Sophie wanted to protest and walked past Duncan to find her husband but suddenly she saw Leland come out of his study. His face looked calm, far from angry as Lucien said. Sophie wondered if everything was fine.
"Leland," she walked to him and held his arm. "What happened?"
Leland had listened to everything Celia had to say and he was actually far from calm. However, he didn't want Sophie to feel distraught if she found out what he had heard. So, Leland kept acting as if everything was fine.
In his study, he managed to force Celia to tell him everything she knew. The old witch convinced him that for many years, Anne and Jack were actually still alive in captivity with the help of the late grand witch Elaine, Isolde's close friend.
Nobody in the pack knew, not even her husband, Alpha Leon who also thought Anne was dead.
Eloise only knew this fact after her mother, Elained, died and she found the secret prison. She wanted to tell Leland about this but since Leland intentionally avoided her, she became angry and decided to keep everything to herself, to punish Leland.
However, now that she badly needed his help, Eloise decided to use the secret as a collateral. Through Celia, Eloise promised to let Leland know the whereabouts of Anne and Jack, and whether they were still alive or dead.
She only told him that the reason why Isolde could keep Anne captive for so long was because she tricked Anne to submit by making her think that Isolde had Sophie and would torture and kill the girl slowly if Anne dared to fight back.
"Why should I believe you?" Was Leland's question after Celia ended her story.
"Because you have no choice," said the old witch. "Just like we also have no choice but to rely on your help to free our Eloise."
Leland clenched his fists to the sides. He didn't like not knowing everything. Trusting these witches was not something he wanted to do, but he realized that they were right. He had no choice. If he wanted to find out the truth, he must find his mother and at the moment Isolde was in Armeria.
Leland had to face Alpha Elias, get his mother and force her to spill the truth and maybe, if Eloise was truly in a bad condition, he could save her at the same time. He would need both women to speak, because one or both of them might lie.
Initially, Leland already planned to get to his mother but he postponed it because Sophie begged him to focus on their family first. She was scared something bad would happen during Leland's absence while she was pregnant. Leland understood this completely. He felt the same way.
His grudge and anger toward his mother could wait. However now the babies were born, they were also close to the royal palace where Nicholas was the king. Oddly enough, Leland had more peace of mind to leave Sophie under Nicholas' protection because he felt like he could trust his former enemy.
Nicholas had time and time again showed his good faith to make up for all his past mistakes to Sophie and his sons. He tread carefully around Leland and his family, trying hard to show that he just wanted to be there for Luciel and Jan, and not threaten Leland's position as Sophie's mate.
It took a while, but Nicholas had gained Leland's trust a little bit. Now, the Alpha was more relaxed around the royal family. It did help a lot that the truth was uncovered and they could agree that Anne's and Jack's deaths were not caused by the royal lycan hunters.
Now, Leland felt like he had no reason to continue hating the Hannenberghs. His sons were hannenberghs too, he couldn't deny that. Hating their family would mean he hated them as well. Leland didn't want them to think of him that way.
Now, it was time to settle everything with Isolde and find out the truth. Leland had little hope that Anne and Jack were still alive, but even if they were really dead, at he least he wanted to get a closure on what actually happened to them.
He wanted the closure for both himself and Sophie.
However... he didn't plan to share with her what he had heard from Celia for several reasons. He didn't one to make Sophie feel worried or distraught. It was better for him to clarify everything before he told her what happened.
She already had a lot in her mind. Leland wanted to spare her from this problem. That's why he immediately met her and showed a calm expression, to soothe her feeling.
"Sophie," Leland reached her hand and smiled. "I told you to wait for me. I will be with you shortly."
He kissed her hair and took her to walk back to their room. Sophie furrowed her brows. She turned to look at Leland's study to see the witch who talked to him but she couldn't see anyone.
"Who is the witch and what did she came here for?" she asked him without further ado.
"She is a witch that used to work for Eloise's family," Leland explained. "She said they need my help."
"Huh? What kind of help?" Sophie had a bad feeling everytime he heard the name Eloise mentioned. She thought Eloise was left in the past because for many years Leland never talked about her, maybe out of respects to Sophie as his wife.
Now that she heard this name again, Sophie couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
Leland decided to share half the truth with Sophie so his wife would not worry. He explained Celia's words about Eloise being abused by her husband and she begged Leland to help free her, for old time's sake.
"Oh..." Hearing his explanation, Sophie felt conflicting. She didn't like Eloise and this made her feel bad. There was no clear reason for her to hate Eloise, other than the fact that she was Leland's old friend.
Was she that petty to hate someone without a clear reason? They had never even met!
Also... as a fellow woman, shouldn't she feel sympathetic toward Eloise's plight? Sophie felt horrible if she didn't let Leland go and help his old friend.
She halted her steps and looked at Leland with a questioning look. "So... you will go and help her?"
Leland looked at Sophie calmly and nodded. "I need to face Elias anyway. He is protecting the traitors of our pack. I need to teach those people a lesson."
Sophie felt really uncomfortable with the thought that Leland would leave them to go to Armeria. However, she tried to put on a calm front and took a deep breath.
"You should bring some people with you," she said with a hoarse voice. "Can't you wait for Lucas to come back before you go? You have to bring him, and several other trusted people. Will you go there secretly?"
Leland nodded. "Yeah. This is a secret mission. I don't want to trigger an open war, not yet. Riga is not ready. Celia told me some ways to enter Armeria safely. I will go there with some men."
It was an important mission. He would kill Elias, get to his mother and Eloise, and then find out the truth about Anne and Jack. Once he sorted everything, finally his family could live in peace.
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