I nodded to him, giving him a tight smile. “Have you seen Elia?” I asked.
“At home,” he answered, and I kicked my heels and headed for her house.
I found her out front picking wild onions. She looked up with a huge grin on her face as I approached. “Hey, friend, I missed you!”
I slipped off Star and ran to hug her. Her arms wrapped around me, warm and grounding, the familiar scent of herbs clinging to her cotton dress.
“You’re back. So is everything all good with Kaelric now?” she asked. Then her gaze went to the ring on my finger, and she gasped.
“We need to talk… privately,” I told her, chewing my lip, and her face sobered. I could hear her children and husband in the house beyond the open front door, voices drifting out with laughter and the clatter of dishes.
She nodded, setting the wild onions in a basket. “I’m going for a walk with Brynn,” she called to her husband. “I’ll be back in a few hours! Can you tend to her horse?”
“Brynn’s back? Okay. It’s a full moon tonight!” he reminded her.
She rolled her eyes to me with a smile. “I know that, darling. See you soon.”
There was always a lot of wolfish activity on the full moon. It was kind of an unspoken rule that the humans didn’t go out after dark on the full moon while the wolves were running, howling, and hunting the night away. Even now, as the last gold of daylight thinned, the fields felt suspended in quiet anticipation, waiting for the first distant cry.
The sun was still out, but it was setting, and I hoped Elia would hear me out. I didn’t want to upset her, but she needed toknow the truth. When we walked deep into the pumpkin patch and were fully alone, she faced me.
“Why are you wearing an Aerlyn ring that I assume my cousin gave you, and yet you look like you’re mourning a death?”
I sighed. Elia had become my best friend in the whole world. I wouldn’t lie to her.
“Sit down.” I gestured to an open patch on the ground.
She frowned, sitting, and I sat cross-legged in front of her, pumpkin vines all around us. I grasped her hands and met her gaze. The night insects had begun their steady whisper around us.
“Your mother is alive inside Lunaria City.”
She gasped before I could even finish, tears spilling over her cheeks as she shook her head vigorously. “No. She died when the city was taken over.”
I reached out and grasped her hands. “No. Kaelric got word she’s alive. He didn’t want to tell you because it would stress you out to know that she’s… a captive of the king.”
Her mouth fell open, lip quivering, and I hated that I was the one to deliver this news.
“Don’t ask him about it. I had to sneak away from him and lie to be here,” I told her quickly, hoping she wouldn’t mentally check in with Kaelric.
“Why… why would you lie to leave? I don’t understand. Is Kaelric going to save her? I want to help.” She moved to stand up, and I gently pulled her back down.
Over the next few minutes, I told her about Mind Render and my journey into the city with Godric and leaving Valkaryn there. I told her about my run-in with the imposter, King Harrow, and how his magic worked. She listened in horror, clutching her chest as silent tears fell down her face. As night fell, the moon climbed higher, sharpening every detail of her expression.
“So my mother is his plaything, and there’s nothing that can be done?” she growled. “I wish you hadn’t told me.” She turned away from me in anger, giving me her back.
“There is something that can be done. That’s why I’m here. It’s why I lied to Kaelric and left, even though I love him and he put this ring on my finger.”
She turned back to me with a curiosity that I prayed was enough to get her to agree to my plan. As we sat in the moonlight, the distant howls of wolfkin rose into the crisp air. They echoed across the fields, lonely and wild.
“I want you to bite me forty-six times and turn me into a wolfkin like Valkaryn,” I said.
Elia’s face was completely blank for a full five seconds before she burst into laughter. “Have you gone mad, Brynn?”
“No, I’m dead serious.” I stuck my chin up. “Valkaryn needs a stronger vessel, my body. And the only way she can pull herself up out of that well and defeat King Harrow is if I’m a wolfkin. So I need you to make me one.”
Compassion filtered across her face, and she grasped my hands. “Brynn, that’s very sweet of you to want to sacrifice yourself to help Valkaryn, and to be with Kaelric.” She touched my ring, knowing that it was part of the reason I wanted this as well.
“But what happened to my aunt was a freak accident. It isn’t a baker’s recipe to be recrafted, expecting the same result. You will surely die if you attempt that.”
