The Human Among Wolves (Aurora) novel Chapter 56

Chapter 56

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Zayn

Zade didn’t answer right away, and the silence stretched, pressing against my sku.

I swallowed hard, my throat dry. “After a while I couldn’t hear anything anymore I continued, my tone sharper, brittle. “Not the screams. Not the crying. Not…” My voice cracked, and I cut myself off before it could shatter completely.forced the words back out, quieter but colder than before. “What happened

to them?”

On the other end, Zade let out a heavy breath, the sound scraping like gravel through the line. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse, reluctant. “I don’t know, Zayn. Not exactly. After she gave birth… they were kept in that basement for years. Nine, maybe ten. I lost count after a while.” His tone faltered, then

hardened again, defensive. “And then one day, they were gone. I heard whispers that the woman was returned.”

“Returned?” The word felt poisonous on my tongue. “Not killed?”

He hesitated, then muttered, “No. Not killed. Returned to where she came from. She was a witch–powerful, dangerous. Father wouldn’t waste something like

her if she could still serve a purpose. So… she was sent back to her people.”

I clenched my jaw until it ached. “And the child?” I asked slowly, my voice tight as wire. “What happened to the little girl?”

A pause. Longer this time.

Finally, Zade said, cautious, “Wait… how do you know it’s a girl?”

My heart hammered. I hadn’t meant to say that. But the image was burned into my mind–her voice, the woman calling her by the name Aurenya. I gritted my teeth, forcing steel into my voice. “Just answer the question.”

“The last I heard,” Zade said finally, his voice lower now, almost reluctant, “she was taken somewhere else. I think she’s still alive. But where she went, or

who has her now… that, I don’t know.”

I let out a long breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding and closed my eyes, my fingers pressing hard against my temple. The room spun for a second, my chest tight. Alive. At least she might still be alive. Or… no don’t go there. She isnt Aurora. She couldn’t be.

When I found my voice again, it came out strained, quieter than before. “How did you even find out? Because it sure as hell wasn’t Father who told you. He never let anyone down there. No one–except his most trusted men.”

For a moment, I thought Zade wouldn’t answer. Then he said, almost matter–of–factly, “The same way you did, I suppose. The difference is, I was much older than you when I stumbled into the truth. Old enough to know exactly how dangerous it was. And I bribed someone to let me through.”

I frowned, confusion twisting in my gut. “Bribed who?”

There was a beat of silence before he said the name, steady and sure: “Corelius.”

My eyes widened, my stomach dropping. Corelius–Father’s right hand, his shadow, the man who had followed him since before I was born. He wasn’t someone who could be swayed. He wasn’t someone who bent for anything–or amone.

*How the hell did you manage that?” I demanded, my voice rising despite the exhaustion weighing me down.

“I have my ways,” Zade replied, dismissive, like it wasn’t worth explaining.

I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see it, bitterness curling in my chest. “Of course you do. Always so cryptic. Always with your damn secrets.”

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Chapter 56

He didn’t respond, and for a moment, the silence between us stretched again, hey and tense.

Finally, I asked, quieter this time, almost against my better judgment. “Can you can you find out what happened to her? To the girl?”

Zade hesitated, and for a split second, I almost believed he might say yes. Then voice came, flat and sharp: “Probably not.”

I groaned inwardly, dragging a hand down my face. Of course. That was his answer to everything.

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