Page 35 of Fate of the Fallen
Evie
Nick was gone without a trace.
My brothers had returned from their search and came up with nothing. It was Declan who stated he couldn’t even catch ahintof Nick’s scent. Maisy’s smell either, which seemed impossible, considering the odor she carried with her the night Elise had her captured and brought to us.
Discovering that there was no lead to point us toward where Nick had gone was just another blow. We were all bewildered, beaten down by one bad circumstance after another. Add to that list that Hilda had just dropped the mother of all bombs on us—the announcement that she’d be leaving.
The guys returned to this terrible news, finding out that our aunt would have to leave us tonight. We depended on her in ways I couldn’t even begin to express, but in short, the lack of her presence would definitely be felt.
I understood the reason she had to leave, though, and the decision was made for all the right reasons.
Because, above all else, she wanted to protect us.
“I’ve got the essentials,” Hilda announced as she descended from the second floor. With a small bag tossed over her shoulder, Dallas followed behind her with two larger ones.
The length of her teal skirt dragged the floor in the back where a short train followed. Her style, like her personality, was so bold—something I’d definitely notice was missing from our home once she was gone. Granted, she had put me in my place on more than one occasion, but she’d always only ever done so in love.
An emotion I knew she felt reciprocated from each one of us.
“Are you sure there isn’t another way?” Elise asked, stepping forward as Dallas exited with the luggage.
Hilda shook her head and it wasn’t lost on me that this was just as hard on her as it would be on the rest of us. Maybe even more so because it was such an abrupt change. The moment she realized the potential danger, she knew what needed to be done.
Shealwaysknew what needed to be done—something else to miss about her. I could only hope we would get along okay in her absence.
She stood in the doorway and it was abundantly clear she was reluctant to part ways. The feeling was mutual for all parties.
“You’ll return the moment things settle,” Elise insisted, doing all she could to mask the wetness that pooled in her eyes.
Hilda gave a nod. “As quickly as I’m able to make it here,” she assured us. “In the meantime, don’t worry about Ivan. He’ll be well taken care of. Where we’re going, we’ll be among other witches, among friends, and I assure you he’ll be my main priority.”
Ethan was the first to rush in with a hug, and the rest of us followed, swarming Hilda as we swallowed the bitter pill we’d been dealt tonight.
“Don’t make a fuss,” she insisted when we released her. Swiping a tear from beneath her eye, she corrected her posture and it wasn’t long before she appeared as poised and collected as usual.
“I need to get Ivan settled, so I’d better be on my way. And when Dallas returns from the drop point, you’d be wise not to ask questions. The fewer people with knowledge of where I am, the better our chances ofSebastiannot knowing. Thus, making it nearly impossible to hunt me down for intel should he get desperate.”
Elise and Liam agreed.
“Duly noted,” Declan replied.
There was a long stint of silence and the heaviness of the moment could be sensed.
Felt.
“Well … until we meet again,” Hilda said in parting, breaking all our hearts the next instant when she stepped outside, closed the door … and left us.
It was quiet. Eerily so as we all stared at the spot she occupied only a moment ago. It was hard to imagine how we would move forward without her, but we would have to find a way.
“We have to call a meeting,” Elise announced, swiping rogue tears from beneath her eyes as she worked to hold her expression.
“With whom?” Dallas asked, following her with his gaze as she began to pace the length of the foyer.
“The entire clan,” she declared. “Losing Hilda is a tragedy. Let us not have it be in vain by not doing what we can to plug this information leak. The people need to understand why Sebastian has been on to our every move. They need to know that, while no, the Elders are not untrustworthy, they must now be left out of all our tactical planning and cannot betoldthey’re being left out. We have to operate in total secrecy,” she declared, our latest loss no doubt driving this sudden staunch focus.
“She’s right,” Liam interjected. “We’ll arrange it tonight.”
Elise nodded. “With the Elders and Council only acting as a false headship from this point forward, we’ll need to establish new leaders among us. That can be decided at the rally, but we need to decide who will speak, who will pass along what we know.”