Chapter 92

Sienna’s POV

My hand rested on my stomach as I sat at the dining room table that morning, my thoughts racing. The next few days would go down in history, and I was wrapped up right in the middle of it.

A sharp series of knocks on the front door startled me, sounding urgent. I shifted out of my chair, opening the door to find Alaric leaning there on the porch, his eyes somber.

“What happened?” I frowned, stepping back as he brushed past me, the tension in him transferring to me. It still felt weird to be standing there with him after everything.

“Lucius and I were in the tunnels last night.” Alaric drifted to the living room windows, his eyes focused outside.

“Right…” I stood across the room from him, leaning against the entryway. Clearly, something very bad had happened.

“We found something.” He sighed, his expression troubled.

“And what exactly did you find?” I raised my eyebrows, growing impatient.

“Julian.”

My eyes widened more than I ever thought possible. “You found Julian in the tunnels?”

Something cold started to spread through me, because I had a feeling they did not find him alive down there.

Alaric looked to me, giving me a subtle nod. “His throat was slit, and it seemed pretty recent.”

“Do you think the rogues dumped him down there?” I asked softly, my voice a little hoarse.

“That’s the only answer.” Alaric let out a sigh, finally turning to face me. “But I think we can both agree it’s an answer we’re all very happy with.”

“Yes,” I whispered, averting my eyes. No part of me felt sad for his death — it was all a relief, in every way.

“He’ll never come after you now,” Alaric said gently, and I held back a sob. Julian had been a leech in my life, and I’d blamed him for so long now for the loss of my wolf.

“He’s really dead?” I couldn’t believe those words were coming from my mouth.

“He’s very dead.” A tiny smile crept at the corners of Alaric’s lips as he said it.

“Simon thought he might be working with the rogues,” I said, feeling really dazed. “But I guess not.”

“They were probably playing him. Rogues never like anyone in a position of power — if he were smart, he’d have known that.”

“His throat slit…” I murmured, my eyes glazing over. “Sounds painful.”

“He definitely felt it for a while. There was…well, there was an awful lot of blood.” Alaric met my gaze, his gentle. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I breathed, relief still swelling inside me. “I’m…happy.”

“It’s okay to be happy,” he smiled, taking a single step closer to me. “He did a lot of bad things to you.”

“Yeah,” I muttered, glancing down at my feet, a twinge coming from my stomach. The baby was happy about it, too.

“He’s out of the picture now. Take a little to process it, okay?”

All I could do was nod, a beat passing before my voice could find itself. “What…did you do with him?”

Alaric held my gaze for a moment, and I just knew what he was going to say.

“He was found right by the pits, so…we just dumped him down there. No one will ever know — he’ll just become a ghost.”

“Wow.” I blinked, tears threatening beneath my eyelids. Happy tears.

“On a slightly related topic…” Alaric paused, taking a slow breath in. “I’d like for you and I to practice the tunnels together like Lucius and I did.”

“Of course.” I bit at my lip, nervous at the thought of being alone down there with him.

“Tonight?” He ran his hands through his hair, it quite obvious he was still a bit shaken up from finding Julian.

“Okay,” I nodded, swallowing nervously. “Tonight works.”

Great, I’d be down in those stuffy tunnels with Alaric touching my shoulder. I was going to lose it.

“We’ll go like this,” Alaric motioned to us, instantly relieved he wasn’t going to push us going as wolves. He knew my situation anyway.

There was an awkward moment of silence before he started for the door, my throat still dry from the news of Julian.

“Take it easy today, okay?” Alaric’s eyes drifted briefly to my stomach, his mind on the baby.

“Alaric,” I croaked out, so badly wanting to tell him the truth about the baby. I lied, the words whispered in my mind.

But he didn’t give me the chance to say them.

“I’ll see you this evening, okay? I’ll come by.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes as they held on him, wishing he’d give me a chance.

Maybe tonight, I thought. In the tunnels there was no escaping each other, so maybe…

Alaric was gone by the time I pulled myself from my thoughts, the house left eerily silent.

It stayed that way until sunset, when he arrived back, dressed in all black just as I was. Surely his heart wasn’t pounding as hard as mine was, though.

“Ready?” He smiled, but it seemed forced. Obviously he was a little nervous about being together down in those tunnels, too, hmm?

Our walk down to the southwest side of the palace was more awkward than I wanted it to be. He was in his head thinking about how I’d said the baby belonged to Lucius, while I was cursing myself for lying, then comforting myself because he was the one that started all the lies in the first place.

We were a mess. An absolute, hopeless mess.

Once we finally reached the southwestern entrance to the tunnels, he spoke.

“It’s a bit of a further walk to the palace from here, but it’s better for us not to be seen in the palace together.” Alaric’s words were a little clipped, setting me on edge.

In the distance, the palace lit up the night, almost a mile away from us. We crept through a broken bar leading into the sewers, ducking through a warped door and into the tunnels.

“Why isn’t this more closely monitored? Anyone could come in here.” I frowned, my heart pounding in my ears.

“Less people know about these tunnels than you think,” Alaric replied, flipping on the little electric lamp he’d brought with him.

Darkness engulfed us as he bent the door back into place, our only light now coming from the weak little lamp.

“This is awful,” I mumbled, the smell smacking me right in the nostrils, invading them so intensely that my eyes watered.

“Quite.” Alaric took the lead, and I had to resist the urge to cling to him, terrified of getting lost even though these tunnels were so narrow.

He led us straight for a while, taking a right, left, and another left, and just as my muscles started to ache, he paused, my face smacking into the back of him.

“This is where the entrance to my uncle is.” He pointed down an even smaller tunnel, then motioned ahead. “And the pits are about ten minutes this way.”

I so badly wanted to talk to him, but this setting was so wrong. Instead, I silently followed behind him, forcing back the chill from the wind flowing in from the pit cavern.

“And here are the pits,” Alaric murmured, his voice so loud amidst the silence.

While I could barely see them, I could just make out the slope into complete darkness, knowing the pits stretched out as far as I could see.

My stomach dropped, thinking of all that was down there. I’m not sure I’d ever felt more fear in my life than I did in that moment, at the edge of those pits.

Bad things happen here.