der. I should have gone to bed hours ago, but something kept me near the clearing at the

awake beneath my skin, pacing, and tense. I looked up at the blood moon rising higher,

t brushed the cold grass when

usand needles piercing my shoulder at once. I gasped, stumbling forward, barely ca

ame th

ed into the night, wild and full of fear. I clawed at my tunic, my nails r

ht I wa

I caught a flicker of silver in my peripheral

, and pulsing like it was alive. A rune-ancient and wild-e

is this?" I whi

d waited its whole life to be seen. The pain began to

r someone, w

ds caught my attent

I sensed them drawing near, thei

med. Did y

hing's

t glowed through the fabric, defiant and brig

la

efore my eyes-patrollers from the Nightshad

ing mark?" one o

lin

e's an

h into something uglier: ac

stake," one murmur

hiding s

my arms around myself as if that

ting

the Moon Goddess joins two fated souls. But

...

d to thrum, stead

ra

ers, the eyes, the way they looked at me like I was something other. I tore thr

where moonlight danced across the blac

w?" I w

that broke free. My body still ached, my shoulder burne

alled out

didn't

ng in red. I could feel the world shifting around me

was

er stirring beneath my skin. It wasn't fully

ng. People would ask why. And if they found out

w if I would

f an old tree, the mark still glowing faintly beneath my sleeve. My

ke through the trees, I

lear-word had already spread. I was m

with a ma

oss

p when she saw me, her eyes flicking to my shoulde

d, too sweetly.

d not

ce. "Don't get too excited. Just because you hav

Or cry. Or both. But i

r Myra examined the mark with a tight frown. H

claimed," she

t dry. "Clai

ly shows half the bond. The othe

orried. That

ngerous?"

s old things. Prophecies. Power. It's

gaze. "Wha

ply covered the mark with a sa

ra. Rest. Yo

a battlefield. Every eye was on me. Every conversati

ver been m

ere, someone now bore th

ad no i

w, staring at the moon. It no

membered of them. Had they known? Had they

d again, and I

ered. Please.

there was o

ly

he blo

hat would chan