“Alright.” Conrad lingered in the doorway a little longer… but if he was trying to muster the courage to ask her something, he didn’t succeed. She heard his footsteps retreating, and let the breath she’d been holding out in a rush, a tear spilling down her cheek. What a coward she was being. After all the effort she’d made to get the wolves invited to this event, she couldn’t even muster the courage to walk a hundred feet to meet them? She couldn’t put a brave face on for five minutes?
It wasn’t the wolves, it wasn’t being Queen, it wasn’t Conrad… it wasn’t even the wedding that was making her feel like she couldn’t breathe. It all came down to Seth in the end, didn’t it? No matter how hard she tried to run from this, for once in her life, she was going to need to face the truth. She was in love with him. It was likely that she’d been in love with him since the moment they’d met. He was her soulmate… and if she’d been honest with herself, she’d have known that months ago.
And what good would it have done to know? It didn’t change anything. He was still Alpha of his pack, carrying the great burden of leadership. She was still Queen of a kingdom of dragons who harbored a resentment that bordered on hostility toward wolves. There was no way a relationship between the two of them could work out, even if they’d both realized what was happening the moment their eyes had met.
It couldn’t happen. Seth must have known that when he’d left. If he’d come here, he understood what she was realizing now—it was their duty as leaders to do what was best for their people. For Seth, that had meant leaving the palace. For Lana, that meant marrying Conrad and ruling at his side.
But how could she marry a man she didn’t love in front of the man she did?
Without thinking about it, Lana rose to her feet. Her mind blank and curiously peaceful, she strode out of her chambers without so much as a second glance. And still at that same calm, unhurried pace, she walked straight down the passageway that led into the forest, and disappeared from sight.
Chapter 18 - Seth
Returning to the dragon’s great cave in the mountain felt almost as strange as his first visit… and that was saying something. After the rather turbulent flight from the Plateau up to the passageway at the very top of the cavern, he hid a smile at the shocked gasps of the wolves he’d brought along. The invitation hadn’t specified a limit, so he’d settled on an even dozen of them. Several of his closest advisors, including his mother and father, along with a few volunteers from the patrol who’d been with him during that first fateful visit. He’d been surprised to hear from Elza at the meeting to discuss the dragons’ invitation. Not only did she feel they should accept the invitation, she’d also offered to join the delegation.
It had been a long meeting. The pack was torn between confusion, suspicion, and amusement at the prospect of attending a royal wedding—the very concept seemed inherently strange to them. Wolves didn’t have weddings. You simply met your soulmate, told your friends and family, and that was it. But the letter was detailed and clear. This was a significant political occasion for the dragons, and the invitation was an apology for their mishandling of the most recent political occasion.
Seth knew he couldn’t make a decision on this subject. He could barely think about it without a surge of contradictory emotions making it impossible… anger at Lana for waiting so long to reach out, desperate joy at hearing from her, betrayal at the news that she was joining herself to the Prince, heart-wrenching delight at the idea of seeing her again, even if it was only to watch her marry his pack’s old enemy… so he kept a distance from the voting, mediating the robust discussion without contributing, leaving the decision in the hands of the pack, who at least could see the situation clearly.
And here they were, weeks later… attending the wedding. The potential of getting useful information about the disappearances, in the end, had been too strong a temptation to resist. They still hadn’t lost anyone else since putting a temporary stop to the farthermost patrols, but new worries had replaced those ones. The world was growing more dangerous. It was almost as though the Fog was rolling in closer, now that the outermost trails were abandoned—there were sightings of the monstrosities that dwelled in its depths much closer to the center of the valley than they’d ever dared travel before, and tales of injuries and close calls on patrol were increasing every day.
That was what he should be focusing on, he told himself over and over as the contingent was escorted up the familiar stairs to the Palace. He needed to focus on keeping his pack safe, not on the thought of seeing Lana again. Whatever they had had, it was over now. She was nothing more to him than the Queen of a rival civilization… a monarch with whom it was essential to maintain civil relations, if they were going to protect their respective people.
So why couldn’t he stop his stomach from doing backflips every time a door opened?
