ra had never seen anything like it, untouched wilderness, wild and breathing. The old stories had call

still here. And s

slowed, the others followed suit. One by one, they shifted back to their human forms, the silence

eath came in gasps, her limbs aching from the strain of the shift and spr

r, offering a water

ing her breath. "That...

nstinct. Wild. Every s

a choice. It felt l

ugh. "Welcome to b

ra, who was unrolling a map on a flat stone. Kael motioned

le. "We've made it through phase

is is?" Liora as

egime loses one o

daybreak. The Ash-grove has protect

h edge of the forest," Mira said

her throat. "P

locked on he

e air. Liora felt its wei

t to fig

e to. We've been hunted for decades. Tortured

closer, voi

Solari line. You were born with the moon's blood. That makes

eemed to til

"No. I don't lead. I

out instinct. Sacrifice. The fact that you're still standing a

ne thing above all, unity. You feel others. You pull them together. That's why they c

ask for an

of u

e in the distance, a w

id. "You can keep running. Or you c

The memory of the lab still clung to her

e remembere

e. The way she'd died, fighti

deep breath

ow how to l

ly. "We're not asking for a queen

From it, he pulled an ancient dagger with a hilt w

e gave it to my sister the night she died. T

took it. The metal pulsed with

the blade was a single wo

his?" she

you speak your truth into it, it

ed at the blade, then at the circle of faces aroun

htened

ear my

to hush, the

t defeated. I stand for the forgotten, the hunted, the bound and

er light. A faint wind sti

y the old code, by fang a

iny, not with fanfare, not with certainty, but