Snakeroot (13 page)

“Sabine.” Ethan looked at her. “You’ve seen the pack more than anyone else. Have you noticed anything about Shay? Anything not wolfy going on there?”

Sabine thought about her trips up the mountainside. The hours she’d spent watching the wolves near Haldis Cavern. She’d seen them and they’d seen her. At times she’d believed the pack knew her. Knew that she once belonged with them. But Sabine wasn’t entirely convinced that belief was any more than wishful thinking. A cold comfort drawn from the past.

And Shay hadn’t seemed any different from the other wolves. He was their alpha. They were his pack. All seemed right in their world.

“Not that I noticed, but I guess anything is possible,” Sabine said. “What happened here when the Rift closed . . . it was new. I don’t think anyone can know the full ramifications.”

“I suppose not,” Tess sighed.

“Are you okay?” Ethan rested his hand on Sabine’s shoulder.

She nodded, though her pulse still hummed in her veins, not quite frantic, but faster than she liked. Sabine let herself lean against Ethan, but turned her head toward Tess.

“Not that I mind,” Sabine said, “but how is it that you’re the one asking all these questions? Is that your new job? Head Inquisitor?”

Tess laughed, rubbing the back of her neck as though abashed. “I’m not quite sure what Anika was thinking, but when the Arrow asks you to step up, you say yes.”

“Sounds important,” Ethan said.

“I’ll say.” Tess nodded. “I hope you’ll keep not minding me being in charge, Sabine, because I’m your new Guide.”

SHILOH WASN’T
much of a talker, Connor found, and it was driving him a little nuts. Not knowing what had befallen Adne left Connor at his wits’ end. His only means of distracting himself was his usual fallback—easy banter. But with Shiloh it seemed that banter was neither usual nor easy.

“You’re a fan of the classics, I take it?” Connor asked, attempting yet another foray into conversation.

“I’m sorry?” Shiloh kept a brisk pace as they walked through Rowan Estate’s east wing.

“Warrior archetype,” Connor answered. “Tall, dark, silent. You fit the bill. I can respect that.”

Shiloh didn’t answer.

“Good for you, not breaking character,” Connor muttered.

When they stopped in front of a door, Connor swore under his breath in relief.

Shiloh gave a quick rap on the heavy wood. A robed woman, one of the Eydis healers, answered his knock.

“Is it all right for us to come in?” Shiloh asked.

Screw all right,
Connor thought. If the woman objected, he was determined to blow right past her.

Even so, he was glad when she nodded and stepped aside to let him pass. Connor had been telling himself all morning that no matter what he saw when they brought him to Adne, he’d stay calm. He managed . . . sort of.

Connor didn’t shout or cry, but he did run to the bedside and grasp Adne’s hand before asking anyone if it was okay to do so. Her fingers were cool in his grip, but not frigid. He knelt beside the bed, trying to gather as much information as he could by just looking at her.

She was far too pale. That was clear. Adne’s skin was always fair, but the blush of life that painted her cheeks was missing. She looked cold. Like time had frozen her in place.

It occurred to Connor how sick stories like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty were. There wasn’t anything romantic or hopeful in this scene. Anyone who loved a person and found them in a state like this wouldn’t feel heroic or courageous. Connor only encountered a near-overwhelming despair.

“What happened to her?” He managed to croak out the words.

“We’re not certain,” the healer answered. “The morning patrol found her outside the mansion, unconscious, and we haven’t been able to wake her. But I can assure you that she’s out of immediate danger.”

That news brought Connor some comfort, but not much. Physically, Adne might be stable, but something else plagued her. Something that had driven her to Rowan Estate in the middle of the night. But what?

Adne’s fingers twitched in Connor’s grasp. She started to murmur and Connor thought she was waking, but her eyes remained closed.

“She’s been restless like that on and off,” the healer told Connor. “We can’t make sense of her words.”

Connor stood up and bent over Adne, listening as she spoke in a quiet, breathless tone.

“Ren . . . Ren . . . Don’t let him take me. Please. Don’t let him take me. Ren.”

