darkness and the

was. Why every breath felt like swallowing glass. Then the memories

hunters. The arrows

king. Existing in some fo

gic. Firelight flickered from somewhere nearby, casting dancing shadows on stone walls covered

ale and old and amused. "I wasn't certain you would

wrinkles, her eyes milky white with blindness. But she moved with certainty, as if

u?" I manag

ingers reaching out to touch my forehead. "And you, little wolf, are supposed to be dead. Shot

Looking down, I saw bandages covering my shoulder,

ou save me

ed her head, those blind eyes somehow staring straight into my soul. "Tell me, child. Do you know what happens to a wolf

ok my

lds is thinnest, something interesting occurs." She smiled, showing teeth too sharp to be human. "The soul doesn't move on. It waits.

ght. "What ar

ul refused to leave. It clung to this world with such fury that the Moon Goddess herself took notice." Morganna leaned closer. "

y, I realized something was wrong. My heartbeat was too slow. My breath too shallow.

e do to me?"

to a shelf filled with bottles and bones. "But there's a price. There's always a price. You'll live, but not as you were. You'll have power, but it will hunger for de

or. "Look at yourself, child. S

My features were sharper. My eyes darker. My skin had a strange pallor, like I was

ked. "How long h

when you're caught between life and death. For you, it's been days. For the rest of the world, centuries have passed. Yo

the few who'd shown me kindness, were gone. The world I'd left w

ess do this?" I asked. "

expression serious now. "The prophecy was always going to come true, one way or another. He could have chosen love and faced des

t ch

nce where I could see night sky through the opening. "Out there, the Silvercrown Kingdom rots. Alaric's rejection brought divine punishment. Crops fail. Children die. The p

tisfaction. Let him hurt the way he'd hurt me. But another part, the part that remembered loving

pens now?

between worlds, to hide your true nature. And when you're ready, when you're powerful enough that even kings kneel b

need a new name. Eira died in that forest. What r

y felt strange, like wearing clothes that didn't quite fit. But

constellation my mother had su

Yes. That will do. Come then, Lyra who was Eir