Forbidden Mate, Fated Sin

Chapter 19: Grass Marks

Wren's perspective

We returned by different routes. Kade left first so I could fix my hair and clothing and calm my breath before taking the same trail minutes later. Even then the choice felt ridiculous. Two adults creeping among the trees like youngsters dodging a guardian. Ridiculous had become the sole path still open.

Maribel stood by the kitchen entrance when I arrived. Arms folded. An expression I could not name at once sat on her features.

"You stayed out far longer than any brief stroll needs," she said.

"He required open air. His recovery moves slower than he lets others see."

"Mm." She examined me past the point of ease. "Marks of grass seldom result from mere walking, Wren."

My stomach fell. I looked at my skirt and berated myself for skipping any check before entering. "Maribel—"

"I will ask nothing further." She raised a palm to stop any added words. "How you manage your existence is not for me to control, no matter what this household has begun to claim. Yet you ought to realize Priya walked near the eastern path an hour earlier collecting plants for Vivian's night tea. Should she have noticed anything, the news will spread soon."

Cold shot through my chest. "Priya was outside?"

"I cannot say the precise ground she covered. I know only that she returned sooner than planned and wore a look whose shape troubled me." Maribel's tone eased a little. "I share this so you may ready yourself, not to add more alarm than you already carry."

I offered thanks, though the reply sounded empty. My thoughts already raced across every chance. If Priya had watched us, she would not keep silence. Not after the threats she voiced months earlier by the drive. Long nights breed carelessness, she once said. Keep that in mind.

I reached Grier before Kade. He stood by the barracks checking patrol notes with two senior fighters. He sent them away the instant he saw my expression.

"What occurred?" he asked.

"Priya might have witnessed Kade and me near the water."

Grier's jaw set, though surprise seemed mild. "That could clarify a detail I marked earlier. She returned from her outing and sought Celeste at once. The pair have remained shut inside Celeste's chamber since, voices too muted to catch through the wall."

"You stood listening at the entrance?"

"I examine a breach in safety that nearly ended our Alpha, Wren. I will stand by any entrance required." His gaze stayed firm yet not cruel. "This alters the field. If Priya reports the sighting to Celeste and Celeste already stands compromised as I suspect, then fresh leverage passes straight to the hand guiding her."

"You expect Celeste to turn it against me."

"I expect Celeste is no longer wholly herself, whatever the cause proves." Grier passed a palm across his jaw. "I refuse to accept the darkest view of her. I also cannot risk counting on the brightest, not when Kade's survival has already faced clear danger."

"What course remains?"

"We stay alert and observe and trust Priya holds greater loyalty to Celeste's welfare than to any scheme she imagines." Grier's eyes gentled, a rare softness for one who seldom granted any. "I realize that fails to match the reply you sought, Wren. It is the sole truthful one I possess at present."

An hour later I located Kade in the study, bent over a chart of the northern edge with Edwin silent at his side. He raised his head the moment I stepped in. Something in my features made plain that the quiet we took by the water had already broken.

"What troubles you?" he asked, rising even as the motion drew a flinch.

"Priya may have observed us. Grier reports she went directly to Celeste afterward."

Kade's features darkened at once. Edwin spoke first, to my surprise.

"Should Priya reveal the sighting to my child and should Celeste stand even partly compromised as Grier fears, then Ronan Voss will learn the pair of you still meet before the day ends." Edwin's tone stayed level and dark. "That no longer counts as mere gossip, Wren. It turns into a matter of strategy."

"You accept Grier's doubts regarding Celeste."

"I prefer not to." Edwin's jaw locked, an echo of the strain I once heard through his study wall days past. "Yet I possess sight equal to any other under this roof, and I have watched my child grow more remote and more guarded each week. I would fail as Beta if I dismissed the evidence before me simply because the person is my own offspring."

Kade circled the desk against Edwin's quiet caution about wounds and stood before me. "We understood this danger each time we chose to meet."

"Understanding and enduring are separate matters." My voice trembled more than I wished. "If Ronan learns you still approach me, what becomes of you, Kade? What becomes of the pack?"

"I cannot say." His hand met mine, firm while everything else loosened around us. "Yet I will not cease seeking paths to reach you because of actions another might take with the knowledge. I already surrendered you once when dread dictated my decisions."

"That differs, and you realize it."

"Does it?" His gaze held mine, weary yet sure. "Dread urged the refusal of the bond in that hall. Dread now urges both of us to end these meetings before Ronan can exploit them. I will not allow dread victory a second time."

Edwin cleared his throat, uneasy, though a flash of near pity crossed his face before he smoothed it. "I will address Celeste myself. Perhaps I can gauge the harm already done before either of you settles the next step."

He departed the study without seeking consent, his steps heavy and measured along the corridor. Kade and I remained alone among the charts and papers, the full burden still bearing down on us both.

"I feel no regret," Kade said low. "For this day. Whatever follows from it."

"Nor do I." I spoke truth even while dread still lay cold in my gut. "I regret only that it may demand more from you than either of us can spare."

Darkness settled thick and gradual after that. The entire house seemed to hold its breath for whatever Edwin's talk with Celeste might yield. I attempted food at the evening meal yet managed only scant mouthfuls. Vivian's keen gaze followed me across the board without a word spoken. Even her quiet carried a new weight, less of censure and more of dread she could not name.

Sleep refused me. I paced the chamber until weariness at last drew me under sometime after midnight. The rest stayed fitful and thin, my visions twisted with flame and current and the chill satisfied smile Priya wore months earlier by the drive.

A soft knock at the entrance woke me before first light, too gentle for Kade's usual mark, too unsure for Maribel.

I opened it to find Celeste in the passage, still clad for sleep, her features pale and strained in the dim glow.

"Priya related all of it," she said, voice unsteady. "The river. The whole of it."

My chest constricted. "Celeste—"

"I kept silent toward Ronan." The words tumbled free, rapid and afraid, as if she must speak them before courage failed. "I need you to hear that. Whatever view you hold of me, whatever view Grier holds, I stayed silent this once."

"This once," I echoed, the phrase settling heavy and chill. "Celeste, what have you already shared with him?"

Her features collapsed, tears falling swiftly, and behind her in the shadowed passage I glimpsed the faint shape of Priya near the stair, watching us both with a look I could not parse.

"I must confide in someone," Celeste whispered. "Before the hour grows too late for us all."