The Prince himself showed them around their rooms. Seth felt his whole body tense when he realized that Lana’s room was among the ones that had been allocated to the wolves … but his heart sank when he saw that the room was empty. She’d taken new quarters, then. Of course. She was probably sharing a bed with Conrad now… he turned away, affecting interest in the view from the window while he worked to get his temper under control. He felt worried glances from the other wolves, heard Elza move up beside him, knew that he was letting his wolf get the better of him, and gritted his teeth.Get it together, Seth. You’re better than this. He forced himself to turn back around, keeping his breathing level.
“The Queen sends her sincere apologies for not greeting you personally,” Conrad said smoothly—if he was aware that anything was wrong with Seth, he wasn’t letting on. “Much to be done in preparation for the ceremony tomorrow—but she hopes you’ll join us both for a formal dinner this evening? Until then, I’m afraid, you’ll have to make do with my hospitality.”
A soft murmur of laughter from his wolves. Seth fought the urge to scowl. Conrad was good at this, he had to admit. He struck a skillful balance between charm and diplomacy, between authority and that subtle self-deprecating wit. He’d even won the flicker of a smile from Seth’s mother—not an easy task for anyone, let alone a dragon.
Shortly afterwards, they were left to settle into their rooms and rest before dinner. Seth took a room as far from the one he remembered sharing with Lana as he could, and buried his face under the pillow. The journey from the village had been long and arduous—his patrols hadn’t been exaggerating about the increased presence of dangerous creatures on the trails. And it hadn’t helped that he’d barely slept the night before. Despite his turbulent mind, he was able to sink into the blessed embrace of sleep for at least a few hours.
He woke, disoriented by the perpetual glow of the walls of the cavern, with an odd sense in his stomach that something was wrong. Not just the wedding, or the feeling of being trapped underground with a million dragons—something else. Something new. Something that sent him pacing the hallways, curious about what might be triggering his instincts like this. It was the same feeling he’d gotten before he and his patrol had run into the forest to chase off the beast that had been attacking Lana. His gut had never steered him wrong before.
It wasn’t long before he found the source of what was troubling him. After a few dead-end conversations with extremely polite and extremely uncomfortable palace staff, he decided to try another path. Listening at doors wasn’t exactly exemplary conduct from a visiting dignitary, but it was palace staff he was spying on, not monarchs.
“—gone, they said. Completely gone. Nowhere in the Palace, nowhere in the cavern, no note, nothing. Nobody saw her leaving, either, and you know how carefully they’ve been watching who comes and goes since people started going missing—”
“She wouldn’t have gone through the peak, she’d have snuck out that dusty old tunnel. I knew she chose that room on purpose. It made no sense! Moving from a room with a window to something deep in the rock, right by that awful drafty passageway to the forest? She was obviously planning to make a run for it since the coronation—”
“What’s the Prince going to do? How will he save face? His soulmate left him on the night of their wedding!”
“Oh, they’re not soulmates. Are you kidding? This is all politics.”
“I’ve seen the way they look at each other—”
Seth had heard enough. He slipped away as the dragons dissolved into whispered bickering about the exact nature of Lana and Conrad’s relationship, his heart pounding in his chest. He’d thought it was strange that she hadn’t come to greet them on their arrival. Had she been missing even then? The staff seemed to think she’d gone through the tunnel, and Seth had to fight the urge to run there right now, to run as fast as he could and not stop running until he’d found her. She must have changed her mind about the wedding. Was it possible she was running away to find him?
No, he told himself, trying to get a grip. Of course not. She knew he was here, which meant if she was running, she was running away from him, too. And there was another interpretation of events, here—a much more scary one. One that had him knocking on the door to Conrad’s office a few minutes later, as much as he hated the prospect…
“Alpha, good evening.” Conrad was standing at his desk, a couple of dragons in palace livery standing awkwardly beside him. Seth knew without asking that they were soldiers—something about the stiffness in their bearing, and the thoughtful way their eyes were taking him in, sizing him up. This confirmed his suspicions. If Conrad was talking with the palace guard… “Dinner may be a little late—”
“Lana’s missing,” Seth said, too worried to bother with diplomacy right now… and he had to admit, the way Conrad’s eyes widened in shock before he regained control of his expression was rather satisfying. The soldiers waited impassively, but he caught the look they exchanged.
“The Queen? What gives you that idea?”
“Come on,” Seth said impatiently, fighting the urge to growl. “Are you really going to waste time pretending everything’s fine? Or are you going to let me help find her?” The Prince’s expression flickered. Seth realized that he hadn’t considered the idea that the wolves might actually be able to help. “How long has she been gone?”