Back to reality…
He reached into his pocket and pulled out six bronze teffers, the coins clinking softly as he set them on the kitchen table. “Your weekly pay. Boss said he hopes to see you soon,” he told my mother.
She blushed and tucked the coins into her pocket. “I don’t know how to thank you and Elia. I’m so grateful for your help.”
He reached out and gently squeezed her shoulder. “You’re welcome.”
There was something in his voice, an honesty so raw it pulled mist into my mother’s eyes. She placed her hand over his like they’d known each other forever. How did she even know who he was? She was asleep most of the time he was here. Then it hit me. Eliamust’ve told my mother who had sent her when she showed up here offering help.
My mother turned and hugged Elia, and all the children followed, swarming the wolfkin like ducklings.
After I said my goodbyes, Elia, Kaelric, and I all headed out to the main road, where Elia flagged down a passing carriage.
As the driver hoisted her bags into the rear compartment, she turned to Kaelric. “Did you hear about Moonbridge?”
Kaelric’s gaze flicked to me, then back to her, a silent warning. He gave a slow nod. “Just do what Marx says and lie low.”
She frowned, biting her lip. “But there are hundreds of our pack’s wolfkin in the village. What if we could?—?”
A sudden pulse of power radiated from Kaelric like a slap of heat. Elia lowered her head, her voice catching in a near-whimper. “Okay,” she said aloud, like she’d just been scolded inside her own mind.
He stepped toward her, tension in his shoulders, but his expression softened. Compassion pulled at his features as he took her arms and gently lifted her chin. When her eyes met his, there were tears, and my gut twisted.
Whatever this was, it was private, intimate, and I felt like I shouldn’t be seeing it.
“There are bound to be sacrifices. But now I have the chance to change things. Ihaveto see this through.”
Her gaze flicked to the blade at my side, then back to him, and she gave a single nod.
‘They really want you,’I told Valkaryn, gripping the hilt out of instinct.
‘They really need me. There's a difference,’she replied, and there was a sadness in her voice I didn’t know how to answer.
After Elia left, Kaelric and I walked back to the Aerlyn Academy dormitory in silence. The road was quiet, but my thoughts were anything but. A thousand questions burned at the back of my throat.
“What’s Moonbridge?” I asked finally as we slipped through the gap in the fence.
He hesitated, his jaw tight. “A village in Fenmyr,” he said at last. “They’re under attack from a rival pack.”
I frowned. “And Elia wants to help them?”
“Elia wants to help everyone,” he said, his voice thick with affection. “Which is why I asked her to step in for your family while we were in the trial. I knew she couldn’t say no to mothering twelve children. She’s gotthe biggest heart of anyone I know, but sometimes not everyone can be helped.”
Technically, eleven children, since I was the twelfth, but now wasn’t the time to argue semantics.
“If you were home, would you help the village from the attack?” I asked as we stepped onto the cobbled streets of Aerlyn.
Going from the Dregs to the polished heart of the city always felt like crossing into another world.
“Yes.” The word hit like a closed door. A warning to stop pushing.
I didn’t care.
“Well, should you?” I pressed. “I mean… I don’t want people to die because you have to babysit me. You’re clearly a guard, or a warrior, or something back home. Cassian could train me. You could be back by the next trial.”
He stopped walking and turned, his eyes locking onto mine. Really locking.
It felt like he was seeing through every layer of me. His gaze softened. His lips parted.
