Chapter 377 Ava: A Terrible Loss

The smell is everywhere. Blood. So much blood it pierces through the crisp winter air, making my stomach turn. The pristine white landscape ahead is no longer—violent arcs and puddles of blood mix with churned patches of snow, depicting the aftermath of battle.

The sled slows as we approach. There are a few unmoving wolf bodies on the ground. They aren't ours.

Except one, further off, surrounded by Lisa and the others.

"Lisa!" My voice cracks as I jump off the sled and rush toward my best friend. She sits motionless, the head of our fallen wolf in her lap. "Are you okay?"

It must be Mira she's holding.

My guards fan out around us, creating a protective circle. Vanessa rushes to the nearest injured wolf, her medical supplies already in hand. Not sure what she can do for what's clearly a broken leg, but this is her field of expertise.

Mine is… well, I don't know.

First, checking on Lisa. Then, figuring out what the hell we're going to do.

"I'm fine." Lisa's surprisingly calm, but it doesn't seem right. More like she's detached from reality. There's no emotion, no sense of self in her words. Lifting her arm, where her brace glints in the light, she says simply, "She didn't stand a chance."

Who? Mira?

Another betrayal?

No. Selene's voice is clipped and tight. These ashes were a body once.

Oh.

So Lisa…

Killed them.

Good riddance.

Yes.

be something wrong, because

yet,

bleeding, shimmies into some clothes he pulls from the sled, watching Lisa with a

hand against Lisa's shoulder with a gentle squeeze, I slip by her to kneel beside the ash pile. Strange magic tingles across my skin. The residual energy almost makes my

Marcus stands near Kellan.

deep voice carrying

declare that we're uninjured and

"What does Lucas say?"

on

to what's

us. "She says it's a woman associated with the Mad

into knots. The Mad Prince. A name I've pushed to the back of my mind since Lisa's return, buried under an avalanche of—well, so many things. He wasn't supposed to be part of our present anymore. Old

searching for her

Damn it.

was, it's unlikely he would have found you since you learned to shield your powers. But I

"A thrall?"

Selene confirms. Just blood magic and

to examine the ashes. "Blood magic lingers past death. This one

This must be her. Unless it's

thralls does he have? Do you know,

them like toys, but they don't survive long. I was lucky,

know, but

months. I

as she continues stroking Mira's fur, lost in her own world. My knees sink into the snow beside her, but she doesn't acknowledge my

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