Defeat settled into my spirit, and I felt Val stir there, not an I-told-you-so, but just a comfort.
I stared into my best friend’s eyes. The pumpkins around us glowed almost like small burning embers beneath the rising moon.
“Elia, sometimes there are no words to explain things. You might think I’ve gone crazy, but I need you to trust me. I know inmy heart that the Creator made me to be able to withstand this. I know this is his plan and that I will survive and save Val, and your mother, and be with Kaelric. I know it.”
Her throat bobbed, uncertainty flickering in her green eyes. The wind curled through the patch, rustling the vines as if the world itself held its breath.
She shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “Brynn, I can’t. If I were to kill you, I’d never forgive myself—Kaelric would never forgive me.”
“You won’t kill me. I wield Valkaryn! I am not weak. Stop treating me like a fragile human! I can do this, and I can save your mother.”
My voice trembled, but the conviction beneath it was iron. A cold breeze rustled over the pumpkin leaves around us, stirring the scent of soil and crushed vine.
Hope bloomed in her gaze, and Elia bit her lip. Her golden eyes flicked to the moonlight trembling across the fields. “You don’t understand. Once my wolf tastes blood and flesh, even human, it will want to kill. The predator instinct will take over. It’s hard to explain to a human. We won’t be Elia and Brynn. We will be a wolf and an injured human. I might not be able to stop.”
I chewed my lip, my heart rattling in my ribs.
“What if I had someone powerful enough to stop you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to do this.Pleasedon’t make me do this.” But it sounded like she was on board. Her voice carried the strain of someone arguing against her own desire to help.
“Don’t you want your mother to be free of that monster?” I asked, and regretted it instantly. The words tasted bitter the moment they left me.
Her face crumbled into a mask of pain, lip shaking. “Not if it means losing you,” she managed over a sob.
I rushed forward, pulling her into my arms. The night seemed to stretch around us, quiet and listening. The cool air wrapped around us while the soft earth pressed beneath my knees.
“I need you to trust me. I am strong enough to survive this, and when I do, nothing will stop me from storming the gates of Lunaria, freeing your mother, and killing that imposter king.”
She pulled back, and there was confidence in her eyes. The moonlight carved silver lines across her cheeks, drying the tears there.
“Does Val think you can?”
“If I make my vessel stronger…” I pounded my human chest. “…I can do anything.”
‘Brynn, that’s not what she means,’Val interrupted, but I ignored her. A hum of disapproval flickered at the edges of my consciousness, like distant thunder.
Determination slid over her features as Elia peered up at the moon. “Okay. But we have to hurry. Kaelric is right behind you. He’s been talking in my head this whole time. He didn’t believe your story.”
I gasped. He didn’t?Of course, he didn’t. He’d probably been running all night. I imagined him tearing through forests and fields, desperate to find me.
“Who is this person who will be strong enough to stop me from killing you?” she asked.
I sighed. My pulse stuttered with dread.
Cassian was never going to forgive me.
Chapter Ten
“No way.” Cassian shook his head at me as Elia, and I stood deep in the woods with him, running through the scenario for the fourth time. The trees hemmed us in on all sides, black silhouettes rising like watchful sentries. Fallen leaves muffled our footsteps, and the faint scent of pine and moss clung to the air.
“Fine, go back to camp, and we will do this without you,” I tossed at him, “and if Elia goes too far and kills me, then you get to live with that on your conscience.”
His mouth unhinged. “Brynn, you can’t put me in this position!”
I reached out and grasped the sides of his face, watching as he softened under my touch. His golden hair fell forward, brushing my fingers. “I trust no one else with this task, Cass. My whole life, I’ve felt that no one truly believed in me. I know this is what is meant to happen, and I need you.”
He pulled my hands away from his face and looked down at the Aerlyn ring, brushing his finger over it and nodding. The gesture carried a quiet resignation. We hadn’t spoken about it, but it was obvious what it was, who had given it to me.
