“Would you stop messing with that?”
I let go of the collar of my tunic.
Raven watched me from beside the doorway, where she had been fastening the clasp to her cloak as I looked down at my shirt again.
“Are you sure this is all right?” I asked.
“It was all right when you put it on.”
“I know. I just thought there might be something specific that I’m supposed to wear.”
“To eat with the rest of the village?”
I swallowed. “To stand in front of it.”
Her hands slowed.
Outside, people were making their way toward the gathering, their voices carrying through the entrance whenever someone passed close to the hut. I had caught myself listening for Shade more than once. Echo had collected him earlier. He’d been eager to see what the far-hunters had brought home, especially after hearing that there would be trophies to look at and stories to go with them. I suspected getting him to leave would be considerably harder than it had been to take him there.
Raven finished securing her clasp and came towards me.
“Let me see.”
I held still while she looked me over. Her attention caught on my sleeve, and she brushed a stray bit of fur from it.
“There,” she said.
My brows drew together. “That was it?”
She smiled. “Your clothes are fine. Nobody’s expecting you to arrive in ceremonial robes.”
“I wouldn’t even know where I would get any,” I stated.
“Then it’s fortunate that you don’t need them.”
I breathed out through my nose and glanced toward the doorway.
It had been easier to think about the ceremony when it was still several days away. I’d known what Light intended. Having everyone look at me would be uncomfortable, but I’d had time to get used to the idea.
What I hadn’t figured out was how to stand before them and wait to learn whether they wanted me there.
I’d worked beside these people. Eaten with them. Somewhere along the way, I’d started expecting to see them again the next morning. There were people here I loved, and a life I wanted to keep living.
Light had agreed to give me a name. I wanted to believe the rest of the tribe would accept it.
I just didn’t know what I would do if they wouldn’t.
“David.” Raven touched my arm, pulling me from my thoughts. “You can go as you are.”
I nodded, smoothing out the wrinkles from my tunic one last time before letting my hands rest at my sides.
“All right.”
She gave my arm a small squeeze before letting go.
I reached for my own cloak, and Raven waited while I pulled it on. She helped free a corner that had gotten caught beneath my shoulder before she stepped aside so I could reach the doorway.
My fingers had barely slipped through the edge of the covering before she spoke up.
“Could we stay a little longer?”
I turned. “Of course. Did you forget something?”
“No.”
She glanced toward the edge of the bed, then back at me.
“Shade’s with Echo,” she said. “There’s no need to hurry.”
“All right,” I responded, pulling my hand away from the doorway.
For a moment, she seemed uncertain what to do now that she had asked to stay. I waited near the entrance until she turned and settled herself on the edge of the bed.
I followed her.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
“No.” She fidgeted with her hands as she sat. “I don’t think so.”
I settled beside her, leaving a little room between us. Raven noticed, her eyes resting on that space before they lifted to meet mine.
“You still do that,” she stated.
“What?”
“Leave room for me to decide whether I want you close to me.”
Warmth crept into my face. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to—”
“I know.”
Her answer was gentle enough to stop me.
She reached across the space and took my hand. I turned it beneath hers, letting our fingers settle together.
“I know,” she said again. “You’ve been trying to be careful with me.”
I looked down at our hands.
There were multiple things I could have said about that. Most of them had been sitting somewhere behind my ribs for weeks, waiting for a moment when saying them wouldn’t risk everything we already had.
Raven’s thumb moved once over mine.
“That night when you asked if I wanted you to stay at Bone’s,” she said, “I thought you were giving me time.”
I nodded. “I was.”
“And I needed it, but I’ve kept coming back here. Bringing my things. Sleeping beside you.” She paused. “I thought you would understand what that meant.”
My face grew warmer.
“I wanted to believe you were staying because you wanted to be with me.”
Her fingers tightened around mine. “But you weren’t sure?”
I looked down at our hands.
“I knew you were comfortable here. And I knew it was good for Shade.” I hesitated. “But I wanted it to mean more than that. I just didn’t know if you did, too.”
