Lucian
I walked fast with the kind of pace that didn't invite conversation or company along the way.
The eastern wall came into view as I turned the corner of the main grounds. Two guards stood near the spot where the markings had been found, their postures straightening immediately when they saw me approaching.
But the space beside the wall was empty. No ancient frail figure crouching over stone inscriptions.
I stopped.
"Where is he?" I asked the guard to my left.
The man looked at me with the particular expression of someone who had been asked a question they already knew the answer to but wished they didn't. Like the information itself was somehow his fault.
He opened his mouth. Before I could hear whatever was about to come out of it I heard footsteps approaching quickly from behind me. Another guard, slightly breathless, stopping a respectful distance away.
"My Alpha."
I turned.
