Chapter 134

Nicholas

“Meeting adjourned,” Kieran said, tapping his gavel on the wooden table.

The other guild members rose from their seats, the council chamber filling with the sound of scraping chairs, rustling papers, and voices. It was the end of the day—a long day, might I add—and everyone was itching to get home.

But I had no intention of leaving. Not yet, anyway. And not for a good, long while.

Pushing my chair back, I strode across the room and stopped in front of Kieran Lovelace, the former Alpha of Silvercrest pack and one of two chairmen at the top of the guild. He had abdicated his role as Alpha of Silvercrest to his son more than ten years ago, but was still going strong on the guild.

For now, anyway. But rumor had it that Kieran intended to retire within a year, seeing as how he was well over eighty years of age.

“Chairman Kieran,” I said, smiling as charmingly as I could manage as I approached. “I was hoping to speak with you briefly, if you have a moment.”

Kieran glanced up from his briefcase, weathered old lips working across teeth that were almost definitely dentures. “What is it, youngling?” he asked curtly.

I decided not to let the antiquated term—youngling, like I was a mewling pup—bother me. Instead, I grinned even wider and said, “I was hoping to speak with you about the matter regarding the export deficits in the western packs. I believe we should—”

“We should do as we’ve always done, which is to lower tariffs and wait for the market to heal itself,” Kieran cut me off with a wave of a gnarled old hand. “And you, young Nicholas, should be spending your first month observing and learning, just as we’ve discussed multiple times already.”

My jaw ticked with frustration. This definitely wasn’t the first time Kieran had told me to ‘observe and learn’, and it likely wouldn’t be the last. He thought I was a child, completely incapable of providing meaningful insight and participating in meetings.

In fact, the past six meetings since I had joined the guild were spent taking notes for everyone else, and whenever I tried to inject my own voice into the discussions, I was told to be quiet.

Six.

Somehow, though, I managed to keep that damn smile on my face as I said, “How old were you when you stopped observing and started participating?”

Kieran’s eyes hardened, but he didn’t respond. Rather, someone else interrupted then, drawing away his attention entirely. I knew that was the end of that, so I grit my teeth and left.

Later that night, once the majority of the guild had left, I made my way down the west wing into the library, then made my way down into the basement where the archives sat.

Before I could enter the archives, there was a keycard-operated door. Once, I had to sign in to the library just to access the books and documents, and the archives were entirely off limits. But now, with one swipe of my guild keycard, I was in.

Alone. Unmonitored. And surrounded by information that was sure to lead to the cause of my mother’s death.

As I began to search through the rows upon rows of shelves and filing cabinets, I considered the reasons why I had come here tonight—the real reason why I had joined the guild to begin with, and why I wanted Kieran’s spot so badly.

As a guild member, I had access to a whole slew of information that I’d never be able to get otherwise. And as chairman, I would have access to everything.

Documents. Death records. Security footage. Even the prison records, including but not limited to Grace’s stay in the underground cells.

From what I’d gleaned during my first few weeks on the guild, it seemed that the main guild members had little knowledge of Grace. They knew she existed, and knew that she was an escaped political prisoner, but they didn’t know why she had been imprisoned.

They didn’t seem to know a lick about the so-called relic of Luporath, either. Somehow, that information seemed to have been known only by Gray, and likely Kieran and the other chairman, William Straud.

What they all knew, I wasn’t entirely sure. Gray seemed convinced that there were others who would commit even more evils with the relic than he would, but Kieran and William didn’t seem like potential threats.

Kieran was a jackass, but he was old as sin and seemed unbothered by such things. William, for his part, was all business without an ounce of fire in him.

But that didn’t make them entirely innocent. No, no one in the guild was entirely innocent. Not even me. We all had our own agendas, our own wants and needs that we would do anything to get our hands on.

And as for me, I needed more information on my mother’s death for a start.

I finally found the section on pack birth and death records, which was neatly alphabetized in filing cabinets. It didn’t take me long to find information on my mother’s death.

“Mia Reynolds,” I whispered, flipping open the manila folder containing her information. “Let’s see what they’ve got on you…”

But as I opened the folder and pulled out her death certificate, all I found was the following: “Date of death: December 13th, approximately 2:53 PM. State when found: broken neck, fractured arm, fractured pelvis, multiple spinal traumas. Deceased found washed up along river bed, clothes wet and torn. Cause of death ruled: suicide by fall from high place.”

I cursed, my eyes scanning the page. That was it?

There had to be more to it than that. After what Grace had told me, it seemed as though my mother’s alleged suicide wasn’t out of madness or despair. It was something else: fear.

My mother had been so fearful of this relic’s location being found that she had killed herself just to keep it a secret.

I shook my head and put the folder away, moving through the archives in search of anything on Luporath. If there was going to be anything on the lost civilization, then it was going to be in here.

But just as I was rounding the corner to the section on historical records, I nearly slammed head first into another person.

A security guard.

“Alpha Nicholas?” the security guard asked, shining his flashlight directly in my face. “What are you doing here? The library is closing for the night.”

I pasted that well-practiced smile onto my face and edged past him. “Is it that time already?” I laughed, glancing at my watch. “Guess I lost track of time. I was just going over some information that I need for an upcoming presentation. You know how meetings are. Tedious.”

The guard blinked at me, and for a moment, I thought he might not buy it. But then he shrugged, laughing, and said, “Tell me about it. Be careful on your way out. Lights are shutting off for the night.”

I nodded, turning and hurrying away.

As I climbed onto my motorcycle and started the journey home, I felt my heart harden. If my mother was truly driven to suicide over a relic that someone—likely someone in the guild—wanted so badly, then she must have felt extremely compelled to protect it.

My mother, contrary to popular belief, wasn’t insane no matter what my father did to her. She was an intelligent woman, and she wouldn’t just… jump off a cliff over fairytales.

No, there was something behind this. Something important. And perhaps, by extension, I should have protected the relic too.

If nothing else, then to honor my mother’s death.

By the time I returned home, my fingers were wind-chapped from riding my motorcycle and the moon was high in the sky. I quietly made my way upstairs, careful not to wake anyone, and headed straight for my room.

It had become Kayla’s room for a while, the study turning into my temporary sleeping quarters. But lately, we’d been sharing a bed on a regular basis.

Perhaps it was our room now.

She was already asleep when I slipped inside, her red hair splayed out across the pillow behind her. My heart softened once again when I saw her peaceful face, her milky white breast gently rising and falling in sleep.

I was drawn to her then, just as I had been so many nights in a row. In fact, I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of pulling her slender, soft body up against me when I climbed into bed.

But just as I was moving toward the bed, she stirred, her eyes fluttering. She looked up at me, her brow furrowed, and slurred, “Why are you here?”

Something in Kayla’s voice made me pause, my back stiffening. She didn’t sound inviting, like she had for the past month. In fact, she sounded more annoyed that I was here than anything, and with a small huff, she rolled over and went back to sleep.

I couldn’t climb into bed with her after that, not when it seemed she wanted to be alone. So without waking her again, I left her room, choosing to sleep in my study that night instead.