I finally looked at her.
“I didn’t want to assume,” I said.
“No.” Her expression softened, though something in it hurt a little. “You wouldn’t.”
Raven was quiet for a moment as she seemed to think over what I’d said.
“I should have told you. I’ve been letting you guess.”
“You don’t owe me anything, Raven,” I stated. “I didn’t want you to think that staying here meant you had to feel the same.”
“I don’t think that.”
Her answer was gentle, but she held my gaze until I stopped trying to explain. Then she took a breath.
“I want to be close to you. I have for a while.” Her voice lowered. “I just didn’t know how to trust it.”
My grip shifted around her hand.
For the first time since she had asked me to stay, I knew what to say.
“Neither have I.”
Raven’s thumb stopped mid-stroke against my hand.
I’d thought about telling her before. Sometimes, at night while I was lying awake beside her, I’d try to work out how to explain what I felt. But by morning, I’d always wonder whether saying it would make her uncomfortable with staying so close. Now she was asking, and I was still struggling to put it into words.
“When I first started having these feelings …” I stopped and tried again. “I didn’t know how much of it was mine.”
Her eyes stayed on me.
“This body already knew you,” I continued. “Sometimes I’d reach for you without thinking about it, or I’d want to be close, and I couldn’t tell whether that was me or something left over from him.”
Raven looked down at our joined hands.
“I wondered about that, too.”
I’d expected it. Hearing her say it still hurt.
“About me?” I asked.
“Both of us.”
She shifted a little towards me.
“I knew your face before I knew you. His voice. His scent.” Her fingers moved against mine. “There were times I’d wake beside you and feel relieved before I was properly awake. Then I’d remember, and I wouldn’t know what to do with that.”
I swallowed. “You don’t have to feel guilty about missing him.”
“I know. But I couldn’t ask you to be close to me while I was still wondering who I really wanted there.”
For a while, I listened to the faint crackle of the fire burning low in the pit.
“Did you figure it out?” I asked.
She nodded, though the movement was small.
“Did you?”
“Yes.” The answer came more easily than I expected. “When I was with Thorn.”
Raven lifted her gaze. “In the Shifting Place?”
I nodded. “Yesterday, I made that decision sound like it'd been easier to make than it actually was.”
Raven waited.
“When I saw my grandparents, I wanted to reach for them. I wanted to go home.” My thumb slowed against her hand. “Thorn showed me what had happened to my body, and I argued with him. I kept thinking there might still be a chance.”
It was difficult to admit how tightly I’d held on to that. Even after everything I’d seen.
“Then I asked to see the hut. You and Shade were here.” I looked down at our hands. “And I didn’t know how to leave you, either.”
Her fingers shifted beneath mine.
“I even tried to talk Thorn into coming back. I thought if he did, if he just tried, it might have made my choice easier.”
“Do you think it would have?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I wanted it to be.”
I looked at her again.
“It was what Grandma said that finally helped me decide. But before that, when I was still trying to find a way home… I was already missing you.”
Raven’s expression softened.
“I wanted to come home and find you here. I wanted to sit beside you again. Hear about your day. All those little things we’d been doing together.”
Her lips parted slightly.
I swallowed. “I didn’t know whether you’d ever want this to be anything more than what we’d already agreed to. I just knew how much I wanted to be there.”
“David—”
“I still wanted to come back.”
She went quiet.
I hadn’t meant to say it quite that way. There was more to the choice than that, more than I could fit into a few words sitting on the edge of the bed. But it was something I’d known then, and had been afraid to tell her since waking.
“I love you.” My heart was beating hard enough that I could feel it beneath my collar. “I know that now. I just didn’t know whether saying it would make things difficult for you.”
Raven’s grip tightened. She drew our hands into her lap and held mine between both of hers.
For a moment, she looked as though she might speak. Instead, she lowered her head, and for several horrible seconds I waited while she worked her thumb over one of my knuckles.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” she finally said.
I watched her.
