A pit opened beneath my feet, and my stomach dropped with it. Free-falling past every single memory I had of my wolves. The graveyard. The spark of magick in their fur. The human-like emotion in their eyes. And, finally, what Gorrath had said.The moonstones.
Finally, I pulled back and found that Sera was wearing the necklace she’d brought to me. She’d been trying to tell me the whole time, but I hadn’t been able to understand. A thousand questions wormed their way into my mind. How did this happen? Did Mama do this to her? But they all died on my tongue when Mama opened her mouth.
“I never should’ve sent you to the capital with your sister! I knew you’d do something stupid! You could never follow the simplest of instructions.”
She couldn’t help herself. Even now. Even on her knees. The hate spewed out of her.
Defiant, Sera pulled a giant opalescent gem from her skirt pocket. It was the same goose egg-sized stone that Shayla had been wearing.
“Did you catch Shayla?” Bastien asked Tyson.
Tyson nodded. “We ran her down, alright.” He tossed the severed head of a massive black wolf on the ground. It landed with a thud and a splatter of blood. Sera didn’t even flinch at the sight of it. She kept her attention fixed on Mama. The moonstone clutched in her grip.
“I was headed back home, following every instruction you gave me. And on my way back home, when I stopped for the night at the Veraleese Inn, one of Shayla’s werewolves attacked me. The onesyousent for!” she screamed, shaking the moonstone.
“Oh, Sera,” I murmured, my hand covering my mouth. I felt like I knew where this was going. And it wasn’t a place I was going to like.
“Without a moonstone, I couldn’t control the shifting. I got stuck in my wolf skin.” The rage was flowing through her now. And I found it was flowing through me as well.
“I followed them home. Listened to what you had planned. And made a decision.” Her brown eyes found mine. “I went to find my sister.”
“That was you in the woods, wasn’t it? Outside the Kemps?”
"Yeah," she confirmed. "I tracked your scent."
"That’s impressive," I managed, though the words tasted bitter. I wanted to praise her, to remind her that even now, she was extraordinary. But the truth of her situation made the compliment feel hollow. “Who were the other wolves? The ones who died?”
Sera gave me a sad smile. “Those were your familiars. Nice wolves.”
I covered my mouth. The one who’d let me climb on his back? That was my familiar? And he’d died for me? “And what about the brown one?” I asked, looking around for his familiar shape. “Is he a werewolf too?”
Sera waved someone forward. And from the crowd, Alec appeared. Red-brown eyes. Charming smile. He was leaner and more wiry. My mouth dropped. I pulled him into a hug. “I thought you were dead.”
“I never wanted you to worry about me.”
Memories of my brown wolf drifted through my mind. Especially him watching me when I explored other uses for Gorrath’s horn. Eyes narrowing, I pulled back and smacked his shoulder. “You were my brown wolf. The whole time? Thewholetime?”
He nodded sheepishly. “Yeah. I’m sorry about that. If you want to banish me, go ahead.”
“I’m still considering it,” Bastien remarked from over my shoulder.
“I’m not going to banish you.” I smacked his shoulder once again for good measure. “But you’re not allowed in my bedchamber anymore.”
“I understand.”
I hugged him again. And Sera. Pulling them both into a hug. I had never been alone. Never. These two had been with me, even when they couldn’t say anything. They’d protected me. Fought with me. They’d been with me every step of the way.
We barely had a second to breathe before Mama ruined it. “Your sister haspoisonedyour mind.”
Her lips were stained black, and I had no idea how she hadn’t succumbed to the rot yet.
Sera took a step closer to where Mama was kneeling in the mud. “No, Mama,” she declared. The anger and ache in her voice was like a wound being torn open. “The only one who poisoned me wasyou.”
Mama looked at Sera, not with love, not with sorrow, but like she was somethingruined. I knew that look. I had spent my entire life drowning beneath it. I just never imagined Sera would have to endure it, too. She spent her life being groomed to become the perfect weapon. And now, she had magick that she’d never asked for.
“What did I ever do to deserve a daughter so reckless?” Mama spat. “Fornicating with beasts. Drinking herself senseless? If you were attacked, it was because of your own foolishness. Not mine.”
Sera took another careful step closer, her hands trembling at her sides, but the movement only made Mama’s lip curl.
