Chapter 503: Let Us Help
Everyone in the chambers remained stunned, watching the skylight where the smoke of Violet’s remains had disappeared. The flames extinguished themselves upon her death, and it was almost as if the madness had never happened. She was just... gone.
In the center of the floor, August remained cradling Graeme’s wolf. He was strangely quiet, and she was afraid to move. He was burned. He was burned badly. She squeezed her eyes shut, not knowing what to do. It likely hurt him just to be touched, but she had to pull him out of those flames to save him. Now she was afraid to let him go.
When she began to release him so she could observe the damage, he let out a sharp whine. It just came out—he was trying not to make a noise. But the pain was so intense that he couldn’t help it. Having his mate’s arms around him was both comforting and excruciating in almost equal measure.
Greta and Maggie approached where they were huddled first and the others followed.
"What do I do?" August said to herself. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t cause him another jolt of pain like that, but that meant that she was frozen as she was.
"I have an idea," Maggie crouched down next to them. "Just stay as you are."
Just as August had done with Neoma, Maggie focused an orb of healing light around Graeme. It had her unique signature. It was different than August’s—starting out as a small aura that formed around the crown of her head and then cascaded down to envelop the male who was in August’s arms.
August felt Graeme’s reaction to the healing at once. It was like he was being dipped into a soothing bath that coated his burned skin and began repairing it. He was lycan, so these wounds would heal on their own. But it would take time and a lot of pain. This was speeding up the process and doing it in a way that saved him the suffering he would have otherwise had to endure.
Cressida was frozen in the doorway of the chambers, a hand clasped over her mouth. She had witnessed her daughter’s innermost darkness spill out in a vicious attempt to end their Luna, but Graeme was hurt instead. And then Violet... her daughter, her flesh and blood, her baby that she had watched grow from a pup... she was gone. She died by the darkness she had created—caught in her own horrifying enchantment.
Cressida should have been able to help her. There must have been something she could have done to stop her from becoming so twisted by jealousy and hatred, but she had failed. And now her daughter was gone.
"I am sorry for your loss, Cressida," Sylvia approached her and wrapped her in a hug, feeling the mother break down in her arms.
"I should have stopped her," she said through sobs. "I should have helped her."
"I was there with her everyday, too," Sylvia told her, rubbing her back. "We tried. There is nothing you could have done. Violet was intent on this path, and nothing was going to stop her. It is a tragedy to lose her despite her actions. Do not feel ashamed or guilty. It is okay to grieve."
"She is right, Cressida," Charlotte said in her patient, kind voice that spoke of a flowing wisdom from age and experience. "You are a mother who lost her child. We grieve with you. The pack lost a daughter today."
Greta shook her head from where she was crouched next to Maggie. She wasn’t sure she could ever become that wise and patient as to one day comfort the grieving mother of a monster. Look at what she had done to her brother! And look at what she had been ready to do to August. It could have been August who was gone, evaporated into a plume of smoke and taking all of her miraculous life with her.
’Good riddance,’ she growled internally. It was a relief—a huge relief. Thank the Goddess Violet was gone. She only wished she could have had a hand in helping her go and preventing Graeme from suffering as he was now.
But Maggie’s brilliant light was working. She could see the skin healing and the tension on Graeme’s face where he held all of his pain gradually easing. He appeared to be falling asleep.
"Now he must rest," Maggie said, standing as the healing light gradually receded back into the air.
August remained clutching him close to her, unwilling to let him go. The image of him trapped in those flames was playing over and over again in her mind. She had been unable to focus on how to free herself from Violet until she saw him caught there and felt the excruciating pain he was feeling. If she could have shaken Violet sooner, then this wouldn’t have happened. He may be healing now, but the memory of that pain would be etched into his skin forever.
"Luna, let’s take him to where he can rest," Maggie said gently. "We need to make sure you are okay as well."
"I am fine," she choked out. "Don’t worry about me."
"Violet was choking you and wrestling you on the floor. Let us check the pup, August," Greta said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Let us check your wounds as well."
August felt Greta’s persuasive sway descend on her like a fog—something she hadn’t been the recipient of in a long time. Her eyes lifted to Graeme’s sister’s—to her sister’s, and she felt the tug to finally let go. To stop trying to be the strongest, the bravest, the one who had to hide her weaknesses for the sake of everyone else. The one who had to heal everyone else and protect them at any cost to herself.
"Greta," she whimpered.
"Yes, my love?" Greta said, rubbing her shoulder.
"Don’t control my emotions," she sniffed and then chuckled, watching as a smile slowly bloomed on Greta’s face as well.
It wasn’t what she was originally going to say—she was going to ask for help. She was going to ask to be taken home. But she was fighting against the persuasion that Greta used to soften that defensive exterior that was still guarding against any threat and still fiercely protective of her mate.
"Let us help you, though. Okay? That is all we want. Sam can help take Graeme back home, and you two can rest there after we make sure that you are okay. How does that sound?"
August sighed and squeezed her eyes shut, still stuck reliving what had just happened. Still feeling the echo of her mate’s pain in her own body, still feeling her own screams for it to stop all the way to her bones. Was their pup okay? She believed he was, but honestly she couldn’t focus enough to tell.
"Okay," she said softly. "Let’s go home."
