Chapter b178 /b

bChapter /bb178 /b

Eryx POV This war room feels heavier with every passing second now. It’s as if the weight of failure is pressing down on us all. The maps are still bspread /bbout /bacross the long wooden table, but they offer no answers, no salvation. All they do is remind me of how much we don’t know.

My father stands at the head of the table, he’s silent and his jaw is locked tight. My mother is lingering near the far wall, her arms are folded band /bbher /bexpression is unreadable. Neither of them speaks, they don’t need to, we all know what is at stake here.

Me… I can’t stop pacing, every single step echoes off the stone floor. The sound grates against my skin, and I feel like if I stand for even a moment, then I’l break and fall apart. She’s out there somewhere and every second that we spend in the damn room feels like another second lost. It feels like another second where Rnd is hurting her, breaking and taking things from her that don’t belong to him. I can’t even think about that right, I can’t let myself think about what he’s doing to her, or what others may be doing to her.

“She’s still alive.” My voice is raw as I speak, but I say it anyway, more to myself than to them. “She has to be.” I won’t believe for a moment that she is gone already.

I see my father lift his head. His eyes are bloodshot from exhaustion but they still cut through me. “If she weren’t alive, you’d know.”

I nod and hold onto that, even if I’m not sure that I believe him. I felt that bond shatter, I felt it burn inside of me like acid. It was pulling at something vital in my chest, but something’s still there, I can feel it. A thread, a kind of shadow of what we had. It’s real, I tell myself it’s real and I have to believe it is.

My father’s voice breaks through the silence like a de. “I’ve got one more call to make.”

I stop pacing, my breath hitching as I watch him cross the war room. His movements are slower now, like the weight of this is finally wearing him down too. He presses his hand against the oldmunication stone embedded in the far wall. I can’t hear the name he speaks, but bI /bknow whoever it is must owe him something. He wouldn’t be making this call otherwise.

The silence that followssts for far too long. The stone bums softly and I hear a voice answer, it’s too distant though. It’s crackling, but if I focus, I can hear the tone. Whoever’s on the other end, isn’t pleased to be speaking with him, but they’re answering his questions at least.

That’s enough.

“Rnd Corwick,” my father says, the name cold and t on his tongue. “Has he been through your territory?”

There’s another long pause, followed by a low, curt reply.

“When?” he asks.

The answer is shorter this time.

“Fine. That’s all I needed.”

We’ve found him? I look at him, waiting.

He steps back from the wall, lowering his hand from the stone, and his silence cuts through me harder than the waiting did.

“Ironvale’s clear,” he says finally. “Rnd hasn’t been near there. Thest time he was there was over a year ago.”

“That’s another ce crossed off,” my mother murmurs from her ce near the wall.

I look down at the maps again, but all I can see are empty marks on empty roads. “And how many more do we have left?” I ask, my voice sharpb. /bb“/bbThat’s /bone den. Literally just one. While we’re standing here crossing off names, he’s getting further ahead. He could keep moving her.”

My fathers gaze cuts toward me, tired but hard. “We cross boff /bwhat we can. You don’t find someone by assuming where they’re bnot/b. You bfind /bbthem /bbby /bnarrowing the search.”

b“/bIt’s not fast enough,” I roar

bMy /bbfather /bbsteps /bbforward/b, keeping his voice calm and low, “It’s all we’ve got.”

“bNo./b” My voice cracks, and I force myself to keep going. “There’s another way.” I have a way even if they don’t agree with bit/b.

My mother straightens slightly, though she doesn’t speak and my father’s gaze narrows.

“I can still feel her,” I say, my voice is quieter now, though the desperation is impossible to hide. “Not like before, not as strong, but the bond… it’s not gone, at least notpletely. There’s something left. Something that I can trace.”

“You’re guessing,” my father says, though his tonecks conviction. “You can’t waste time on guesses.”

“I’m not. I can feel it, sure, it’s faint, but it’s there.”

My mother’s voice is softer, but firmer. “Eryx, Rnd’s mark could be

suppressing whatever’s left of your bond. You know that. If you’re wrong-

“I’m not.” How can they not just listen and trust me for once?

Neither of them answers. For a long moment, all I can hear is the sound of

my own breathing, itoo /ishallow, too fast. They won’t ept it, why would

they? They never trust me to know what I do. They think I’m too young and not thinking straight.

“I can track what’s left of it,” I say. “It’s weak, but it’s pulling me. I can use it.” I wait, hoping that they agree to it.

My father runs a hand over his jaw, ncing at my mother before turning his gaze back to me. “You’re talking about following a bond that’s barely there, to a mate who might not even respond to it anymore.”

Does he really not care? We’re wasting time calling people, when I could find her myself!

“I don’t care. I’ll find her.”

My father sighs in frustration. “And what if it’s leading you nowhere? What if it’s leading you into a trap?”

“Then I’ll deal with that when I get there. But standing here isn’t saving her.”

The silence returns and hangs thick in the air again, and I know they’re considering it. Part of them still wants to stop me, but part of them knows they can’t. Not anymore. If they don’t agree I will go ahead and do this alone. I’m done with following their rules, it hasn’t got me anywhere.

Atst, my father sighs, his shoulders sinking slightly under the weight of what he’s about to agree to. “You keep the portal hidden, locked down. But ready.”

I nod, not trusting myself to speak.

“You follow whatever’s left of that bond, but iwe /istay with you. You don’t go alone, not again.”

“I won’t arguei./i” I mean that, if they agree then I won’t argue, I will follow their rules, their orders and go.

“Good.” He nces back toward the mapsi, /iibut /ithere’s no conviction left in him for them. Not now. “If you feel anything, anything at all, we move.”

“I already feel it,” I whisper.

My imother /isteps closer, her expression unreadable, “Then lead.”

I press my hands to the edge of the war table, steadying myself. I don’t care if I burn myself out. I don’t care if I die doing this. Whatever’s bleft /bbof /bbthat /bthread between us, whatever fragile thing is still connecting me to her, I’ll follow it.

Because she’s still alive, and I’m going to bring her home.