Chapter 51

Raven

The tray hit the floor with a deafening crash, broken shards of dishes scattering across the room.

Ember stood frozen in the doorway, her wide eyes darting between me and the lifeless body sprawled across the floor. Blood pooled beneath Hannah, staining the stone a dark crimson, and I couldn’t bring myself to move, still kneeling with my hands pressed against my face.

“Raven,” Ember hissed, finally snapping out of her trance. She slammed the door shut behind her and locked it, rushing over to me. Her hands grabbed my shoulders, shaking me roughly out of my daze. “What in the hells happened here?”

I choked back a sob, my voice barely audible. “She… She came after me,” I rasped. “She thought I was a spy. She found out I’m a Werewolf. She—she was going to kill me.”

Ember’s expression hardened as she took in the scene. Her lips pressed into a thin line, and her jaw clenched. “You killed her,” she said matter-of-factly.

I nodded mutely, tears streaming down my face. “But I-I didn’t mean to. I swear I didn’t mean to.”

Ember crouched down beside me, her movements swift and purposeful. She grabbed my bloodied hands and forced me to look at her. “Listen to me. You did not have a choice. She attacked you, and you defended yourself, correct?”

She stared at me, but I remained mute, unable to speak. Ember grit her teeth and shook me again. “Correct?” she repeated.

I nodded stiffly.

“That is what any Lycan would have done,” Ember said, stepping back.

But her words offered no comfort. A woman was lying dead on my bedroom floor. A woman that I had killed. I never wanted to kill anyone.

I shook my head, my voice trembling. “But she’s dead.” I stammered. “She’s… She’s the seneschal’s daughter, Ember. A friend of the King. What am I supposed to do? What if someone finds out? Won’t people come after me?”

Ember’s gaze darkened, and she glanced toward the door as if expecting someone to burst in at any moment. “No one will find out,” she said firmly. “We will handle this. But you need to pull yourself together. Right now.”

I swallowed hard, trying to steady my breathing. Ember turned, her eyes scanning the room. “We have to move her,” she said quickly. “The guards will have heard the fight. It was echoing all down the hallway.”

Panic surged through me again. “Move her? To where?”

Ember’s sharp eyes locked onto mine. “Somewhere far enough away that no one will connect this to you. But first…” She grabbed her knife from her belt and, without hesitation, slashed a deep cut across her thigh, straight through her training leathers.

“What are you doing?” I gasped, my eyes widening in horror as red blood began to bead on the surface of her thigh.

She hissed through her teeth at the pain, then pointed to the blood trickling down her leg. “Hiding the scent. If the guards smell blood, they will come asking questions. This way, I can tell them we were sparring and things got a little out of hand.”

I stared at her, dumbfounded. “You… You would do that? For me?”

Ember shot me a pointed look. “Of course I would. You are one of us now, Raven. Whether you like it or not. Whether I like it or not.”

With that, she helped me wrap the body in my bed sheets. We moved Hannah to the bathroom, laying her gingerly in the tub. She was a lot lighter than I expected.

Somehow, I stopped myself from crying as I worked. I think I went numb again, just as I had when I had buried the pilot. Only this time, it wasn’t grief that numbed me, but rather the terror of getting caught. Grief could come later, once I was lying awake in bed and thinking about my sins.

As if on cue, someone knocked at the door just as we were settling Hannah’s body in the bathroom. “Stay here and do not make a sound,” Ember hissed, crossing over to the door.

I nodded, my throat too tight to speak anyway. Ember opened the door just enough to peek out into the hallway, and sure enough, two guards were approaching. She stepped out into the corridor, pulling the door closed behind her before they could come into the room.

“What happened?” I heard one of the guards ask.

“Nothing serious,” Ember said coolly. “Lady Serena and I were sparring. Got a little carried away, that’s all.”

“You’re bleeding.”

Embe huffed. “I already said it got out of hand.”

There was a silence, during which I held my breath, clamping my hand over my mouth to hide my quiet sobs. Finally, the guards seemed satisfied. “Fine. Just keep it down next time.”

Ember muttered something in agreement before slipping back into the room and locking the door behind her. “We’re clear,” she said, her voice low. “For now.”

