Chapter 8

This time, the pain was different.

It didn't just burn my skin anymore. It drilled deeper, burrowing into my bones.

Cold sweat poured down my face as my body shook uncontrollably.

The sky lit up again.

"This was two months ago," Russ said, disgust heavy in his voice. "The time Lucia almost died."

Before the image fully formed, Lucia's crying echoed through the square.

"Dad... I feel awful..."

The memory sharpened.

It was the pack's medical lodge.

Lucia lay on a stone bed, her skin tinged purple, lips dark and trembling.

The healer kneeled beside her. "Wolfsbane poison. If the dose had been any stronger, we wouldn't have saved her."

My father stood nearby, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles cracked.

"Who did this?"

Caleb stepped forward, holding a bowl. "Lucia said Lyla brought this to her."

My voice came from outside the frame. "I didn't!"

The memory shifted.

I saw myself standing at the entrance, two warriors gripping my shoulders.

"I never brought Lucia anything!" My past self struggled against them.

Lucia spoke weakly from the bed, "Lyla, do you hate me that much?"

Caleb lifted the bowl toward me. "A servant witnessed you carrying this into Lucia's room."

"Which servant?" I demanded.

A thin young maid was pushed forward.

She kept her head lowered, trembling. "I... I saw Ms. Lyla carry a bowl into Ms. Lucia's room."

"When?" I asked.

"In the afternoon."

"Where did I get the bowl?"

"Fr-from your own room..."

"My room?" My voice rose. "My room is on the far west side of the pack grounds. Lucia's is on the far east side. You're saying I carried poison across the territory, and nobody else saw me?"

The maid froze, unable to answer.

"M-maybe someone saw but didn't say anything..."

"Then bring everyone who walked that path!" I turned toward my father. "Question them one by one!"

My father studied me for a long moment.

Then he said, "Investigate."

Half an hour later, five warriors returned.

"Three pack members passed through that area this afternoon," the lead warrior reported. "A she-wolf fetching water and two patrol guards. None of them saw Ms. Lyla."

My father looked at the maid.

Her face went pale. "M-maybe I remembered the time wrong..."

Lucia suddenly broke into violent coughing.

"Dad," she whispered weakly, reaching out, "I feel terrible..."

My father immediately returned to her side and grabbed her hand.

"Healer!"

"The poison hasn't fully cleared. She needs to keep purging," the healer said.

"Use the strongest medicine we have," my father ordered.

"Okay."

He turned back toward me.

"Lyla," he said, "this only proves you might not have walked that particular path."

I spoke slowly, every word deliberate, "Someone paid that servant to lie."

"Who would do that?" Caleb asked.

"Wolfsbane only grows in the Northlands. The pack doesn't even have it. If I poisoned her, when would I have gone to gather it? I haven't left the territory since returning."

My father turned to the healer. "Do we have wolfsbane anywhere in the pack?"

"No," the healer replied, shaking his head. "It can't grow here. It's native only to the Northlands."

I continued, "And if I wanted her dead, why would I do it in broad daylight where someone could see me? Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

Caleb frowned, uncertainty creeping into his expression.

My father turned back to the maid.

"What was Lyla wearing when you saw her?"

The maid froze.