Chapter 205

Iris

We pull up to my parents’ estate in the blink of an eye, thanks to my father’s speeding capabilities. I don’t even wait for it to come to a complete stop before I’m throwing open the door and racing toward the house. The front door is unlocked, and I burst through it, startling the housekeeper who’s dusting in the foyer.

“Where’s my mother?” I demand.

The housekeeper blinks at me, clearly taken aback by my disheveled appearance. I have no doubt that news of tonight’s disaster has reached every person in Ordan now, too, including my parents’ staff.

“I… I haven’t seen Mrs. Willford since earlier this evening,” she stammers.

I don’t wait for more, just push past her and take the stairs two at a time, racing toward my parents’ bedroom. My father and Ezra are right behind me.

The bedroom door is ajar, and I push it open to find… nothing. The room is immaculate, the bed still made, no sign of struggle or disturbance. It looks exactly as it always does.

But my mother is not here.

“Maeve?” my father calls, moving past me to check the bathroom, the closet, any place she might be. “Maeve, are you here?”

No response.

“Dad…” I wring my hands, nervous. I explained everything to him in the car, and his panic is mirroring my own now.

My father closes his eyes, inhaling deeply through his nose. When they snap open again, they’re slightly more relieved.

“She was here,” he says. “Not too long ago—maybe a couple of hours. Her scent leads…” He points toward the door. “Maybe she left for the gala and got sidetracked along the way.”

That would be the simple answer, of course. I hope it’s the right one. We make our way back downstairs, where my father calls for the butler. A moment later, the elderly man in his tidy black uniform appears from the parlor.

“Yes, sir?”

“Have you seen my wife?” my father asks. “Or Nora?”

The butler thinks for a moment, then nods. “Yes, I saw them both earlier this evening, sir. They were walking through the rose garden, talking.”

So she was with Nora. If she’s missing now, then the thought doesn’t exactly fill me with relief. “Did they go anywhere after that?” I blurt out.

“Toward the back of the property, miss.” The butler points out through the double doors that lead to the gardens and the property beyond. “Toward the trails that go through the woods. Their conversation seemed personal in nature, so I assume they went for a longer walk for some privacy.”

My father thanks the butler and immediately starts in that direction, Ezra and I hurrying to keep up. We question other staff members we encounter along the way—a gardener working late in the gardens, a maid returning from the guest house—and piece together a timeline.

It seems that my mother and Nora were seen heading into the woods about two hours ago. They seemed to be deep in conversation. No one thought anything of it; Nora and my mother have been friends for decades, after all, and my mother always enjoys walking the manicured nature trails when she needs to clear her head, so she knows the territory well even at night.

But now, with the evidence of Nora’s involvement in Veronica’s poisoning, and her sudden disappearance… A cold dread settles over me. I hope they really are just talking, and nothing worse.

We reach the edge of the woods that border the back of my parents’ property. It’s dark among the trees, the moonlight barely penetrating the dense canopy above. My father pauses, inhaling deeply again, then steps into the darkness—he’s picked up her scent again. I turn on my phone flashlight and follow with Ezra on my heels.

“Not too much further,” my father calls over his shoulder after a few minutes of walking. “The trail is getting stronger. They were—”

A sudden scream cuts through the night, coming from somewhere up ahead. It’s a woman’s scream—my mother’s scream.

“Mom!” I shout, breaking into a run with Ezra and my father. A moment later we burst into a small clearing, and what I see makes my blood run cold.

My mother is lying on the ground with a knife protruding from her chest. There’s a dark stain spreading across the front of her cream-colored blouse.

Blood. So much blood.

“Maeve!” my father cries, rushing to her side and dropping to his knees beside her. “No, no, no…”

I’m frozen for a moment, unable to process what I’m seeing. This can’t be real. This can’t be happening. Not my mother. Anyone but her.

Then my body jerks into motion, and I’m at her side too. My father has removed his jacket and is pressing it around the wound, carefully avoiding pushing the knife further in.

“Mom,” I choke out. “Mom, can you hear me?”

Her eyes flutter open. “Iris,” she whispers. “Nora… she…”

“Don’t try to talk, my love,” my father whispers. “Save your strength. We’ll get help.”

Ezra is already on his phone and calling for an ambulance. My mother’s eyes flutter shut despite my father’s and my attempts to keep her awake, although her chest still rises and falls with shallow breaths.

My father is openly weeping now, cradling my mother’s pale hand against his cheek, begging her not to leave him. Ezra’s footsteps fade into the background as he runs for help while we wait for the ambulance.

And I… I don’t know what to do. I feel helpless, useless.

Without even realizing what I’m doing, I close my eyes and think of a name.

“Arthur.”

I call to him through the bond that has connected us since the day we met. The bond that has been stretched and tested, knotted and distorted, but never truly broken. The bond that I’ve felt in my soul every day for the last six years, even when we were apart.

“Arthur, I need you.”

I don’t know if he’ll hear me. I don’t know if he’s still under Veronica’s spell. I don’t know if the handkerchief I secretly slipped into his pocket will be enough to save him.

But in this moment of desperation, it’s all I can think to do.

Minutes later, paramedics and a few of my father’s security guards burst into the clearing with Ezra. The paramedics gently pull me and my father away, although my father puts up more of a fight than I can manage.

“She’s lost a lot of blood, but she’s still alive,” one of the paramedics says. “We need to move her now.”

They lift her onto a stretcher, and my father follows, still refusing to let go of her hand, as they carry her back through the woods toward the waiting ambulance. I start to go after them, but then I hesitate, looking back at the dark forest.

“Nora,” I say to Ezra. “She’s still out there. We have to find her.”

“The police will find her,” Ezra assures me. “You should be with your mother now.”

“I can’t just let her go,” I insist. “She tried to kill my mother. She framed me for poisoning Veronica. She has to pay for what she’s done.”

Ezra sighs. “Iris, think about what you’re saying. Nora is dangerous. She just stabbed your mother, the woman she’s been friends with for decades. What do you think she’ll do to you, the woman she barely knows, if you confront her alone?”

I hate to admit it, but he’s right. Nora is an old woman—she couldn’t have gotten far, and the police will be better equipped to find her and subdue her. So I let Ezra guide me back toward the path that will lead us out of the woods. My mother needs me more than I need revenge.

But as we’re about to step onto the path, a low growl coming from behind us makes us both freeze.

We turn slowly, and there, at the edge of the clearing, stands a massive wolf. His fur is dark, nearly black in the dim light, but his eyes glow a brilliant green that I would recognize anywhere.

Arthur.

And dangling from his powerful jaws is Nora’s unconscious body.