Connor dropped Adne’s hand and took a few steps back.

The despair he’d been feeling gave way to dread.

“Do you understand what she means?” the healer asked.

Connor didn’t want to answer.

It’s nothing. Of course she’d be having nightmares about her brother. Bad dreams. Hallucinations after exposure. That’s all it is.

Rational as his excuses were, Connor knew they were lies.

“Oh God, Adne.” Sabine halted in the doorway, gazing at her friend. Tess and Ethan stood in the hall just behind Sabine.

Clearing his throat, Connor could only manage to mimic the healer. “She’s out of immediate danger.”

Sabine crossed the room and took up Connor’s abandoned post, kneeling beside Adne and taking her hand. At Sabine’s touch, Adne grew restless again, mumbling.

Frowning, Sabine leaned closer. Connor had to stop himself from grabbing Sabine and hauling her away.

After a moment, Sabine pulled back and looked over her shoulder at Connor. “Is she saying what I think she’s saying?”

Connor ground his teeth, wishing he could deny it. Sweat broke out on his brow and his pulse became frenzied by panic. He felt utterly helpless and he couldn’t bear it.

Tess came into the room and whispered quietly to the healer. The robed woman nodded and quickly left them, closing the door behind her.

“Tell me why you’re so upset, Connor.” Tess gave him a measured look.

With a rough laugh, Connor gestured to Adne. “I’d say it’s obvious.”

“That’s not it,” Tess replied.

“You’d better fess up,” Ethan told Connor. “She’s the boss of us now.”

“What?” Connor frowned at him.

Sabine sat on the edge of the bed. “Tess is our Guide now.”

“Since when?” Connor threw a startled glance at Tess.

“Since this morning,” Tess answered. “So if you don’t mind . . .”

Connor hesitated, looking quickly at Shiloh. The new Striker hadn’t uttered a word since they’d arrived in Adne’s sickroom. Not that he seemed ever likely to be a big talker.

“Shiloh is part of the team,” Tess said, following Connor’s gaze.

“One big happy family, are we?” Connor muttered. When Tess gave him a withering look, he held up his hands in surrender. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to repeat Adne’s words. “Sabine heard it too. She can tell you.”

Tess lifted her eyebrows, turning to Sabine.

“It sounded like she thought she was talking to Ren.” Sabine shrugged. “She’s been saying his name.”

A shadow passed through Sabine’s eyes. “But there’s something else.”

“What’s that?” Ethan asked, frowning at Sabine’s worried expression.

“‘Don’t let him take me,’” Sabine answered. “She also says, ‘Don’t let him take me.’”

“Who?” Ethan shifted his weight, uneasy.

Sabine shook her head, looking to Connor.

“I don’t know,” Connor said. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

“Tell him about the tracks,” Tess said to Sabine.

“What tracks?” Connor looked at Sabine sharply.

“Odd as it seems,” Sabine told him, “it looks like a wolf dragged Adne from the middle of the garden to the back door of the mansion.”

“A wolf?”

“There were wolf tracks in the snow alongside the drag marks,” Ethan said.

Connor felt worse by the minute. “Are you trying to tell me that Adne was out in the garden in this weather, she passed out, and a wolf brought her back? Was it Shay? You mean Sarah Doran really saw him?”

“None of us know what really happened, Connor.” Sabine managed a pretty wolf-like snarl. “But there were wolf tracks in the snow.”

“But they weren’t Ren’s tracks.” Ethan crossed his arms defensively when they all fixed him with incredulous stares. “I’m just putting it out there. There were wolf tracks and now Adne’s talking about her brother.”

“Renier Laroche is dead.” Sabine’s voice was brittle. “Emile killed him. We saw it happen.”

Tess nodded and said gently, “I’m sure that if a wolf somehow came to Adne’s aid, then in whatever state of confusion she experienced, it might have dredged up memories of her brother.”

Though Connor didn’t find much reassurance in the image of a wolf clamping its jaws around Adne and pulling her through the snow, it was at least helpful that Tess’s explanation about why Adne would be saying Ren’s name made sense.

