Cara trembled inwardly from fear as she checked Elana's pulse at her wrists.
Her temperature was gradually stabilizing from the medicine she had been given.
The male medic standing beside the bed mirrored her unease, nearly shaking like a leaf beneath the weight of Azael's presence at the window, his silhouette framed by the approaching dawn.
The effect of being indirectly watched by Azael weighed heavily on all three of them, especially Cara and Elana, given that they had tried to escape him.
"She…" the medic stammered, swallowing hard, voice tight with fear. "She…should be okay…s-soon. She needs a lot of rest, and food will be sent to her as soon as possible."
Cara immediately felt a soft grip on her hand.
She looked down to see Elana clutching her, eyes trembling with fear and weakness as she whispered, "Please don't leave me alone with him…please, Cara."
Cara's heart twisted with guilt. Their plan to escape was a total mess that escalated into a survival situation and delivered them straight into Azael's hands.
She swallowed, torn between checking on Victor with the medic and staying with Elana.
"I'll leave her in your care," Azael said finally, his voice calm but heavy. "Trust you understand the stakes."
Cara nodded, almost desperate. She was too scared to ask why Victor had nearly died at Azael's hands, too scared to provoke him as she noticed the scant number of soldiers in the palace.
"Y-yes, my lord," Cara murmured, gently closing her fingers around Elana's.
She was grateful that Azael, at least, was giving the poor girl space to recover before god-knows-what.
In a blink, Azael disappeared from the window.
Cara and the medic exhaled simultaneously at his departure.
"He's gone," Cara told Elana.
Elana sniffed, sobs beginning to break free as Cara held her closer to her chest.
Cara faced the medic. "Go attend to his majesty."
The medic nodded, hands still trembling, a young man who clearly didn't believe in anything beyond medicine.
"I'm sorry," Elana cried. "I didn't mean—"
"It's not your fault, flower." Cara soothed, caressing her hair. "It's not your fault at all."
She looked out the window.
The chaos ahead promised nothing short of catastrophe.
Someone had sent Caesar to capture Elana, and Cara knew he was merely a pawn to whoever.
But there was no doubt, whoever orchestrated this was Azael's enemy, like the werewolves who had attacked them.
Cara felt bad for Elana as she now knew freedom was no longer a choice for the blind girl crying in her arms.
**
Azael's gaze caught the fancy, modern carriage parked outside his castle before he shapeshifted, vanishing only to materialize at his throne.
Evren and Thorne bowed instantly, their subtle fear of their carelessness thick in the air.
"My lord," Thorne began, head bowed. "We had no idea Elana would escape another way. The kingdom was fortified with our soldiers."
"We are searching for them," Evren added, fists clenched to restrain from trembling. "Caesar and Zane were likely perpetrators of the success of Elana's escape from Sirence."
"And part of the investigation?" Azael asked, concerned more about why Caesar had chased and fired at Elana and the others in the forest.
Could he have kidnapped all three and why?
"The family responsible for Elana's care, along with Cara, were sedated the morning they disappeared. But nothing appeared forceful." Evren said.
"Rise," Azael said. Thorne and Evren lifted their heads.
In the back of his mind, he knew Elana's escape had not been entirely under their control.
Behind his rage, the memory of Trisha's warnings echoed.
He had to protect Elana but he couldn't do so effectively without knowing the source.
It was definitely not Fen; he had witnessed the wolves attacking the men with Caesar, but not Caesar himself.
He had lost focus on everything else except saving Elana—-and had lost the sorcerer too.
Azael clenched his jaw.
"He had help," Azael said. "Scout the mountains.
Find Caesar. If he's not yet mauled by the wolves, bring him alive.
Elana is safe in Lumere."
Relief flickered across the twins' faces, though they tried to mask their fear of how he might have reacted to the news.
They were fortunate he found her first.
They bowed again, voices united: "Yes, my lord."
Thorne and Evren vanished, leaving Azael alone with the memory of Elana's whispered plea to Cara.
Had she tried to escape him?
**
Theo's anger boiled as he watched Caesar's body burning to ashes in the incinerator.
He stood with his back to the morgue wall, directed by Eira to dispose of Caesar's remains.
The stench of corpses mingled with smoke rising from the incinerator.
Caesar was gone, and Theo reflected, internally comparing himself to him.
Eira had still sent him to Lumere tonight to scout Elana's exact location after ensuring Caesar's body was burnt beyond trace, because of her mark.
It enraged him.
The lengths Eira would go to for Azael, without recognizing his devotion to her…if Caesar could be disposed of so easily due to a slip, what would happen to him if he faltered?
Would Eira disregard his sacrifice? All he had done to be more than just one of her loyal mercenaries?
The sparks from the incinerator stole his focus as he lingered on what remained of Caesar's body.
He concluded in his mind that, devotion was one-sided.
Even if he had sacrificed his humanity for Eira's love, he wasn't willing to die for it as Caesar had.