Chapter 100: Restless Wolf

Reign:

I stared at the darkness long after Elara disappeared from my sight, my enchanted eyesight allowing me to see far deeper into the woods than any ordinary supernatural could.

Even after her figure vanished between the trees, I could still make out the faint disturbances she left behind - the movement of branches, the occasional flash of her coat through the shadows, the hurried rhythm of her footsteps. And the farther she went, the more uneasy I became.

She wasn’t heading back toward the gathering. She wasn’t going toward the dormitories either. She was running deeper into the woods, and that was the last thing I wanted after everything that had happened to her.

The only thing keeping me from completely losing my patience was the academy’s wards. The magical barriers surrounding the woods were powerful enough to keep dangerous creatures away and prevent students from wandering into places they shouldn’t.

So as long as Elara remained within them, she should be safe. Unless, of course, she decided to go beyond them. And knowing her stubbornness, I wouldn’t have put it past her.

My wolf certainly didn’t share my cautious optimism. It had been restless ever since the attack two weeks ago, and tonight it became almost unbearable.

Follow her.

The command echoed through my mind with such force that I clenched my jaw.

Make sure she is safe.

I ignored it, knowing perfectly well that following her right now wasn’t a good idea. Elara had just frozen my feet to the ground because she was angry with me. Chasing her into the woods immediately afterward probably wasn’t going to improve our relationship.

Yet my wolf refused to understand that. It had been doing this constantly since the night she was attacked. Almost every night since then, I had found myself somewhere near her - infirmary corridors when she was recovering, outside her dorm when she returned, sometimes standing far enough away that she wouldn’t notice me.

I had told myself it was simply responsibility. She was a royal. I was one of the Regents. Her safety mattered. But my wolf had never accepted that explanation. It knew exactly what I had been trying not to acknowledge.

She was my mate, and after nearly losing her, something inside my wolf had changed. It had become protective in a way I had never experienced before.

Now, watching her disappear into the woods, that instinct was screaming at me to move. Unfortunately, there was one rather significant problem preventing me from doing so.

I looked down at my feet. A thick layer of silver-white ice had encased both boots and climbed several inches up my ankles. I had tried moving earlier, but the ice hadn’t even cracked.

I summoned my earth magic, reaching for the ground beneath me and attempting to force the earth upward against the frozen prison. But nothing happened. I tried again, pushing more power into it, but the ice barely trembled.

Whatever Elara had done, this wasn’t ordinary ice magic. There was something unnaturally dense about it, something that made my instincts wary. I could probably break it eventually, but doing so with enough force to overpower it risked injuring my legs. And I wasn’t about to break my own bones just because a stubborn woman had decided to turn me into a lawn ornament.

I pulled my phone from my pocket instead and called Alaric. He answered after only a couple of rings, and before he could say much, I told him, "Find Argentis. She just ran into the woods. Follow her from a distance and make sure she gets back to her dorm safely."

Silence greeted me from the other end. I could practically feel his confusion through the phone. There was a very long pause before he finally asked, "You want me to do what?"

I rubbed a hand over my face, already irritated. "You heard me. Follow her."

Another silence followed, this one somehow even more suspicious. Alaric was clearly trying to understand why I was sending him after the same woman I had announced a war against. Thankfully, he knew me well enough not to waste time asking questions I wouldn’t answer.

"Fine," he finally replied. "I’ll find her."

"Don’t let her see you unless something happens," I added, my gaze still fixed on the darkness ahead. "And don’t provoke her."

I heard a quiet exhale that sounded suspiciously like amusement. "I’ll do my best."

The call ended before I could threaten him for sounding entertained.

A strange sense of relief settled over me the moment Alaric moved. I could feel his presence moving toward the woods, and knowing someone was watching over Elara finally gave my wolf something else to focus on. It didn’t completely relax, but the frantic pressure inside my mind eased enough for me to breathe normally again.

She is safe, I reminded it. Alaric is with her.

After several moments, the growling in the back of my consciousness quieted. I looked down at the ice again and sighed. Of course, there was another problem.

Alaric was the only one among us who could melt it quickly with fire magic, and he was currently following Elara. Which meant I was stuck here.

I tried my earth magic again, carefully this time, testing the ice rather than attacking it. A crack appeared near my left boot, but it stopped almost immediately. I frowned and tried shifting my weight. Nothing. The ice held.

"Wonderful," I muttered under my breath.

Seemed like I was going to spend the rest of the night standing beneath a tree with my feet frozen solid. I could wait for it to melt naturally, of course, but there was one minor issue with that plan. It was winter. The temperature had already dropped considerably, and the freezing night air wasn’t exactly helping the ice disappear. If anything, the cold was making my situation worse.

Asking someone else for help? I would rather stand frozen until sunrise than let anyone from the gathering discover me like this. The last thing I needed was one of the students finding the future Regent of Starfall standing helplessly in a patch of ice created by the woman he’d spent weeks provoking. The story would spread across the academy before breakfast.

And if my father heard about it, I would never hear the end of it.

A deep sigh escaped me at the thought of him. My father had never tolerated weakness, embarrassment, or mistakes. To him, every action had to serve a purpose, every decision had to strengthen our position, and every person around me had to understand their place.

He would consider tonight’s conversation with Elara a failure. Perhaps it was. I had gone to her thinking that if I spoke to her like a normal person - without threats, without commands, without allowing the rest of the world to interfere - she might finally understand why I kept pushing her toward the path I believed was safest for her.

Instead, somehow, we had spent most of the conversation throwing jabs at each other. I had barely managed to explain anything before she was already furious with me, and then she’d frozen me to the ground.

I stared toward the woods again, wondering where she was now. Maybe I should have expected it. Elara had a talent for taking every helping hand I offered and throwing it directly back into my face.

The frustrating part was that I couldn’t even blame her completely. She had been betrayed by almost everyone who was supposed to protect her. She had lost her family, her home, her identity, and nearly her life. Trust wasn’t something she could simply hand over because I asked for it. Still, knowing that didn’t make it any easier to accept the way she looked at me lately.

I had thought talking to her would make things better. Instead, it seemed to have made them worse.

I closed my eyes for a moment and another sigh escaped me as the cold wind moved through the branches overhead.

The woman who was meant to love me deeply seemed to dislike me more and more with every passing day, and that realization still managed to hurt.