rom dark, but my bones ha
t crawling under my skin like wildfire with no wind. I'd felt it before. Alwa
e... the moo
d the hell
plittin
e bowl. The way she moved-deliberate, focused, distant-made it hard to look away. Not because s
ck from the forest. Not since I'd to
d seen the tru
t she mi
di
ed. And that terr
gain," she said w
t around the wrench I'd bent it. Steel
tered. "I've never
lly look
bad i
ad
ng do w
sita
hour. Ma
ange, but I saw somethin
fe
gnat
er pouch-the same one she used the night she stitched me up wi
to lose cont
n't a
both knew i
in?" I asked, trying t
pa
N
an eyeb
tried that, yo
ost kill
't flinch. "B
t mean I won
chose not to. Even in the worst of it, someth
oked
't bet your
my arm. "I
for th
I could destroy if the shift came on hard. The forest gave me room
a insisted
it. Said she couldn't protect me fro
. Charms made of bone and
silence a
d toward the ridge wher
fast by the time we
ing down my neck. Every muscle burned. My
in my blood, clawing a
spered. "It's nev
aid, kneeling beside m
on
ed you. Whoever turned you. It's not just blood-it
ed. "Whatever spell you us
ook he
d. Not unless
red a
oes tha
oul... it's bound to something else. If I try to sever it completely
hed bi
re's anything
idn't
ssed her for
spered,
hoed through the t
nds s
ed across
ward, bone shiftin
through cle
way fr
didn'
aid
n that ancient tongue of hers-and suddenl
e of pr
d just o
chi
it
ng to
n took
to al
ed. S
t held me like invisible hand
leap. Wanted to r
t cou
ither
uld do w
eyes again, the m
ring was
and spent, steam
... h
still wreck
e, pressing a damp
lly," she whispered
to sit u
happ
he said. "Harder t
nked
dn't ch
ook he
usted
irst time in
feel like
like
e sat beneath the star
the pr
the bl
the Mo
hing older than either of us could name. Th
ght be t
he g
he c
it mad
me with those storm-l
atever was
feel i