“You will not hurt any longer,” I vow softly to Aurora. The knife is in my right hand. My left reaches behind her head, cradling it. Evander slowly removes his bloodied palm, exposing the wound.
“Thank you, my friend,” she whispers faintly, no longer having the strength to open her eyes.
“It is my honor.” I place a gentle kiss on her forehead, positioning the blade over her breastbone. She has never felt so small, so frail. So much blood is soaking the ground around us that it will take little to end this. “Thank you, for all you’ve done for me.”
“It was…my honor.”
I thrust.
If I hadn’t committed and thrown my weight into it, I might not have punctured through cleanly. But I didn’t hesitate, and Ifeel the moment the last of her life slips from her weary form. I choke back a sob, kissing her forehead once more.
Then, light.
Magic explodes from within her. The blood and gore condenses into the brightest of moonbeams. A shockwave rips through the grove, flinging lykin like rag dolls. Scattering them back and between trees. Even Evander is pushed away. But I am unaffected.
I stay at the center of it, gasping as my friend disappears. As all the might she possessed is freed. Then, like a bowstring pulled taut, it snaps back.
The glow rushes back, not to Aurora, but to me. I feel her power surging through me. Filling me to the point that I throw my head back and lift my chest to the sky, gasping for air. There is no room in me for it. I can hardly breathe and yet I have never felt more alive.
The stars fill my eyes. The dark sky becomes my shadow. I catch a glimpse of the whole world spanning beneath me, as though I have levitated to the moon’s vantage. I see flashes of islands, wrapped by clouds. Of cities deep beneath the sea and earth. Of snowy castles long forgotten and bustling towns teeming with life. The world feels small enough to be held in my palm and just as I reach out to touch it?—
It ends.
I am falling. Wind fills my ears. The power sinks deeper and deeper within its new home—into me. The blinding light and visions fade away.
Two strong, familiar arms envelop me. I am encapsulated in Evander’s warmth, like a chrysalis that I have yet to emerge from. He strokes my face, looking at me with eyes wide and tender. No longer fearful, but amazed.
“How… Did I?”
“I have you,” he murmurs. “You’re safe and—thank the old gods—with me.”
Then my visions weren’t real. Or perhaps they were, in a way. I blink the last of the haze away. The pale glow that covered my body, as if I was the source of moonlight itself, is beginning to fade as well.
The lykin on the upper edge of the grove stand. I’m vaguely aware of their movements as they begin to descend into the soft moss of the lower area. Toward Evander and me. He holds me tighter, pressing my cheek to his chest. It is still bloody, and mud covered, but it is him.
Evander lets out a low growl at those who are approaching. He still has the shackle on. He can’t transform and I am in no position to fight, either. Despite the power surging through me, I’ve no idea how to use it. It is already overwhelming my mind, setting my head to spinning. My body feels as though it is laden with lead.
The alphas stop a few feet away, others in their packs behind them. Then, slowly, they drop to a knee, bringing their fists to the ground and hunching over, dropping their heads in what looks like reverence.
“Keeper of and bound to the moon spirit, we recognize you as our king.”
CHAPTER 49
There isa ceremony two days later on the night of the full moon. The night that had originally been intended as my wedding night.
The pomp and circumstance are not for Conri’s death. The former wolf king had been taken by some of his most loyal sycophants, who held on to him until the bitter, bitter end. We presume they buried him somewhere in Den and then fled. An unmarked grave for an unworthy king, shamed by dying at the hand of the one being who was supposed to—above all else—be loyal to him.
It was a better end than he deserved. If it had been solely up to me, he would’ve been left to rot as carrion scavengers picked the meat from his bones. His skeleton left as a reminder—a memorial to this grim era of the lykin’s history so it would never be forgotten. But it hadn’t been up to me. That had been Evander’s decision, and it happened when I wasn’t around. There was little point in fighting, after, so the matter was left at that.
The gathering today wasn’t for Evander either. There are no great coronations among the lykin. The wolf kings are anointed in the blood of their predecessor. Their right to rulewas ordained by the moon spirit’s presence at their side—which I had now taken the role of. That is all the celebrations that are conducted. Nothing more is needed, as their validity is not questioned.
Though, a few things have changed with the ascension of the new king… For one, I remained with him of my own volition, rather than being passed and traded along like a royal token. I’m still at Evander’s side because of the vows that bound our hearts well before he wore the fang crown of the wolf king, and I carried the powers of the moon spirit within me.
So tonight’s ceremony is not to mourn Conri, or coronate Evander…but to celebrate me.
We sit, sides touching and hands folded, his thumb tracing lazy circles over my knuckle. A pyre has been constructed on the flat stone in the center of the grove. The lykin dance with the flames, stoking them with their voices. Their songs weave stories of the moon’s might. Of early lykin and great wolf spirits that could traverse the world in a few giant leaps.
It’s a ceremony designed to honor the power of the moon spirit. They keep looking to where I sit, off to the side, with Evander. Bowing their heads in reverence from time to time. Seeking my approval, which I make an effort to give. But I struggle to keep my focus on them. Instead, I am drawn to the bright, full moon above. Wishing that the smoke curling up from the flames was a rope that I could use to tether the heavenly body and pull it to me. Or a ladder that I could climb to ascend once more to that distant, magical place of awareness. Somewhere maybe…just maybe…far enough from this world that I could find Aurora.
