Helio’s POV
“Cole!”
My best friend looked up from across the training ground as I walked across the field toward him. The large open space echoed with the sounds of shifting bodies and the occasional clash of limbs as pack members engaged in rigorous exercises. A small group was running around the field together in wolf form, but mostly we trained as humans.
“Oh, look who it is!” Cole grinned. “Aren’t you too busy to be here, or are you here to join in?”
“Both,” I said. “We need to talk.”
His eyes widened. He searched my face before nodding, setting his staff back into a barrel, and following me. Another young man came up to join Cole’s previous partner. The buzz of activity faded as we walked away from the training grounds, just out of hearing distance from those who were working out there.
“You look too serious to have just gotten out of a regular court meeting,” Cole said. “What’s going on? Erupting Eclipse threatening war about how you’ve treated their future Luna Queen?”
I didn’t even respond to that. The surge of anger from even thinking of Cindra wearing the Erupting Eclipse crown was too much to deal with right now.
“Have you noticed your father acting strange lately?” I asked, searching his face.
Cole probably wouldn’t lie to me about this, but I wasn’t totally convinced that Drake hadn’t sworn him to secrecy either. Since Cole would be my Beta one day, he should be more loyal to me than his father.
Cole snorted. “My dad is always a bit off, you know that. What’s going on?”
“I’m serious, Cole. Something is not right. It all started at the ball.”
He shook his head. “You with the ball. Is this about Kora? Will it kill you to be with someone who actually has their s**t together?”
I scoffed. “This is about something not being right.”
“Helio, really. Maybe the Moon Goddess has decided to take you off my hands, and Kora is the woman for the job. Ever consider that?”
I clenched my jaw. “Isn’t it strange that you and Meri didn’t find your mates? That Brenton and Conley also didn’t? No one from Winter Harvest did either.”
He shook his head. “I really don’t know. Father hasn’t been acting any stranger than usual. You think he’s involved?”
I ran a hand along my chin, hesitating. Cole and I both knew how the other felt about magic. We’d argued about it more than once over the years until, eventually, we just stopped talking about it. Now, I was bringing it up in the most roundabout way possible. I could see Cole starting to suspect, his eyes not quite meeting mine. He was going to be upset, but he had to understand the reality of it.
If magic had messed things up somehow, I needed to know. It was my right to know.
“Yes,” I said. “If you know anything, I need to know. If your father is up to something, we need to find out.”
Cole eyed me. His jaw worked. I could see the argument that was about to start, but he let out a shaky breath.
“It was weird,” Cole said, nodding slowly. “Everyone thinks so. Everyone who was there is already gossiping about it. Commoners the next town over know that hardly anyone was able to find their mate, and people are wondering what that means.”
“Could Drake have something to do with it?”
Cole shook his head. “Dad isn’t capable of something like that. We believe in magic. We even have a bit of it running through my mom’s family, but no one in my family is a wizard.”
I blinked, struck by a sudden thought. “Could he be working with someone who is?”
Cole hummed. “Well, he’s friends with Titus, but I highly doubt the king’s Royal Wizard is involved in anything shady. He wouldn’t dare do anything behind the king’s back.”
I grimaced at the thought. Titus Feuerstein was an old man who kept to himself. Why my father felt the need to keep him as part of the Royal Court of Ember Moon, I had no idea, but I’d never liked the guy. Still, Cole was right. The old man would never plot against my father. He’d sworn his loyalty to the king magically. Something about a wizard’s oath made it stronger than any other oath of fealty.
I wondered, for a moment, if that meant that whatever was going on was actually an order of my father’s or just couched as an order. Was Drake feeding Titus false orders?
“I have to agree on Titus, but I’m pretty sure your father would plot behind my father’s back.”
Cole narrowed his eyes. “Do you really think so?”
“I was in the meeting with him and my father, and Drake was shifty, Cole.” I scowled. “We’ve already agreed to disagree on the subject of magic, but I know your dad’s tells. He’s hiding something.”
Cole c****d his eyebrow. “Shuffling papers?”
“Squirming and the shoulder twitch. He tried to change the subject by bringing up Cindra.”
Cole tutted. “Definitely hiding something. Something big, too. Damn it.” His nostrils flared as he folded his arms across his chest.
“Look, Cole, I know you don’t want to get involved with court business before you officially take over as my Beta, but I’m asking you as my friend to help me.”
Cole blinked at me. “You lost me. What are you talking about?”
“What do you mean? You told me you’d rather do anything than come to court, even spending time with your grandfather,” I reminded him.
“Because he’s old, ornery, and listens to no one else,” Cole said. “If you need me to help you, Helio, I’m there.”
I nodded. “Good to know.”
“If my father has done something to interfere with the Moon Goddess’s will, then I have to look into it. I know you don’t understand what it is to have a connection like my father and I do, but you can trust me when I say that you have me on your side in this.”
My chest felt tight as our eyes met. A bit of it was guilt. Guilt that I’d doubted him so much. Guilt that I had been so jealous of his circumstances even though he was potentially in an even worse spot than I was in. At least I was clear where I stood with my father.
His lips formed into a wry smile. “Give me a few days to get back to you.”
I hesitated. “For what it’s worth, if it’s not you, I don’t have any other options.”
He smirked. “Of course not. Who else has the balls to pull your head out of your ass?”