Chapter 162: The Girl in Red (I)

Esme:

The one-hour chopper ride to Moonveil Central Hospital was nothing short of torture. Every second seemed to stretch long enough to drive us all insane, and for reasons I couldn’t quite explain, I wasn’t surprised to see that every single one of us had been wrecked by the news of Elara’s accident.

Reign was undoubtedly the worst. His wolf had been fighting violently beneath his skin from the moment we left the council headquarters, and more than once I watched his hands curl into fists as though he was physically restraining himself from doing something reckless.

The only thing keeping him remotely sane was Lorien’s repeated reminder that we would reach Elara much faster if Reign stopped trying to destroy the chopper or force the pilot to fly faster than was possible.

Kairo had gone frighteningly quiet, his usual humor completely absent, while Alaric looked like he wanted to punch the first wall he saw simply because there was nothing else he could hit.

As for me, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I should have realized long ago that the woman I had started falling for would eventually become important to the others too. Because honestly, what sane man could spend time around Elara and not fall for her?

She was infuriating, stubborn, reckless, intelligent, beautiful, and somehow managed to make every room feel different simply by entering it. I’d tried to convince myself that my feelings were complicated by the circumstances surrounding her, but the truth was far simpler. I liked her. More than I should.

We were barely fifteen minutes into the flight when Lorien finally managed to contact Hazel. The moment the call connected, every one of us became silent, listening as Lorien demanded an update.

Hazel’s voice came through the speaker, controlled but tense. She explained that Elara had been out with Jasper for a driving lesson when the accident happened. Magnus had been following them as part of the secondary protection arrangement, which meant he had witnessed the crash from a distance and had reached them almost immediately. He had managed to get both Elara and Jasper out of the wreckage before the car caught fire and eventually exploded.

Hazel had already assembled an investigation team, but they still had almost no explanation for why the accident had happened in the first place.

My stomach tightened when I heard that. Driving accidents happened, but something about this felt wrong.

Then Hazel gave us the one piece of information that made the entire cabin fall silent. Elara was injured, but according to the first assessment, none of her injuries appeared immediately life-threatening. Jasper, however, was another matter entirely. Lorien’s expression hardened as Hazel explained that the healers still couldn’t confirm whether Jasper would survive.

I felt something cold settle inside my chest. Jasper had only been part of Elara’s life for a few months, but anyone with eyes could see how close they had become. He was her protector, yes, but somewhere along the way he had also become her friend, her safe place, and one of the few people she trusted without hesitation.

I’d watched her look for him when she was anxious or worried. I’d seen how comfortable she was around him, how easily she allowed him into the parts of her life she kept hidden from almost everyone else. She trusted him in a way that couldn’t be forced or demanded. And I knew enough about Elara’s past to understand what losing him would mean.

Her human family was already a wound that had never properly healed. She still carried their deaths in everything she did, even when she pretended otherwise. If Jasper died after becoming another person she cared about and trusted, I couldn’t imagine what that would do to her.

My chest tightened painfully at the thought. Why did fate seem determined to make her suffer?

She had barely begun building a life in Starfall, barely begun believing that she could have people she loved again, and now she was being forced to face another possible loss. She simply couldn’t catch a break.

Kairo finally broke the silence with the question all of us had been thinking about. "Why didn’t they use magic?" His voice was quiet, but there was an edge beneath it. Everyone looked toward him.

"Even if Elara panicked and didn’t think to use hers, Jasper should have. He’s a trained Warrior. He would have instinctively reached for magic the moment he realized they got into an accident."

Alaric frowned. "And even if the accident happened too quickly for him to stop the vehicle, with his instincts he could still have created a shield."

Kairo nodded. "Exactly. Even a basic protective barrier could have reduced the impact."

I looked toward Lorien. He had already begun piecing the same thing together. Something wasn’t right. Jasper was too experienced to simply forget his magic in a crisis, and Elara’s elemental instincts had already started developing rapidly. Yet neither of them had used magic.

"Could there be more to this accident than what meets the eye?" I asked quietly.

Lorien’s expression darkened. "Possibly." His answer was enough to make my stomach twist. "But we need evidence before assuming anything."

Reign’s wolf growled beneath his skin. "Someone did this," he said, his voice dangerously low.

"We don’t know that yet," Lorien replied. "But we are going to find out."

The remaining forty-five minutes felt even longer after that. Nobody spoke much. There was nothing left to say that could make the situation better.

I spent most of the flight staring through the window at the landscape passing below us while thoughts of Elara kept returning no matter how hard I tried to push them away. I imagined her frightened. I imagined her waking up without Jasper beside her. I imagined the expression on her face if someone told her he hadn’t survived. Every possibility made my chest hurt.

I had no idea when exactly she had become so important to me, but somewhere between the greenhouse, the tea, the nightmares, and the moments when she smiled at Aureon as though the giant lion wasn’t terrifying, she had found a place in my heart that I hadn’t intended to give anyone.

Exactly one hour after we had left the headquarters, the chopper finally touched down on the hospital’s rooftop. Before the blades had even stopped spinning completely, all five of us were out.

We ran toward the stairwell leading down from the rooftop, barely acknowledging the hospital staff waiting to escort us. Reign was practically flying down the stairs, with Alaric close behind him. Kairo followed without saying a word, while Lorien remained at the front, his expression controlled but his movements far faster than usual.

I followed them, my heart hammering so violently that it felt as though it might burst from my chest.

We finally reached the VVIP floor, and the moment I stepped into the hallway, I stopped. And so did everyone else.

Because there she was.

Elara.