Chapter 720: One Who Brings Ruin
Sophia opened her eyes just as Madam Tyler’s chants stopped.
The silence that followed was sudden, almost jarring. The soft hum of the old woman’s voice had been a constant thread through the darkness, and without it, the shrine felt emptier sohow. The walls seed to press closer, the flickering candles casting shadows that danced across the floor like restless spirits.
Sophia’s legs were weak. They trembled beneath her, threatening to give way, and before she could steady herself, the assistant was there. The young woman moved quickly, slipping an arm around Sophia’s waist and guiding her toward a wooden chair near the wall. Sophia let herself be moved, her body heavy, her mind still half-lost in the darkness she had only just escaped.
It was only when she was seated that she realized they were not alone.
Those who worked in the shrine had made their presence known at so point, and most of them had concerned expressions on their faces.
Soone pressed a cup of water into her hands. The cup was cool against her palms, and she drank, the liquid easing the rawness in her throat.
Madam Tyler stepped closer, her hands clasped before her. Her face was tired, the lines around her eyes deeper than they had been before the ritual began. She looked older than she usually did, as if the chanting had taken sothing out of her.
"Did you find out what we sought to find?" she asked.
Sophia nodded. Then she closed her eyes.
She could not explain why, but she wished Orion was here right now. If only to see his annoying face. Or maybe just his presence. Because even if she tried to claim she was not, she was quite shaken after everything.
She knew her mother did not care for her. It was not sothing she had just realized. But speaking with her... hearing her voice... the lies dripping like honey from her tongue...
Her hands shook, and the cup trembled in her grip.
She knew her mother had wanted her to remain the sa unsuspecting child she had always been. An attack? Sophia scoffed inwardly. There had been no attack. No one had stolen her from the Blood Moon Pack.
Her mother really took her for a fool, it seed.
The marks that had been on her body, the sa ones Madam Tyler and Lysander had told her they noticed when she first ca from the pack, had been caused by her mother. The ritual Victoria had tried to perform on her. The ritual that had left her bleeding on a stone altar in a cave, screaming for a mother who did co but only to ask if it was done.
She opened her eyes and stared at Madam Tyler.
"It’s black magic," she said.
The words hung in the air. One of the workers shifted uncomfortably. Another whispered sothing under her breath, too low to hear. The candles flickered, as if the flas themselves were unsettled by the revelation.
Neoma stirred then.
The wolf’s presence rose within her, warm and steady, and a calmness washed over Sophia. Her racing heartbeat returned to a normal rhythm.
Her hands, which had been shaking, stilled.
The cup stopped trembling.
She knew before he even walked in that he was present. It was like he had heard her thoughts. Like the bond between them had pulled him across the compound, through the cold and the snow, straight to her. She could feel him approaching, the familiar warmth of his presence cutting through the chill that had settled in her bones.
The door opened then, and Orion stepped inside.
He had a frown on his face, and he ignored everyone else—Madam Tyler, the assistant, the workers—as he moved toward her with purpose. His boots were heavy against the floor, each step echoing in the quiet shrine.
The mont he reached her, he bent down, taking her chin in his hands and turning her face gently as his eyes scanned her. Checking her. Searching for any sign of hurt. His thumbs brushed against her jaw, feather-light.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly.
Sophia took a deep breath, inhaling his scent as if wishing it could calm her further than it already had.
Then she nodded.
"I am now," she said softly.
His frown deepened.
"What happened?"
Sophia took a breath. The words ca out steady, even if the mory of them was not.
"We’ve confird our suspicions," she said. "The experints my mother did on my hair... they are linked to black magic. And I suspect there is sothing more in it because she was adamant that my hair remain this colour."
Orion’s jaw tightened. She could see him processing the information, filing it away, already thinking about what it ant.
"But before we discuss that," Sophia said to him, "what are you doing here?"
He held her gaze.
"You don’t want here?" he asked.
"I’m not saying that," Sophia told him.
Orion’s lips tilted into a smile.
"I felt unsettled," he said. "So I ca to find you."
Sophia gave him an appreciative smile. She reached up and touched his hand briefly, a silent thank you.
Then she turned back to Madam Tyler.
"Is there any way to get rid of what is in my hair?"
Before Madam Tyler could answer, Neoma’s voice filled Sophia’s mind.
*Whatever was used on you is like a marking,* she said. *A connection that ties you to Victoria. What Madam Tyler did helped identify it. The only way Victoria was able to reach you is because of what was used.*
Sophia’s chest tightened. She listened quietly.
*I suspect it is a marker,* Neoma continued. *Sothing she placed on you so she could do what she wished to do to you. A tool. A leash. A chain that links you to her across any distance.*
The wolf’s voice softened, but the words did not.
*And Sophia, if we do not get rid of this... then the traitor will not be the only one who brings ruin to the pack... You—no, we—will too.*
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