracy theories that he was the one behind Griffin’s disappearance. He has managed to run the kingdom efficiently, but there are still those who doubt him. If he does anything to unsettle the waters, he risks a potential internal war.”

I sigh. “I know. I get it. But it feels like I’m groping in the dark here.”

“My offer still stands.” Cedric shrugs. “No one will be the wiser.”

I give him the side-eye. “Yeah, that’s a great way to kick start a war between the two kingdoms. Steal a dead body.”

He gives me a quick grin that instantly has my face heating up and my pulse quickening. These past few years have done nothing to diminish his good looks.

“Let’s just go home,” I say to take my mind off him. “We’ll get a pizza on the way. I don’t feel like cooking.”

“What’s a pizza?” Cedric asks as he follows me outside.

It’s my turn to look amused. “Oh, you sad, sad man.” When he bristles, I laugh. “Come on. Let me show you what you’ve been missing your whole life.”

As I pull him along, I catch him watching me with a strange emotion in his eyes.

Cedric ends up liking pizza. We have to get two large pies for him alone, two for Derrick, and one for Finn, who also wants his own. I choose to steal two slices from Cedric’s pizzas, which he doesn’t mind.

Seeing him enjoy the cheesy treat makes me want to snicker. Both he and Derrick look amazed each time the cheese stretches through the air from their mouth to the slice they’re holding. Finn wants to imitate them, so I get to watch all three boys behave like idiots while I eat.

It’s entertaining.

After dinner, Finn wants to sit in the yard to do his schoolwork. Derrick accompanies him. He’s seemingly fascinated by Finn.

“It’s because Derrick hasn’t really been around young children before. He has been on the battlefield with me since he was a teenager,” Cedric explains as I watch Finn and Derrick from the window. “Plus, Finn is my son. Derrick is going to be his personal guard due to the nature of his relationship with me. He’s my most trusted person.”

I turn to face him. “Harriet told me you two fell out after I disappeared.”

Cedric’s expression darkens. “I blamed him. It wasn’t his fault. Derrick’s father had been the head of their family, but when he and his mate died, alongside my parents, his uncle became the new head. The position should have reverted to Derrick when then time was right, but his uncle kept nominating him to fight on the border. After our falling out, he tried to get Bella married to Derrick, at her request. He turned her down, and his uncle took that and used it as an excuse to disown him.”

“So, you made up with him?”

He looks irritated. “We’re not children. I told him I was returning to the border, and I took him with me.”

I hide my smile. “Of course. It was all very macho of you both.”

He just scowls.

I sit down on the couch, take the file from my bag, and open it on the coffee table. The photographs of Harold are on top. Cedric looks down at the open file, and his expression changes as he picks up one of the pictures.

His reaction has me glancing at him. “Cedric? What is it?”

“These marks, on his hand, I’ve seen them before.”

I straighten up. “What?”

He shows me what he’s looking at in the photo, and I see the bruises between Harold’s fingers. “My parents’ bodies were badly mangled when we found them, but they had similar bruises, both on their left hands, between their index and middle fingers. There were needle marks there, which caused the bruising. Did you find any needle marks on this man?”

I shake my head. “I can’t say. I didn’t check. And the examination report doesn’t mention anything like that.”

But as I say those words, I recall seeing Harold waving his hands at me, moments before his death, a wild, manic gesture. I think there may have been something between his fingers. It’s just a memory of a flicker of a moment, but I don’t think I’m imagining it.

I look at Cedric. My heart is pounding, and my voice is low. “We have to convince Erik to let us conduct the autopsy. And I’m going to need anything you have on your parents’ deaths, Cedric.”

He doesn’t flinch, simply nodding. “I’ll have everything sent to you. There’s not a lot. Vivian’s father tried to bury most of the evidence, and he killed off two individuals who claimed to be witnesses to the kidnapping.”

“What?” I gape at him. “Say that again.”

Cedric looks grim. “The reason I needed to make Vivian a political prisoner, and why I was so adamant that you become her substitute, was because my parents, along with Derrick’s, were visiting the Eastern Kingdom when they were kidnapped and tortured. Vivian’s family used the opportunity to try to gain control of the North. Even when they failed, they refused to let me investigate the murders. I always suspected Vivian’s father knew a lot more than he was letting on.”

I am shocked by his words. “What? Wait, are you saying he was involved in—”

“We don’t know for sure. But a lot of evidence was buried and disappeared. The few witnesses we had managed to find were killed off by the king.”

A lot of pieces I never knew existed are falling into place now, including Cedric’s initial hostility toward me when he brought me to the North. “Hold on. You invaded the Eastern Kingdom. And then you gave the ruling power to Vivian’s uncle. Why not just control the East in its entirety and investigate the murders?”

Cedric closes the file in front of us. “Balance. There is a delicate balance within and among all three kingdoms. This balance maintains the existence of the Veil. All three royal families need to remain in power for this very reason. Wars can be fought, kingdoms can be toppled, but the ruling family has to be of the same royal blood of that land. This is something only the royal families are aware of. Which is why, despite our show of power, ultimately it is Vivian’s family who has to rule the East. And they can stop us from investigating. But as long as we have Vivian, either as a political prisoner or queen, they won’t interfere, because she is beloved in her country. Tying her to me as my mate was simply a way to keep the royal bloodline strong. That was my intention when I invaded the Eastern palace. How was I to know that you would be the one waiting for me there?” He gives me a faint smile. “I could say that the Goddess blessed both me and my kingdom when you became our queen.”

I flush. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He sighs. “I won’t claim to be a good king, Leanna,” he finally says, slowly. “I could either protect my people or help the economy. Before my father met my mother and discovered that they were fated mates, he was betrothed to a woman who would have looked after the kingdom while he fought at the border, like his parents before him. But my mother was of warrior blood, like him, and she was not interested in looking after the people of the North. She preferred to fight on the front lines.”

I’ve never heard Cedric talk about his parents, and I find myself fascinated as he opens up to me about his past. “So, the kingdom has been neglected since your parents mated?”

“More or less,” he admits. “My mother did try, but she was a warrior. I always told myself that I would bring in a queen who would look after my people while I focused on protecting the border and the Veil. When I went after the Eastern Kingdom, I didn’t intend to take Vivian as my queen. I had planned to take her as a political prisoner. But when I entered that room, you were the one standing there, and you were my fated mate. I changed my plan.”

Reeling at his words, I wrap my hand around his arm, my nails digging in. “Wait. Hold up. Are you saying I wasn’t a substitute for Vivian?”

His eyes meet mine. “No. You were never a substitute.”