Relief flooded through me, but it was short-lived as Ember strode into the bathroom. “I mindlinked Eric and Castor,” she said. “They’ll know what to do.”

Sure enough, Eric and Castor arrived within a couple of minutes. Castor strode into the bathroom first, his broad shoulders filling the space. His eyes flicked first to me, taking in my tear-streaked face and red-rimmed eyes, before he moved to the mass in the tub and gingerly moved the sheet aside to look at Hannah.

“Damn it, Raven,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “What in the hells did you get yourself into?”

To my surprise, Ember jumped to my defense before I could answer. “She defended herself,” she snapped. “Hannah attacked her.”

Eric frowned, his gaze flicking to me. “Is that true?”

I nodded, my throat too tight to speak. The two men exchanged a glance before stepping forward to take Hannah’s body from us. “We’ll handle it,” Eric said. “But this doesn’t leave the four of us, aside from Neil. Understood?”

After that, we carefully wrapped Hannah in more sheets until the blood stopped getting everywhere. Ember helped me clean my room, sopping up the small pool of crimson liquid that had formed where Hannah fell. It wasn’t as much as I remembered, but it was enough to make my stomach turn.

Once the coast was clear, Castor lifted Hannah into his arms. The four of us stole through the corridors of the castle, avoiding anyone and everyone who crossed our paths. Thankfully it was late by then, and most people were asleep.

Soon enough, we found ourselves in a dark forest clearing with a creek running through it, the pale moonlight filtering through the trees.

“We can’t bury her,” Castor said as he laid Hannah’s body down. “It will be too obvious that there was foul play.”

“And we can’t dump her in the river,” Eric added. “The water supply would be tainted.”

“So what do we do?” I asked hoarsely, wringing my hands. The fact that any of them had even helped me so far was a miracle to me. If I had been caught… I shuddered to think about what might happen. Although maybe I deserved whatever punishment I got.

“We have to stage a suicide,” Ember said bluntly. She knelt beside Hannah’s body, placing a knife in her lifeless hands and positioning her on the forest floor. “It’s the only way.”

I watched in silence as they worked, my stomach churning. When they were finished, I stepped forward and knelt beside Hannah’s body. My hands trembled as I folded them in front of me, bowing my head.

“What are you doing?” Eric asked.

“She deserves respect,” I said quietly. “Even if she tried to kill me.”

I murmured a small prayer, bowing my head over Hannah’s body. When I was finished, I placed a hand on Hannah’s arm, a small gesture of peace before standing and stepping back.

The others were silent, their gazes heavy as they watched me. Finally, Eric cleared his throat. “You’ve got guts, Raven. I’ll give you that.”

“She has more than that,” Ember said, striding up to me and placing a hand on my shoulder. “She is one of us now. One of the barbarians she used to hate.”

The words struck me like a blow to the chest, and I turned, staring at Ember with wide eyes. But there was no malice in her gaze. If anything, she just looked… proud. As if all that mattered to her was knowing that all of her grueling training had paid off.

And strangely, I couldn’t help but agree with her.

Eric and Castor exchanged a glance before Castor suddenly stepped forward. “There’s a ritual,” he said. “A… sort of coming of age ritual that all Lycans undergo when they win their first battle.”

I swallowed hard, looking around at all of them. I wasn’t a Lycan, and yet… I didn’t feel like a Werewolf right now, either. Not after what I had just done.

“It contains a blessing,” Ember added for clarification. “A way to cleanse yourself of the negative energy of the kill.”

“And to help your opponent pass on in the next life,” Eric chimed in.

My eyes darted over to Hannah, who still lay motionless on the forest floor. I didn’t care about myself right now, about the bad energy associated with killing someone. All I cared about was ensuring that Hannah could rest peacefully.

Because even though she had tried to kill me, she had only done so out of what she thought was necessity. I couldn’t hate her for that.

Finally, I nodded.

“I’m ready,” I said.

They led me to the creek, the water cool and clear under the moonlight. Ember, Eric, and Castor stood on either side of me, their hands resting on my shoulders.

They murmured the words of the ritual before gently guiding me into the water. My heart raced as the icy water rose around me, but I didn’t resist.

And then, with one final glance, they dunked me under.