Chapter 83

Chapter 83: Chapter 83

"Any word from the head healer?" Evelyn asked, not looking up from the ledger spread across her desk.

Tristan shook his head, dropping into the chair across from her. "Nothing. My contact inside Silver Creek says she left the pack grounds yesterday and hasn’t been seen since."

Evelyn’s pen stilled. She looked up slowly. "Left? Or was she sent somewhere?"

Tristan paused, his brows furrowing. "He wasn’t certain. Only that she slipped out sometime in the afternoon and didn’t return by evening." Tristan frowned. "I assumed she was simply being cautious, keeping her distance the way you instructed."

Something cold settled low in Evelyn’s stomach—a feeling she’d learned not to ignore. She set the pen down slowly.

"Isn’t today the third day?" she asked, calculating the days in her head.

Tristan blinked, clearly caught off guard by the question, his mind working backward through the days before his expression shifted. "The third—" He straightened abruptly. "It is. It’s the third day."

Evelyn’s uneasiness deepened. "Then something is wrong."

"She could have been delayed." Tristan said, trying to reason, but it didn’t sit well with Evelyn.

"No." Evelyn shook her head. "Not without sending word."

Evelyn turned toward him. "Contact your source again. I want to know exactly when she left Silver Creek, where she went, and whether anyone saw her after that."

Evelyn nodded, walking toward the window while Tristan stepped out of the office. She never ignored her gut feeling anymore—not when she’d ignored it for mere nerves in the past.

Something was off, and she hated not knowing what was off more than anything.

The door opened with a slight groan, and she turned to see Clara.

"My Lady, you have guests," she said.

Evelyn’s brows furrowed. Most people didn’t know of her new residence; they all still thought she was staying in the Valemont home. So guests, how?

"Who?"

Clara looked conflicted for a second before speaking. "Alpha Varek and Luna Celine."

Evelyn froze. Varek and Celine were here to see her? Celine of all people? She licked her lips. "W-where are they?"

"The sitting room, my Lady. I asked them to wait."

Evelyn stared at Clara for a long moment, her mind racing through every possible reason they might have come, none of them comfortable. The last time she saw them, Celine had been screaming at her to leave.

"Tell them I’ll be down shortly."

Clara nodded and withdrew, leaving Evelyn alone with the quiet hum of her own uncertainty. She smoothed her hands down the front of her dress, steadying herself the way she did before anything that required composure she didn’t quite feel.

She found them in the sitting room exactly as Clara described—Varek standing near the window, hands clasped behind his back in the stiff, formal posture he wore like armor, and Celine seated on the edge of the settee, her fingers twisted together in her lap.

Celine rose the moment she entered.

"Evelyn." Her voice was softer than it had been that night, fragile in a way that made something in Evelyn’s chest ache despite everything.

Evelyn’s gaze shifted to Varek, who had now turned to look at her. "Varek. Celine." She called with a curt nod.

"What brings you by?" She didn’t miss the way Celine flinched at the dry response, even though Evelyn hadn’t meant for it to come off that way.

"We wanted to see you," Varek said.

Evelyn hummed. "That much I gathered." Her gaze shifted to Celine. "You’ve seen me, and you may leave now."

She didn’t want to be hard on Varek, but what Celine did to her... it weighed on her soul. She’d taken Celine like her sister, her home—and when Celine had spoken to her in a way Sophia would...

It broke her heart.

Celine finally stood, taking a step toward Evelyn. "I know you probably don’t want to see me."

Evelyn’s expression remained unreadable. "That isn’t entirely true."

Celine looked surprised. She’d expected Evelyn to be more hostile—perhaps the same way she’d been to Kael. Evelyn gestured toward the sofa instead, shaking her head.

"Sit."

They did, and for a moment, no one spoke. Then Celine took a breath. "I’ve been thinking about our last conversation." She began.

Evelyn shook her head. "That wasn’t a conversation, Celine. You didn’t have a conversation with me." Evelyn paused, not wanting to bring back exactly how it had happened.

Celine looked down in shame. "I know," she whispered. "I was angry, and I said things I shouldn’t have."

"You said things you meant at the time. You hurt me intentionally, Celine. I don’t know how I can forgive that."

Celine swallowed. "I don’t expect you to."

Evelyn’s eyes lifted to hers. "Then why are you here?"

"Because I couldn’t leave things the way they were." Celine’s voice trembled slightly. "You were my sister, Evelyn. You still are, even if you don’t see me that way anymore."

Evelyn looked away. "You made it very clear that night that you didn’t want me in your life."

"I was wrong." The words came quickly. "I thought I was losing my husband. My position. My place in my own home. I saw you becoming involved in everything, and instead of admitting that I was afraid, I blamed you."

Varek’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing while Celine continued.

"I convinced myself that if you left, everything would go back to normal."

Evelyn gave a quiet, humorless laugh. "And did it? Because I sure hope it did."

Celine’s eyes filled with unshed tears. "No. Nothing went back to normal."

Evelyn’s expression softened for the briefest moment.

"Celine..."

"I know I don’t have the right to ask you for anything." Celine wiped quickly at her eye. "I just wanted you to know that I regret what I said."

Evelyn stared at her. There had been a time when she would have immediately reached across the space between them. She would have hugged Celine, reassured her, told her that everything was fine.

