Free Web NovelChapter 724: The Face She Found
Chapter 723: The Face She Found
The next morning came too fast.
Sophia sat behind a wooden table in the square, her hair pulled up in a tight bun. The cold air bit at her cheeks, but she barely noticed. Her focus was on the stack of parchment before her, the ink pot at her elbow, and the long line of people stretching across the square.
Beside her sat another recorder—a young woman with quick hands and a quiet voice. Normally there would have been more people taking names, but this wasn’t a normal census. The council had decided that only two recorders were needed for what they were really doing.
Orion had gone to inform Olga and the others to work with Madam Tyler on her hair, while Sophia handled the census.
The square was organized into two lines. Ronan stood at the corner, his arms crossed, his eyes scanning the crowd. Guards were stationed at intervals, keeping the lines moving, making sure no one pushed or lingered too long.
The process was simple. Name. Age. Where they came from. Previous occupation. Gender. Current residence. Current department they worked in, if any.
Those who had already joined departments were recorded as such. Felicia, for example, was now listed under the medical facility. Her name had been written down without fuss.
Sophia wrote quickly, her hand moving across the parchment as person after person stepped up to the table. She asked the same questions, nodded at the same answers, wrote down the same information.
But beneath the surface, she was watching.
Every face. Every build. Every voice.
No one outside the council knew the true purpose of this census. They thought it was simply to update records, to account for the new members from Silver Creek and the black market. And that was partially true. But the real reason was much simpler.
She was looking for the traitor.
The morning wore on. The line moved. Sophia’s hand cramped, but she kept writing.
Then a man stepped up to the table.
He was tall. Broad-shouldered. His face was weathered, his expression unreadable. He wore simple clothes, nothing that marked him as anyone important, too.
Sophia’s hand paused.
It was only for a fraction of a second. No one would notice because she recovered immediately and continued with her work.
She knew this face.
She knew this build.
Neoma stirred within her, a low rumble of awareness, but the wolf did not speak. She didn’t need to. Sophia already knew.
This was the man from her vision. The one who had bowed to Victoria. The one who had said he would do anything for his family.
Sophia kept her expression neutral. She forced her hand to move, to pick up the pen and write.
"What is your name?" she asked.
The man met her eyes.
"Josiah."
She wrote it down. Her hand did not tremble.
"Where are you from?"
"Silver Creek Pack."
She noted it.
Asked the next question.
"Current residence?"
He gave her the location. She wrote it down.
"Have you joined a department?"
"Not yet."
She left it blank.
"Date of birth?"
He told her. She calculated his age and wrote it down.
"Marital status?"
Josiah paused. His face flickered with something—Sophia could not name it.
She waited.
"Sir?" she called softly.
He shook his head.
"My family is far away."
Sophia noticed he said far away. She did not ask where because she had already gotten the information she wanted.
There was the possibility this man’s family was not dead.
But Sophia said nothing.
The questions continued. The answers came. And when the process was finished, Josiah stepped aside and the next person approached.
Sophia did not look after him. She kept her eyes on the parchment, her hands moving, her voice steady as she continued what she had come for.
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Hours passed.
The lines grew shorter. The sun climbed higher, then began its slow descent. Sophia’s hand ached. Her back hurt from sitting. But she did not stop.
Finally, she excused herself.
She stood up, nodded to the young woman beside her, and walked toward a quiet corner of the square. Her legs were stiff, her shoulders tight.
Ronan appeared beside her almost immediately.
He said nothing at first.
He just handed her a wineskin.
Sophia opened it immediately and drank from it.
"You found him," Ronan said quietly.
It wasn’t a question.
Sophia nodded.
She took his hand and pressed her palm against his. Her fingers moved quickly, tracing letters against his skin.
Josiah.
Then she slipped him a small piece of parchment, folded tight, hidden between their hands.
Ronan’s fingers closed around it.
To anyone else, he and Sophia were just having a conversation, but information had been passed between the two of them.
"So," he said, his voice light, as if they were discussing the weather, "are you hungry?"
Sophia blinked at the shift.
Then she nodded.
Ronan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small handful of nuts. freewebnøvel.com
"Here. Snack on these. We can get something real to eat later, but only after we are done with this." freewēbnoveℓ.com
Sophia took the nuts and ate them silently.
It wasn’t filling, but it was something.
When she was done, she went back to the table and continued her work.
The traitor had a name now.
They had his face, his build, his voice, and his residence.
They knew where he lived.
Victoria would not know what hit her.
If she wanted to destroy this pack, she would have to put in more effort. Because Sophia was not going to let her.
She could not.
This pack was her family.
The only real family she had ever known, and she would do anything to destroy Victoria.
No one suspected what had happened.
No one knew that the simple census was a hunt.
And no one saw when, later that night, Josiah was taken from his home and locked in the dungeons.
Or that he was to be interrogated.
But before that, Sophia and Ronan went somewhere first.
They walked through the quiet compound, their footsteps muffled by the snow until they found her, just outside the medical facility.
