r whispered b

they

olite. Eyes that di

e tall, too-full girl with the wild red hair and no wolf. No one car

o

hrough the doors first. Averted their eyes, then

n't ki

as f

worse than rej

ever still. I kept to the edges of Hollowshade,

I swept the front steps of the training barracks. I walked th

s a cursed girl was

the whisper

urned her face from me. That the wilds had changed

eren't

on my shoulde

ilver ink etched into bone. At the center, the dark initial

ched it, I

ingled like a thought t

voice more

nute. Not ev

topped mistaking it

learer in

I stood still for too l

up of Hollowshade soldiers, standin

t need th

ys calm. Al

lways

ell anyone

dmitted it

e back of the healer's storage room, I slipped on a

, but the pain

mbled back, hold

e fast. W

sto

itself and the gash closing like water

tar

s trem

tell th

boots off, legs in the freezing water, just

heavy above me ,al

ey

ler this time. Lik

y chest ached with som

pped while carrying fir

r the scattered lo

d him away befor

dn't t

idn't

red at the mark on my shoulde

didn't leave my

ird day,

sn't

n't vi

'd once tried so hard to shift like the othe

aight through, cra

s didn't e

at my hand,

are w

, I answe

g into

espo

ling around me li

of the only wolves who ever treated me with

inkled, her hair gra

brighter,"

n't r

lted h

. You feel like something growing, Seris. An

?" I asked before I

d. But no

question you s

what

oser, her voice

ou do when y

ater, I

to go that far

uds bloated with rain, thunder

lenced the world. They

r than I'd ever gone, past the perim

here I f

ed through the trees, ble

oaking his left side. There was a scar running from his cheek to his neck, and th

hed bes

flutter

en. Not

immed wi

. Hollowshade

dered. "You k

weak, cr

come here dressed

are

dn't

asse

ow what ma

nct,

erat

ribs over the deepest woun

in bu

palms...faint, white-b

athing

stopped

but the pain

k, breath caug

had I

id tha

he could op

in my room, I stared

didn'

didn'

oked li

hey w

my head, I heard

almost