Chapter 729: The Ruin She Brings
The fire in the hearth crackled softly, casting warm amber light across the room. The flas danced and swayed, painting shadows on the walls that flickered with each small gust of wind slipping through the small gap in the window.
Outside, the night was still as snow fell in slow, lazy spirals. The world beyond the glass had gone quiet, muffled by the thickening blanket of white. It was the kind of silence that usually brought peace, but tonight it only felt heavy.
Sophia lay on the bed, her breathing slow and even, her face peaceful. Her chest rose and fell in a gentle rhythm, and for the first ti in days, there were no lines of tension carved into her forehead. The firelight caught the soft curve of her cheek, and even in sleep, she looked like sothing sacred.
Orion had undressed her carefully. She had not stirred once as he did so. Not when he peeled away the clothes she had worn—stiff with cold and dried sweat—not when he pulled his tunic over her head, the fabric slling of woodsmoke and him, not when he adjusted the blankets around her until they covered her without smothering her. Every movent had been slow, deliberate, reverent.
He placed water just within reach on the nightstand in case she woke up thirsty. He tucked the glass close to the lamp so she would see it imdiately.
He sat on the chair by the window currently, his gaze on the snow falling just outside. His forearms rested on his knees, his hands loosely clasped. He had not moved for a long ti.
Minutes passed in silence, and then Noctis spoke.
*You have questions for , do you not?* he asked Orion.
Orion exhaled slowly through his nose.
"I do," he admitted.
Noctis did not respond imdiately. He simply waited.
Orion leaned back in the chair, the wood creaking beneath his weight.
"How did you know?" he asked finally.
Noctis’s presence shifted, a subtle movent of attention.
*Know what?*
"That Sophia could do what she did in the cell." Orion’s voice was low, careful. "That she could reach into Josiah and pull that darkness out like it was nothing."
There was a pause.
*I was not a hundred percent certain,* Noctis said at last. *I only worked with the suspicion that it could work.*
Orion turned his head slightly, as if he could see the wolf by looking hard enough.
"You suspected?"
*Yes.*
"That’s it? You suspected?"
*Yes, Orion, it was a suspicion,* Noctis said. *And it only beca one because of what happened when Sophia went to et Madam Tyler.*
"Regarding her hair?" Orion asked him.
*Yes,* Noctis replied to him. *Sophia was able to detect whatever untraceable black magic her mother had used on her with the help of Madam Tyler and Neoma. That should not have been possible. Not for a wolf her age. Not for anyone without a direct line to sothing older than magic itself.*
Orion was silent as Noctis continued.
*And so I suspected that perhaps this is a gift she has always had. According to what Sophia recounted, Madam Tyler told her that she could only lead to help Sophia detect whatever black magic was present... and this is a first. I’ve never heard of it before.*
"What if it exists then? Just because you’ve not heard of it does not an it could not exist."
*That is true, but the odds are unlikely. You forget I have had close contact with said black magic. I have an idea what it looks like, and if it is done to be untraceable, then no one would be able to notice it except perhaps the goddess herself.*
Orion was quiet for a while, the words settling into him. He thought of Sophia in that cell, her hands steady despite everything. He thought of how she had collapsed afterward, spent.
"And Sophia is like a representation of the goddess," he said as it dawned on him.
That had to be the reason why Sophia was able to do what she did.
Noctis spoke up then in tune with Prions thoughts.
*That is why I thought she may possess the gift. The goddess’s magic is comforting, it’s filled with blessings, it’s refreshing, but black magic is the opposite. It’s draining and seeks to take and take without stopping, and most tis the most dangerous ones are the ones one cannot detect. They slip in over ti, becoming what should be and more, and over ti, they kill.*
Orion was quiet once more. The snow outside had begun to fall harder, the flakes no longer lazy but driven.
"Are you telling ," he asked Noctis, his voice low and tight, "that whatever was used on Sophia could kill her?"
*When I say kill, I did not an it in the literal sense. It may not kill Sophia, but it will kill those around her. If what was used on Sophia is not removed, then the visions she had and the one Oculum had where the pack is brought to ruin will co to pass, and it will be her who brings ruin. Not because she is evil. But because the magic will make her a wound that never closes.*
"Noctis," Orion called out, his voice steady despite the storm brewing in his chest. "I’m not mad you did not say anything when she told us about this, but perhaps—do you know what was used on Sophia?"
Noctis did not hesitate in answering.
*I cannot say for certain, but after what happened with Josiah, I have narrowed it down a bit. Though what was used was different, they have similar properties. Sa signature. Sa cold. Sa hunger. But Josiah’s was fresh. Hers is old. Woven in to the point that it has been made a part of her. It has the traits of a binding curse that feeds on love. On loyalty and even bonds. But I suspect it is also more than that.*
Orion’s hands curled into fists on his knees.
"Can you help us get rid of it?" Orion asked softly.
Boctis was quiet then he released a disobeying sound.
*Sophia is our mate Orion, I will do everything with the knowledge I have to get rid of it.*
"Do you think Neoma knows?" Orion asked him after a while.
*If Neoma did, then she would have alerted Sophia from the beginning, don’t you think? And what is used on Sophia doesn’t just affect her but Neoma also. They are connected. Perhaps that is why Neoma could not detect what had been used on Sophia, and perhaps that is why she only just realised Sophia’s gifts are more than the prophecy your generation knows.*
Noctis’s words reminded Orion of sothing Oculum had said when he had spoken to him and Sophia.
"There is more to the prophecy?" Orion asked Noctis. "Oculum was right?"
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