Chapter Seventeen- What Isolde Left Behind

Seren’s P.O.V

It was sewn into the lining of his coat.

I didn’t understand why they’d taken off his clothes, but when Marguerite cut open the Redmoor wool and a flat package rolled between oilcloth and a thick rope stained with his blood, she handed it to me.

"This is yours," she said. "Always has been."

I walked into the study and placed it on the desk. I stared at it for a long while. I could see that the oilcloth had begun to crack with age. I could feel it with my fingertips. There is a lot of paper. But there is also something small and hard in there.

"You don’t have to open it tonight."

"I do."

I wasn’t very steady with my hands. Caelum moved around to my side and Rysen moved around to my other side. Neither of them touched me. I pulled the rope loose and opened up the oilcloth.

First there was a birth certificate. A thin piece of paper with Marcus’ precise clerk script. Stamped with the foundling house seal. Female infant. Three days old. No surname listed. Then there was an older piece of paper, the ink faded to a pale brown. Refusal to bond. Signed by a name I’d never seen before. Isolde Varn. The writing was angry. The pen had torn through the paper.

And then at the bottom of the page there was a tiny silver locket.

I picked it up. It was warm. I frowned. I knew it was warm. Someone had just taken it off. Without even being told where the clasp was I opened it.

There was a single strip of paper inside.

I read it aloud.

"If you’re reading this then I’m either dead or too far away to save my daughter. I’m sorry. I couldn’t carry her and run. I chose to run. I will make the most of my remaining life.

She isn’t a line. She isn’t a price. She isn’t a gift. She is a girl. She was born screaming and gripped my finger so tight it hurt. If you’re reading this then tell her that. Tell her I could feel her kick last night and I stayed outside your door until sunrise.

Thorne will come. Don’t trust his kindness. Don’t trust his offers. If you need to hide her then hide her somewhere there is no law in the north. The place we used to play. Past the broken ford. He won’t remember. I will.

Her name was Isa.

I paused.

I think I stopped breathing. The world swayed gently and I felt Caelum’s warm, heavy hand finally rest on my shoulder.

Tell her you stayed outside until sunrise.

The footsteps in chapter four. The long wait outside my door. I’d assumed it was Rysen, but having spent hundreds of nights in hundreds of different rooms I knew exactly how it felt to be the girl on the other side of the wood. To be left out.

My mother had stayed outside until sunrise.

I held the locket to my mouth and made a noise. A sad, guttural, animal like noise. Nothing like the bookish sadness. Rysen dropped to his knees and pulled me into his chest. I allowed it. I allowed both of them. Caelum encircled us from behind and we became a tangle of limbs on the floor of the cold study. I cried for a woman I couldn’t visualise.

"Isa," I whispered into Rysen’s shirt.

"It fits," he whispered. "Gods Isa it fits."

---

By midnight I could think again.

I sat wrapped in two blankets. The locket in my fist. Watching the twins work. Caelum was frowning over the map table. Rysen was scribbling notes into the back of a ledger with a pencil. They worked in silence. Using their bloodlines to create a plan.

"Five days." Caelum said. "Thorne’s hearing will be at Redmoor. His territory. If we show up with just a letter then he’ll call it a forgery. A scared clerk. A locket. A woman no one has seen in eighteen years."

"So we bring more."

They both looked at me.

"The refusal." I said, holding up the old paper. "Isolde refused to bond with an approved mate from the council and ran. That makes it legal. Under northern law she never bonded with Redmoor’s choice. Meaning—" I read it out loud. "That she was never under Thorne’s control after that night. Nor was her child."

Caelum’s head tilted. "Can you say that again?"

"His argument is that I am the closest relative to the Varn line so my children belong to his house. But the law only applies to a bloodline who never went against the pack." I tapped the paper. "My mother went against it. Legally. And I was born after."

Rysen whistled. "He’s been working off an incorrect date."

"No. An hidden date." I swallowed. "He’s relying on no one finding out about the refusal. Marcus must’ve helped hide it. That’s why he wanted the file sealed and why he sent knives after the only man who copied it."

Caelum’s face lit up with a slow, dangerous smile.

"So this isn’t a custody hearing. It’s an indictment."

"We have to get to Ashgrove before Redmoor." Rysen said. "She’ll want to check that it’s real. She’ll want to see the original."

"It’s sealed within the northern registry." I said, flipping the locket over in my hands. "My mother’s letter says it’s past the broken ford. She told me where to hide it. She told me where she hid it."

Silence filled the room.

"Isa," Caelum said gently. "You’re not thinking of going north."

"I am." My voice wavered. "I’m thinking about the five days. Every day I spend waiting for Thorne here is a day she might not get to spend. She said she’d either be dead or too far away. I want to know which."

"What about the babies?" Rysen asked quietly.

"They’re coming either way." I said, placing my free hand low on my stomach. "I’d rather they knew their grandmother’s name first."

They didn’t argue. They didn’t have too. I could feel it. They were already working out the maths. Splitting up. Love and tactics intertwined.

"We split up." Caelum said. "Rysen takes you north. Quietly. Six riders. No crest. I’ll go to Ashgrove and give her the refusal. I’ll keep Thorne distracted."

"Caelum."

"I hate it." He walked across the room and cupped my face in his hands. His thumbs were rough against my cheekbones. "I want to be there. Every part of me wants to be there. But if he sees us both leave this house he’ll know. He’ll come after us. Go find her. Come back. And we’ll finish this together."

I nodded against him.

Rysen was already by the door. He shoved a map into his coat pocket. His face was serious. "We leave at dawn."

"Then I should probably sleep."

"Probably." Caelum agreed. He didn’t release me.

I lay awake. Listening to the house settle. Both of them were wrapped around me. Caelum’s breathing was slow and steady against my neck. Rysen’s hand rested protectively on my stomach. The locket was warm in my hand. Deep inside my ribs the wolf stirred. It was restless. It was pointing towards the north.

Isa.

Past the broken ford. Where there is no law in the north.

I closed my eyes. Trying to picture somewhere I’d never been. Almost I could smell the snow.