Chapter 391: We Should have Killed Her

"Then why hasn’t she called me back?" Maya demanded.

"Because she’s been sleeping," Nicholas said. "Deeply. The kind of magically-induced sleep that helps witches recover from power exhaustion. She’ll call you when she wakes up."

Maya looked at him with tears streaming down her face. "Is she really alive?"

"Yes," Nicholas lied.

"Are you sure?" Maya pressed. "You’re not just...you’re not lying to me? She’s really okay?"

"She’s okay," Nicholas said. "I promise. We would never hurt her. You know that."

Maya’s expression was conflicted. Like she wanted to believe but could not quite make herself.

"When will she call?" Maya asked.

"Soon," Nicholas said. "A few days at most. Just give her time to recover."

Maya pushed herself to her feet slowly. She looked at Nicholas. Then at Lucian. Then back at Nicholas.

"If you’re lying," Maya said quietly, "if something has happened to her and you’re covering it up....I will make sure the entire Council of elders and major packs knows. I will make sure everyone knows what you did."

"We didn’t do anything," Nicholas said.

"Then prove it," Maya challenged. "Let me see her."

"No," Nicholas said. "But I give you my word as an Alpha, Lilith is alive and recovering. That’s all you need to know."

Maya stared at him for a long moment. Then she looked at Lucian.

"Make sure she’s okay," Maya said, and there was steel in her voice despite her tears. "Or else."

"Or else what?" Lucian challenged.

"Or else I’ll make you regret it," Maya said.

She turned and walked toward the door.

Eli escorted her out.

The moment the door closed, Lucian turned on Nicholas.

"We should have killed her," Lucian said flatly.

"No," Nicholas said.

"She’s going to be a problem," Lucian insisted. "She doesn’t believe us. She’s going to keep calling. Keep checking. Keep demanding to see Lilith. And in five days when Victoria either succeeds or fails...."

"We’ll deal with it then," Nicholas interrupted. "But we’re not killing Lilith’s best friend. End of discussion."

Lucian wanted to argue. Wanted to say that Maya was a threat they could not afford.

But Nicholas was right.

Lilith would never forgive them.

And if...when...Victoria brought her back, Lucian wanted her to have reasons to stay.

Wanted her to have friends and happiness and all the things that made life worth living.

Even if it meant leaving threats alive.

"Fine," Lucian said. "But when she shows up again in two days demanding answers, you’re handling it."

"Agreed," Nicholas said.

They stood in silence for a moment.

Then Nicholas turned and walked back toward the ice room.

Back to Lilith’s body.

Back to the vigil that none of them could abandon.

And Lucian was left standing in the empty hall feeling rage and grief and helplessness in equal measure.

***

*Maya POV*

Maya got into her car with shaking hands and sat there for a full minute before she could make herself start the engine.

Something was wrong.

She knew it with absolute certainty.

Nicholas had lied. The smoothness of it. The practiced calm. The way Lucian had looked ready to kill her.

Lilith was not "resting."

Lilith was not "recovering from magical exhaustion."

Something had happened. Something bad. And they were covering it up.

Maya pulled out her phone and stared at Lilith’s contact.

She had called seventeen times in two days. Had left messages. Had texted. Had done everything except show up at the estate.

And now she had shown up and they still would not let her see Lilith.

Maya’s hands were shaking as she typed out one more message:

I know something’s wrong. I know they’re lying. Please be okay. Please call me back. I’m so scared.

She hit send even though she knew Lilith would not respond.

Could not respond.

Because Maya was terribly afraid that Lilith could not respond to anything anymore.

She started the car and drove away from the estate.

But she was not giving up.

Not on Lilith.

Not ever.

If the Alphas would not tell her the truth, Maya would find it herself.

Even if it killed her.

***

*Twenty-four hours since Lilith died*

One hundred twenty hours remaining.

Victoria stood on the cliff overlooking the grey ocean and made her decision.

North.

The snow territories.

The swamp guardian had said to look where ancient magic lingered. Where the veil between worlds was thin.

The northern territories were exactly that wild lands where, winter never fully ended, where ice spirits walked freely, where old magic ran so deep it had shaped the very landscape.

If Thalia was hiding anywhere in the mortal realm, it would be there.

She pulled out her portal materials and began drawing the circle on the rocky ground.

Her hands were steadier now than they had been at the swamp. Not because she felt more confident. But because exhaustion had burned through the panic and left only grim determination.

She would find Thalia.

Or she would die trying.

There was no middle ground anymore.

Victoria activated the portal and stepped through.

***

The cold hit her like a physical blow.

Victoria stumbled out of the portal into knee-deep snow and immediately felt ice crystals forming on her eyelashes. The air was so cold it hurt to breathe. Wind howled across an endless white landscape, carrying snow that felt like tiny knives against her exposed skin.

Victoria called up warming magic desperately....green light wrapping around her body, creating a thin barrier between her and the killing cold.

It helped. But not enough.

She was going to freeze if she stayed out here too long.

She looked around and saw nothing but snow and ice stretching to the horizon in every direction. No trees. No shelter. No landmarks. Just endless white broken occasionally by jagged ice formations that looked like frozen waves.

The tracking compass was already in her hand, she had learned to keep it ready after the last three locations.

She activated it.

The silver wire glowed weakly. The hair twisted. Pointed...

Northeast..