“When Rain and Flower were treating you, I kept listening whenever they spoke. Trying to understand how bad it was from what they were saying. They were worried about your breathing. How much effort it took. Whether it was getting worse.”
I remembered very little of that. A voice close to my ear. Being moved when I wanted to be left still. Hands helping me sit forward so I could cough.
Raven remembered enough for both of us.
“And I kept thinking about your laugh.”
Something tightened beneath my ribs.
She gave a small, unsteady breath.
“I could hear it so clearly. I don’t even remember what you’d been laughing at. Something Shade had said, perhaps. But I kept thinking that I might never hear it again.”
I turned my hand beneath hers and held on.
“I wanted you to wake up and say something. Anything. Ask for water. Complain about the medicine.” Her mouth lifted faintly, but the smile didn’t last. “Then you did wake up, and you were so tired.”
I remembered her sitting beside me. How often I’d opened my eyes and found her there.
“You’d try to listen when we spoke to you,” she continued. “Sometimes you’d answer, and I could see you struggling to stay awake long enough to finish. I wanted to tell you to sleep, but every time you closed your eyes, I still feared that you wouldn't wake up.”
I brought my free hand over hers. “I didn’t know.”
“I wasn’t ready to tell you.”
Outside, a few people passed close enough for their conversation to reach us. Neither of us turned toward it.
“Was that when you knew?” I asked.
Raven pondered the question briefly.
“That was when I knew I couldn’t keep putting it aside.” Her gaze dropped briefly to our hands. “There were things before that. Watching you with Shade. The way you listen to him, even when he takes forever to explain something. How you’ll show him again if he gets something wrong.”
“He’s learning.”
“I know.” She looked up. “But you still make time for him. Even when you’re tired.”
I didn’t quite know what to do with the warmth in her expression.
“And when you’re upset, I can ask you what’s wrong,” she said. “You might need a little time before you answer, but I can still ask.”
I sat still.
Raven drew a breath.
“I typically knew when to leave Thorn alone. I knew when trying to help would only make him angrier, and when it was better to let him come to me.”
She paused, her brow tightening.
“I used to think knowing those things meant I understood him.”
“You did understand him,” I pointed out.
“Yes.” Her voice grew quieter. “But sometimes he frightened me, and I understood him then, too.”
I let her take her time.
“I loved him,” she finally said. “There were good things between us. I don’t want to pretend there weren’t… But I shouldn’t have had to be so careful.”
The words seemed to cost her something. Her fingers pressed into mine, and I moved closer until our knees touched.
She looked at me then.
“I’m still learning that I can tell you something you don’t want to hear. That you can be angry and I can still stay beside you.”
My throat tightened. “I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
“I know.” She lifted one hand to my cheek. “And you’ve given me time to believe it.”
I leaned into her palm before I could think better of it.
Raven’s eyes softened.
“I love you, David.”
For a moment, I couldn’t answer. I could only look at her, trying to take in the sound of my name at the end of those words.
A low rumble stirred deep in my throat as her thumb brushed my cheek.
She smiled.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you.”
I shook my head. “I wasn’t exactly making it easy.”
A small laugh escaped her before her gaze lowered to my mouth.
I went still.
“Can I kiss you?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I moved slowly enough to feel her hand shift along my cheek. She leaned toward me, meeting me before I’d quite closed the distance.
Her lips were warm. I had time to notice that, and the slight pressure of her fingers beneath my jaw, before she eased back.
I opened my eyes.
Raven was still close. Her forehead touched mine, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
“All right?” she whispered.
I nodded. “Yes.”
Her smile brushed my mouth when she kissed me again.
We stayed beside one another on the edge of the bed a little longer.
Raven’s hand rested in mine, and every so often I looked at her, still trying to reconcile how difficult those words had been to say with how quietly we could sit together afterward.
She caught me looking once and smiled again.
“What?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
She raised a brow.
I rubbed my thumb over her knuckles. “I’m glad we stayed.”
“So am I.” Raven glanced toward the doorway. “We should probably find Shade before Echo lets him talk a hunter into giving him something.”
