The Human Among Wolves Chapter 23

Aurora

Selene finally broke the silence, leaning forward on her elbows. “Alright, spill. What happened?”

“Nothing,” I said too quickly.

Lira snorted. “Yeah, and I’m the Queen of Velmoria. You’re terrible at lying.”

Mira’s eyes narrowed in that quiet, calculating way of hers. “You went to see someone, didn’t you?”

My fork paused halfway to my mouth. “…Maybe.”

Riven tilted her head. “Who?”

I hesitated, the memory of Mrs. Ashtrong’s sharp, unfamiliar voice still fresh in my ears.

“The Warden,” I admitted.

Four sets of brows went up.

“And?” Selene prompted.

“And…” I let out a slow breath. “He’s gone.”

“Gone?” Lira echoed.

“Yeah. There’s a new warden now. Mrs. Ashtrong. Says she doesn’t know what happened to Mr. Raulf.”

The table went still for a heartbeat.

“That’s weird,” Mira said quietly. “Wardens don’t just… disappear.”

“Exactly.” I pushed my plate away. “And it happened right after we found that spell in the Tower.”

Riven’s gaze sharpened. “You think it’s connected.”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t have to.

Selene leaned back, folding her arms. “So… do we keep pretending everything’s fine, or do we start asking the kind of questions that get people in trouble?”

“Questions like that,” I murmured, “might already be the reason he’s gone.”

But even as I said it, I knew we were all thinking the same thing.

None of us were going to let it go.

The air at our table felt heavier after that, like everyone was pretending to keep eating but no one was actually tasting their food.

Mira was the first to move again, tearing a piece of bread into neat little crumbs on her plate. “If it was connected to the book,” she said, keeping her voice low, “then someone must’ve known you went to him.”

“Or maybe,” Lira added, “he knew too much already. And that’s why he’s gone.”

Selene shot her a look. “You’re jumping to conclusions.”

“Am I?” Lira arched a brow. “This place runs on secrets. People vanish here, and half the time no one even asks why.”

I stayed quiet, pushing at the half-eaten stew in my bowl, watching how the steam curled upward before fading into nothing. That was exactly what it felt like – like Raulf had just…vanished. One day there, the next day gone, and the whole Academy barely blinked.

Riven was watching me. Not glaring, not probing—just watching. It was the kind of look that made my skin itch because I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

Finally, she asked, “Did you tell her anything?”

“Who?”

“The new warden.”

I shook my head. “No. I didn’t trust her.”

“Good.” Riven sat back, crossing her arms like she’d just decided something.

Selene rested her chin on her hand, her bracelets clinking softly. “What exactly were you hoping to get from Raulf? Was it about… the Tower?”

The last word hung there like a spark in dry grass. I glanced around instinctively, checking if anyone was close enough to hear us.

“I just wanted to see the book again,” I admitted, keeping my voice low. “There was something I didn’t get a good look at the first time.”

“And now you can’t,” Lira said flatly.

The knot in my stomach tightened. She was right. Whatever chance I’d had to examine those pages again was gone, at least for now.

The clatter of trays and the low hum of conversation filled the canteen, but it all felt distant, like we were sitting inside our own bubble. No one else seemed to notice the way the shadows pooled in the corners or how the draft from the high windows made the candles flicker just a little too much.

We didn’t say much after that. No one told me to drop it, but no one encouraged me to keep digging either. It was an unspoken pause—the kind where everyone’s waiting for someone else to make the first move.

When the lunch bell rang, we all stood together, but the silence followed us out into the courtyard. I could feel their eyes on me as we split off. They headed toward their next class, and I headed toward my dorm.

*** * ***

By the time I left the canteen, the courtyard felt quieter, the pale light stretching shadows across the stone. I shoved my hands into my pockets, the weight of the book still pressing at my thoughts even though it wasn’t with me

Raulf’s empty office.

The new Warden’s clipped tone.

The way she claimed not to know where he’d gone.

I replayed it all in my head, over and over, until another thought slipped in—one I’d been avoiding all lunch.

Zayn.

He’d been there that day, standing just behind me when the book was placed in my hands. He’d seen it. He’d heard what Raulf told me. He knew the way the sigils shifted under the light, like they were alive.

If anyone else in this place had even half of the picture, it was him.

The idea of going to him made my chest tighten. We hadn’t exactly parted on friendly terms last night. And I’d told him—more than once—that I didn’t need his help. But now… maybe I did.

I slowed, my sneakers crunching over the pavement as the path split ahead. One way toward my dorm. The other toward the wing where Zayn’s room was.

I stood there longer than I should have, the cold biting at my cheeks.

Would he even talk to me? Or would he smirk and make me beg for whatever scraps of information he had?

I almost turned toward my dorm. Almost.

But Raulf’s absence sat in my mind like a warning bell. And the book—that was now in my dorm on the desk.

Zayn might have answers.

Or, at the very least, he’d know if I was walking into something I couldn’t walk back out of.

I exhaled a long cloud of breath into the cold air and started toward his wing.

Despite my pride, I needed his help after all.