But she wasn’t that woman anymore.

"I believe that you regret it."

Celine looked up. "But that doesn’t mean the hurt disappears."

"I know."

"And it doesn’t mean I can simply trust you again."

Celine’s tears that she’d been holding back fell. Evelyn looked away for a moment.

Varek finally stepped forward. "Evelyn—"

Evelyn shook her head. "This is between Celine and me." She said. For nights she’d replayed that scene again and again, thinking back to the countless fights she’d heard them have. All because of her?

Evelyn took a deep breath and looked back at Celine. "I don’t hate you. But I’m not ready to have you back in my life as though nothing happened."

Celine nodded slowly, pressing her lips together as though trying to keep more tears from falling. "I understand."

"I don’t say that to punish you," Evelyn added, softer now. "I say it because I won’t lie to you. Not after everything."

"No. You’re right not to." Celine managed a small, watery smile. "I’d rather have the truth from you than comfort I haven’t earned."

Varek cleared his throat. "I won’t ask you to come home. I understand now that this—" He gestured faintly at the room around them, "—is yours. I only wanted you to know the offer would remain, if you ever wanted it."

"I won’t," Evelyn said simply. "But thank you for saying so."

Celine reached out, hesitant, and touched the back of Evelyn’s hand. Evelyn didn’t pull away, though she didn’t return the gesture either.

"I’d like to visit," Celine said quietly. "If you’ll allow it. Not to pull you back. Just to see you."

Evelyn considered her for a long moment. "I’d like that," she said finally. "Slowly."

"Slowly," Celine echoed, something like hope flickering behind the exhaustion in her eyes.

The door opened before anyone could say more, Clara stepping in with an apologetic glance. "Forgive the interruption, my Lady. Alpha Damon is here. He says it’s urgent."

Evelyn paused, her brows furrowed. Damon also knew here? What was going on?

Evelyn stood up immediately, nodding. "Show him in." She glanced at Celine and Varek. "I’m sorry. This can’t wait."

"Of course." Varek stood, his smile strained. He’d always been by her side when any kind of thing or news happened, but now? Things weren’t the same anymore. "We’ll take our leave."

Celine squeezed Evelyn’s hand once before releasing it. "Thank you for seeing us."

Evelyn watched them go, something unresolved but no longer hostile settling in her chest, before she turned toward the door just as Damon strode through it, looking entirely too pleased with himself for someone who hadn’t bothered to announce his arrival in advance.

"What estate shall we call this?" He said out loud.

"The one where you aren’t invited to." Evelyn replied snarkily.

Damon raised his brows. "Now, now, Lady Evelyn. That’s no way to welcome a guest."

Evelyn crossed her arms. "A guest announces himself before arriving. You simply appear."

"Where’s the fun in that?" Damon dropped into the chair Celine had just vacated, entirely too comfortable for someone who’d barged into a half-mended family reconciliation. "This is quite the place, and no housewarming party? Truly, traditions have gone to dust, haven’t they?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes. Somehow, whenever she was with Damon, he tended to make her feel more sarcasm than needed.

"How did you find here?"

Damon stared at her like he couldn’t believe the question. "There are eyes everywhere, Lady Evelyn. Your fight with Varek and his Luna Celine made front-row page three days ago." He paused. "By the way, good thing on the reconciliation. Family’s always just—" He trailed off.

"Just tell me what you’ve brought for me, Alpha Damon. I hear it’s urgent."

At this, Damon smirked. "The bird is in the nest, Lady Evelyn."

Evelyn stared at him blankly. "I’m going to need considerably more than that."

"I know how much you hate Sophia," Damon said, "nearly as much as you hate Kael. So I’ve brought you good news. Sophia is hiding something from him. Something large."

"Tell me something I don’t know." She said dryly as she walked over to the tray of water Clara had brought in earlier when Varek and Celine had been there.

"Well, did you know Sophia tried pulling five million silvers from the Silver Creek treasury days ago but was refused? Here’s where things get better. My source followed her. They saw the said man, waiting for her near the market square."

Evelyn’s ears perked up at that. "Did your source get a name?"

"Better. A face—enough of one to describe." Damon leaned forward. "Tall, dark-haired, a scar through one brow. Goes by Voss in most circles, though I doubt that’s the name he was born with."

Evelyn went still. She knew that name. She knew that face, too, though she’d only seen it once, years ago, across her father’s study table, when he had nearly signed a trade agreement that would’ve collapsed Valemont entirely. She’d been the one to stop it, the one who’d dug into his dealings until she found enough rot beneath the surface to convince her father to walk away.

Smuggling. Extortion. Worse, if the rumors she’d uncovered then held any truth.

"I know him," she said quietly.

Damon’s brows rose. "You do?"

"He tried to do business with my father years ago. I ended it before it went through." She shook her head slowly, turning the pieces over in her mind. "He was shady then. I looked into him myself, and what I found wasn’t the kind of thing you forget."

"And now he’s attached himself to Sophia. What could she possibly have to do with a man like that?"

Damon shook his head. "Whatever it was, it was enough to have her take five million silvers meant for Lily’s health to him."

At this, Evelyn’s brows furrowed. "Lily’s health? What do you mean?"

"You didn’t know?" Damon huffed. "Your dearest step-non-daughter is unconscious. None of Silver Creek’s healers can explain why."