sleep t

closed my eye

in warni

-slicked fur and yellow eyes that glowed like coals. And a

never memories.

t like p

ces. People I might never see again. The guild didn't take kindly to unfinished contra

hesitate.

a diff

rce bone. I slid them into their sheathes across my back, then went over my pack again. Dry food. Water flasks. Maps. Co

hs since I read

re rants-about the Moonbloods, about the man who abandoned her, about the curse she

he curs

beneath my spare shirt and ra

," I m

e of the Winterfang mountains. Snow wolf territory. Old country. The kind of place where

ack tight and pu

It had done that three times since yesterday. Not hot t

no idea what

her

swore it had belonge

onbl

is son wa

joke, if the gods h

before the guard rotations changed. No papers, no delay.

leather, my fingers went numb. I welcomed it. Pain m

cent hit me-un

pine. Wet

to make me stop dead on the trail. I crouched low ne

ig ones.

or maybe thirty paces

d. Ripped open from the flank. The

ant desp

rse-t

took them. Feral state. Not quite man, not quite beast

ee, maybe more. I couldn't tell if they were hunting o

led my

d. I found an outcropping near a frozen stream and set camp. Just

n't s

if I did, and I wasn't

ad, I

t the pages about herbs and curses until I found

silver blades. Said nothing when I bled on the stone. Just wa

him. I tried. Bu

ursed me a

last line. As if she'd bee

ed the

d her guilt.

ved in hours, but it still felt... alive. L

ered, and I ba

body stopped listening. My eyes dr

rest h

ked u

wo

hing

he firelight. A flicker

, hand alread

t went

th

ind held i

dge of the ridge, ste

h

ls

om the

my

pend

t my collarbone-sharp,

out from und

d faint blue now

sn't pain this tim

rt

ed in rhythm w

ever happe

n't b

way you stare at a blade

a minute, leaving i

d changed

new

just a keeps

was a

- I did

alen had t

find him before

need Aric's blades

l me from th

e wors

d part of me didn't

ted to

ing at the en