My brow furrowed. “Would she?”
“She might help him choose.”
That got me moving.
By the time we stepped outside, the paths through the village were busy. People passed carrying bowls and bundles, calling greetings over their shoulders as they went. Smoke drifted above the huts, and somewhere ahead, the smell of roasting meat reached us.
I moved aside to let two people pass. Raven’s hand found mine again before we continued.
I looked down at our joined hands.
“Still all right?” she asked quietly.
I nodded. “Yes.”
This time, I didn’t have to struggle for the word.
We found Shade near a group of far-hunters, leaning forward so intently that I wondered whether he’d heard anything around him for the last several minutes. Echo sat behind him, watching with mild interest as one of the hunters held up a length of horn.
“Could it go through a person?” I heard Shade ask.
“Shade,” Raven called to him.
He turned immediately.
“There you are!” he beamed, running over to us and pointing. “Look at this!”
He had already turned back before either of us could respond, trusting us to follow. Raven released my hand so she could crouch beside him, and I stopped near Echo.
“You survived,” I said to her.
“So far,” she remarked. “He’s asked sensible questions. Mostly.”
She glanced past me toward Raven, then back at my face.
I turned toward the hunter and tried to follow what he was saying about the horn. After a few moments, I glanced back to see whether Echo was still watching me.
She was.
I could feel myself smiling, which wasn’t helping. I waited for her to ask what had kept us, but she only settled more comfortably in her seat.
Apparently, she was content with letting me wonder how much she’d noticed.
“You’ll have to wait if you’re hoping to hear the whole story,” she finally stated. “We’ve heard how large the animal was twice. Apparently it grows between tellings.”
“I heard that,” the hunter said.
“Good. Perhaps you can settle on a size.”
Shade laughed, and the hunter shook his head with the patience of someone who had endured considerably worse.
We found food before settling nearby. Raven passed me a bowl while Shade tried to explain everything we had missed, occasionally interrupting himself to ask whether I thought the horn was longer than his arm.
It was.
He checked anyway.
For a while, I ate and listened.
From what I could gather, the animal had been large, ill-tempered, and unwilling to leave a patch of ground the hunters had hoped to cross. Beyond that, the details depended on who was speaking.
The man telling it had apparently stood his ground when it charged.
“You fell,” another hunter corrected.
“I got down.”
“Quickly,” a third hunter agreed.
“To keep the horns above me.”
“Lucky the mud was there to help.”
“You were in a tree,” the storyteller stated, pointing a piece of meat at him.
“And I could see very well from there.”
“Did you climb it before or after he fell?” I asked.
The group broke into laughter.
Beside me, Raven lowered her head over her bowl. Her shoulder shook against mine.
I looked at her and started laughing, too.
The hunter eventually finished his story, though his companions were still arguing over the details when the next one took his place. From him, I learned that being lost was a matter of opinion if you knew which direction you had intended to go.
Shade listened to all of it with rapt attention.
I had no idea how much time had passed. Food was shared around us. Someone brought over another trophy, and Shade went with Echo to look at it after extracting a promise out of me and Raven that we wouldn’t leave without him.
Raven shifted closer to me once they had gone.
“Warm enough?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yes.”
She brushed a crumb off of my sleeve before returning to her food.
Across the gathering, Echo glanced back. Her face broke into a smile as she noticed Raven’s hand resting against my arm.
“Oh, no…” I murmured.
Raven followed my gaze.
Echo turned away with an innocence I didn’t trust for a moment.
“What?” Raven asked.
“I think we’re going to hear about this.”
She shrugged. “Probably.”
Raven sounded completely unbothered.
Before I could remind her how much Echo would enjoy tormenting us about this, a familiar voice spoke behind us.
“There you are.”
Bone stood with Rain a few steps away, a bowl held comfortably in one broad hand.
“Figured we’d find you with the food,” he commented.
“That was a reasonable guess,” I said.
His gaze moved briefly between me and Raven.
