Chapter 546: Continuity
A few days later, Arion returned to the restricted forest with Matthias beside him and considerably less trust than he had carried during their previous visit.
Officially, they were there because Matthias believed several other elders could be brought toward the eastern monitoring corridor without drawing the younger knights behind them, allowing Arion and Victor to determine whether age changed the risks of restoration.
Unofficially, Arion wanted Matthias away from Theodore, away from Dean, and somewhere surrounded by enough open ground and armed personnel that if his instincts proved correct, ending the problem would be considerably easier.
Hendrik had understood without needing the explanation twice.
So had Hunter.
Elias had understood before anyone said anything at all.
That bothered Arion most.
The younger former soldier had been invited to join the operation because his knowledge of the forest remained useful, yet the moment he learned Matthias would be there, fear overtook his face.
Elias had still come, but he stayed near Hunter and never allowed Matthias behind him.
Matthias noticed.
He said nothing.
For the first hour, neither did Arion.
They traveled several kilometers beyond the established monitoring road in two terrain vehicles, stopping near a wide frozen basin where the surrounding slopes gave the drones an unobstructed view in every direction. Winter had thinned the undergrowth enough that dark trunks stretched between patches of old snow, while the transformed wolves occasionally appeared at the edges of the thermal feed before moving away again.
The beasts knew Arion was there.
They did not approach.
Matthias stood near the old concrete foundations of a collapsed service building, long black hair tied at his nape beneath the collar of his field coat, and looked entirely human against a landscape that had once worn him like part of itself.
Arion joined him.
"Before you call anyone, I want an answer."
Matthias turned.
"To what?"
"What is your plan?"
The older man’s expression remained calm.
"To bring the knights out."
"That is the answer you have been giving everyone."
"It is also true."
"I asked what you actually want."
Matthias studied him for several seconds, and Arion deliberately allowed a little vetiver into the cold air, not enough to command anything but enough to remind them both that this conversation did not take place between equals in whatever hierarchy the infection recognized.
Matthias noticed.
"So this is about Theodore."
"It is about several things."
"The little prince frightened you?"
"No. You did."
That finally changed Matthias’s face.
Arion continued before he could answer.
"Elias is afraid of you. You were too interested in my son, and your explanation about Dominic and Adrian has been bothering me since you gave it."
Matthias’s gaze moved briefly toward the distant vehicles, where Elias stood beside Hunter.
"He remembers the elders."
"That does not explain why he fears you."
"Oh, it does. Elders keep the young ones and beasts under control when there is no one to order them to stop."
He inhaled.
The only way infected can kill each other is by eating the other."
Arion stared at him.
For several seconds, even the sounds coming through the forest seemed to fade beneath the weight of that statement, leaving only the distant hum of the drones and the quiet mechanical clicks from Hendrik’s monitoring equipment behind them.
"You ate them."
Matthias did not flinch.
"When necessary."
Arion’s pheromones sharpened.
Matthias felt it immediately, his posture changing almost imperceptibly beneath the heavy field coat, but he did not retreat or attempt to soften what he had said.
"The infection protects itself," he explained. "We heal injuries that would kill an ordinary person, and once the transformation has progressed far enough, destroying the body is rarely sufficient. The corrupted tissue rebuilds around whatever remains. Fire works sometimes, depending on the extent, but inside the forest there was only one reliable way for infected creatures to kill one another."
"Consumption?"
"Yes."
Arion glanced toward Elias.
The younger man had gone very still beside Hunter.
Now his fear made considerably more sense.
Matthias followed Arion’s gaze.
"When there was no controller, the elders maintained order however we could. Younger knights occasionally lost themselves completely. Beasts became aggressive beyond instinct, especially during the years when the August searching grew stronger, and if something began attacking the others without stopping..."
"You ate it."
"We removed it."
"That is a remarkably civilized description."
"I had almost a century to improve the wording."
Arion looked back at him.
Matthias’s face remained calm, but there was no pride in it, and somehow that disturbed Arion more than if the man had attempted to justify the violence as necessary heroism.
It had simply become a rule of survival.
Elias had known it.
Probably experienced the threat of it.
"Did you ever threaten Elias?"
Matthias hesitated.
"That depends on what you consider a threat."
"Him being afraid to turn his back on you seems like a useful starting point."
A faint breath escaped Matthias.
"Twice."
Arion’s expression hardened.
"The first time he attacked another knight during a bad period. The second time he attempted to leave the forest while the August pull was active and would have walked directly into one of your defensive lines."
"So you stopped him."
"Yes."
"How?"
"I showed him what would happen if he didn’t."
Arion looked toward Elias again.
The former soldier was watching Matthias now, his blue eyes fixed on him with an expression that carried old memory rather than present fear.
Arion turned back.
"And this is the system you want me to inherit?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
That surprised him.
Matthias looked toward the frozen basin, where wind pushed powdery snow between the exposed roots.
"I want it to end."
Arion said nothing.
"I want the knights restored if they can survive it, the beasts stable, and the forest no longer governed by hunger because nobody capable of reaching us exists."
"That sounds noble."
Matthias glanced toward him.
"You do not believe me."
"I believe you believe it."
"That is not the same thing."
"No."
Arion took another step closer.
"Now answer the rest."
Matthias waited.
"Why did the knights and beasts hate Adrian?"
The older man’s expression tightened slightly.
"Because he interfered."
"That is the story you already gave me. I want the real reason."
For the first time, Matthias looked away.
Arion noticed.
"Why would corrupted animals care who Dominic loved?"
"They didn’t care about love."
"What did they care about?"
"Access."
The word settled between them.
Matthias continued more slowly.
"Dominic could hear the forest almost constantly once his ability fully matured, and the old beasts learned that proximity to him meant relief. Pain softened. Aggression decreased. The pressure from the infection quieted."
Arion thought immediately of Elias dropping to his knees after being restored, shaking because eight years of pain had finally stopped.
"And Adrian interrupted that."
"Yes."
"How?"
"He could pull Dominic away from us."
Arion’s eyes narrowed.
"Through the bond they didn’t technically have?"
"Through Dominic."
Matthias’s voice had become quieter.
"Whatever biology said, Adrian was his mate in every way that mattered to Dominic. When Adrian touched him, spoke to him, demanded his attention strongly enough, Dominic would close the connection to the forest and return completely to himself."
Dean.
Arion understood before Matthias said anything else.
The phone call.
The forest.
Claudia’s Palace.
Every moment Dean’s voice had cut through the altered state and brought Arion back.
"The beasts experienced that as loss," Matthias said. "One moment Dominic was everywhere, and the next he was gone because Adrian had called him back."
"And the knights?"
"Some were grateful. Others resented it. The older ones especially."
"You?"
Matthias met his eyes.
"Yes."
At least he was no longer trying to hide it.
Arion folded his arms.
"Then what exactly do you think of Dean?"
A faint smile touched Matthias’s face.
"The forest likes him."
"That was not my question."
"I know."
"Answer."
Matthias looked toward the distant trees.