“Connor.” Sabine looked at Adne, who’d gone still again. “I know you’ve been worried about her. Is there anything else we should know?”

Connor tensed, reluctant to speak about Adne without her knowledge. It felt like a betrayal.

“If you want us to help her, we need to know what’s really going on,” Sabine said. “If there
is
something else going on.”

Dropping into a chair as the weight of his fears took over, Connor said, “She’s been having nightmares. Nightmares and headaches.”

“Nightmares about what?” Tess asked.

Connor shook his head. “She doesn’t like to talk about them. I’ve always assumed they were about Ren and Monroe. About their deaths. But now I’m not so sure.”

“I’m surprised she won’t tell you about them,” Sabine said. “That’s not like her.”

“I know.” Connor rested his head in his hands. Sabine had said what he’d been afraid to: Adne had never held anything back from him. Not ever. But now he felt like he barely glimpsed what she was thinking and feeling.

“Maybe she feels guilty.”

They all looked at Shiloh in surprise.

“I don’t mean to intrude,” he said, uncomfortable with their sudden focus on him.

“You aren’t,” Tess told him. “Please go on.”

Shiloh threw an apologetic glance at Connor. “I don’t know Ariadne, but from what you’ve said, she sounds very loyal. Maybe her nightmares make her feel disloyal and she’s afraid to tell you that.”

“How would dreams make her feel disloyal?” Ethan asked.

“The other thing she’s been saying, ‘Don’t let him take me,’” Shiloh replied. “That sounds to me like she can’t stop herself from being taken. She needs someone else to intervene. And, no offense, but she was calling out for her brother. Not for you.”

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room.

Knowing the others were waiting for him to speak, Connor finally sighed. “Well, it’s a theory.”

“If I may . . . ,” Shiloh began, looking to Connor for permission.

“Have at it, man,” Connor told him. How much worse could this theory get?

Shiloh nodded his thanks and turned to Sabine. “She might be more willing to talk to someone else. A girlfriend?”

“Girl talk?” Sabine laughed. “You don’t know me either, friend.”

Shiloh ducked his head, blushing.

Seriously?
Connor was beginning to have doubts about this guy.
Was he going to ask a monster’s permission before chopping its head off?

“You’re not giving yourself enough credit, Sabine.” Ethan grinned at her. “You can do girl talk, I’m sure.”

“I suppose.” Sabine nodded.

“Good,” Tess said. “When Adne recovers, I’ll want her supervised, but not too obviously. Sabine, why don’t you train her to lead tours—but draw the training time out so you can chaperone her while we get to the bottom of this.”

“She won’t like being told what to do,” Sabine said. “Or having me look over her shoulder all the time.”

“I think she’ll take it in stride.” Tess glanced at Adne. “She’ll expect consequences for weaving without permission. The assignment will be her probation.”

“My tours are punishment now?” Sabine raised an eyebrow. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Ethan had covered his mouth, pretending to cough, but it was clear he was laughing pretty hard.

“Is this why you never come to see me work?” Sabine asked, her smile curving wickedly. “I guess we’ll be talking about punishments too.”

Tess cleared her throat. “All right then. I really should get the healer back in here.”

“What should I do?” Connor was almost afraid to ask. His estrangement from Adne was out in the open now, and Connor felt both dejected and vulnerable.

“The best thing for you is to stay busy,” Tess answered. “And I’ll be taking care of that.” She looked from him to Ethan. “In fact, I have work for both of you.”

“Does it involve overtime?” Ethan asked, grinning at Sabine. “Because I think my domestic bliss might be in jeopardy.”

“It probably will, given the nature of this business,” Tess said. “Anika’s decided it’s time for us to go back into the field.”

“To do what?” Ethan frowned. “I thought the war was over.”

“It is,” Tess said, sounding a bit wary. “But after the theft in the library, the Arrow has been under a lot of pressure to make sure our future is secure.”

“How does one secure a future?” Sabine smirked. “That sounds awfully meta to me.”