Chapter 40 : Rage and Loss

*Calix*

I didn’t know whether to be angry or sad, foolish or spiteful. Had I known she would figure out a way to escape? Of course, I did. If I had learned anything about Lynn since she first arrived, it was that she always got her wish.

It didn’t matter without her. None of it did. I tried to find her, to use our growing bond to seek her out, but wherever she had gone, she was too far for me to feel her.

The forest grew thick around the castle, and her tracks were but nonexistent. Following her would be impossible unless we wanted to risk the army we had so carefully built.

The web of magic Sabastian had cast over her to prevent her from shifting vanished the moment she left the castle. She would be long gone by now. I had little hope of finding her before Dryden did.

I sat in the Great Hall, Aldith at my feet and the Council and my advisors standing around her. She knelt before me, head bowed, only looking at the floor.