Ruby paced around the room, her heart still pounding fast from the scare of what could have happened.
What she didn't want to happen.
Not yet.
Her daughters sat beside each other on the edge of a bed inside her office, their heads lowered avoiding the glare from their mother. Silver focused on cleaning the mud on one leg of her shoe with the other leg, while Gold focused on the fruits in the basket.
She stopped and crossed her arms and stared at them with disbelief all over her face.
"You could have been seen," she began, her voice sharp, but low. "You could've been caught…..by guards, by strangers, by him."
Gold tried to look up but still avoided her mother's gaze, her fingers gripping the basket tighter. "We just wanted to see you, Mom." She muttered.
"You live with me. I'm not gone forever!" Ruby snapped back.
Silver looked up, her eyes were calm. "You leave before we wake up. You come home after we're asleep. We never get to talk to you anymore." She spoke, choosing her words carefully.
Ruby turned away from them, hiding the guilt that was creeping into her.
They were right.
But that didn't make what they did okay.
"You don't understand how dangerous this place is," she said, trying to calm herself. "This isn't our city. These aren't our people. You don't belong here. It's a different land from the one you know."
Gold's eyes shot up almost instantly. "We didn't mean to cause any trouble."
Trouble?
They almost ran into Han.
She sighed loudly and pushed her hair backwards.
"I'm sorry," she said finally, her voice softer than she had been speaking. "But this can't happen again."
The girls nodded simultaneously.
Gold sniffed a bit. "Are you mad at us?"
Ruby's eyes softened. She stepped forward and took both of them into her warmth.
"No. I'm just scared."
She buried her face in their hair and held them close, as if she never wanted to let them go.
An hour later, the girls were asleep on the bed in her office. She had covered them with the spare sheet she had. And she sat on the table going through some recent reports.
But her mind wasn't on the reports, it was somewhere else.
She couldn't shake the fear she had in her of how close her daughters had come, to be seen by Han of all people. And she knew Han and his instincts were too sharp.
It would have been only a matter of time before he started asking questions.
A soft knock at the door brought her back from her thoughts.
She stood, hesitated a bit and then walked towards the door and opened it halfway.
Han stood behind the door.
"We need to talk," he said quietly.
Ruby opened the door enough to come out of her office and closed it behind her before he could look in.
"Now's not a good time," she said quickly.
He looked at her face. "I need to say something."
She folded her arms and glared at him. "Then say it."
"I made a mistake," he started.
Her brows came together. Not expecting that from him.
"I never should've let you go," he continued. "I thought fate knew what was best. I thought the bond with Evelyn would be enough. But it never felt right."
Ruby didn't say anything.
He moved his hand through his hair, exhaling loudly. "I regret leaving you. Every single day."
She felt her mouth dry but kept her expression calm. "Why are you telling me this now?"
"Because you're here. And I don't know how long you'll stay."
"I won't long," she said, with a sharp voice. "Once I find the cure for this, I'm leaving. Just like before."
"Ruby…."
"No." She raised her hand up, stopping whatever he had planned to do. "You made your choice, Han. And I lived with it. I left, I survived with it and I built a life without you being around. You don't get to want me now just because you're sad."
He looked down, shame filling him up on hearing her words.
"I'm here to save lives and lives only."
He nodded slowly and stepped backwards. "I just...needed to let you know."
She didn't respond.
He turned and walked away.
The next morning came with sad news.
Another patient had died in the night.
Ruby had taken the girls home early that morning and was returning to find Maren waiting for her.
"We lost the teenager in bed six," she said gently "His mother collapsed after."
Ruby didn't reply to her. She only closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As if she was doing a short mourn.
She had seen this coming.
The boy had reached stage four of the symptoms, and despite everything she had done, the treatment, the herbs…..his body couldn't handle it.
Still, knowing it would happen didn't make it easier.
The virus was moving faster than they could keep up. Growing bolder and evolving faster than any recorded virus she had seen during her studies.
She looked at the blood sample, her eyes hurting from lack of sleep..
"We're running out of time," she whispered. As she walked past Maren and took another sample, raising it to the sunlight that came through her window.
Maren stared at her. "Do you think….. it's being controlled?"
Ruby nodded slowly. "Yes. And we need to find out who's behind it. Before more wolves die."
Later that evening, Ruby stood outside the infirmary for a break from all the mixing and testing she had been doing.
The mother of the boy who just died was still crying inside and Ruby had no words left she could use to console her. Nothing she could say or do would ever bring the woman's child back.
She tightened her fists.
This wasn't just about curing patients anymore.
It was about answers. Answers she needed.
And no matter what it took to get them.
She was going to find the truth.