Bone took a bite from a chunk of meat from his bowl as he lowered himself beside us, and I watched as the corner of his mouth began to turn up.
I did my best to remain focused on my food.
Eventually, Bone settled his bowl against one knee.
“Good morning?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied curtly.
His gaze moved briefly to Raven’s hand on my arm. “Looks like it.”
“Bone…” Raven warned.
“What? I’m pleased you’re enjoying yourselves.”
Rain sat beside him, hiding a smile with so little effort that I could see it from where I was.
I shook my head. “Does everyone have something to say?”
“Not at all,” Bone said, taking another bite. “Carry on.”
Raven’s hand slipped into mine. I held it and decided he could make of that what he would.
For a little while, we ate and listened to the gathering around us. Someone passing by called a greeting to Rain, and he lifted a hand in return.
Watching him, I remembered something I’d been meaning to ask.
“Rain?”
He looked over.
“How did you earn your title, ‘Rain Who Comes On Swift Legs’?”
Bone leaned back slightly. “I think the title speaks for itself.”
“I have a fairly good idea.”
Rain’s mouth curved. “Do you?”
“I remember when I raced you back at the training grounds.”
“You challenged him?” Raven asked.
“More like he challenged me."
“Pretty sure I can guess who won,” Bone commented.
Rain laughed, shaking his head.
“He cheated,” he said, directing a finger at me. “He used the terrain to pull ahead of me on the trail.”
I shifted awkwardly next to Raven, remembering how odd it'd felt to charge through the snow and dodge obstacles underfoot with such incredible ease.
Bone raised a brow, looking between me and Rain several times before letting out a snort.
“We can blame Thorn for that one.”
I let out a chuckle before I continued.
“Then when the valley hunters came back, I barely saw you before you were already running off to help someone else.” I paused. “And you got to me fairly quickly that day outside the healer’s den, too.”
Rain’s expression softened with recognition. He didn’t make me explain which day I'd been referring to.
“I remember,” he acknowledged.
“I thought it might have something to do with that.”
“It does.” He rested his bowl against his legs. “I’ve always been quick. Very useful to my mentor, Burdock, when I was still learning.”
“Fetching things?” I asked.
Rain nodded. “Medicines. Fresh water. Someone who had decided they were well enough to leave before he agreed.”
Bone let out a very telling grunt.
Rain glanced at him. “Occasionally someone larger than me.”
“That sounds difficult,” I said.
“It can be.”
“You could ask nicely,” Bone suggested.
“I have. It doesn’t always work.”
Raven laughed quietly beside me.
Rain looked back at me.
“Often, someone comes for a healer because they don’t know what else to do. They’re frightened, and they’ve already spent precious time trying to get to us.” His thumb stroked the rim of his bowl. “I can’t always help as much as they hope, but at least I can get there quickly.”
I thought of him crossing the distance between us on the path while I struggled to breathe, before I’d even understood what was happening.
“You do.”
He gave a small nod.
For a moment, nobody spoke. I turned towards Raven.
“What about yours?” I asked her.
She smiled fondly.
“The Finder of Lost Trails,” she said. “A little girl had wandered away from the village. I was the one who managed to track her down and bring her home.”
“Where did you find her?”
“In the trees, farther out than she should have been. She was cold. Frightened. Very glad to see a familiar face.”
“And Raven got her back before we had to search through the night,” Rain added.
Raven shrugged slightly.
“She’d left enough tracks for me to follow, and I had already begun to make a name for myself through my tracking skills whenever I joined a hunting party. Finding that girl was what made Light take notice.”
I squeezed her hand, and she returned it before reaching for her bowl.
Bone was watching us again.
“That isn’t the whole story,” he spoke up.
I turned to him, leaning forward with interest. “Oh?”
“Raven always speaks of it as though anyone could have done it,” Bone explained. “But I was among one of the search parties sent out to find that girl. We lost her trail near the river. Not even I could manage to track her down.”
Raven looked down into her bowl.
“She's done the same on far-hunts, too,” Bone added. “Found hunters who had lost their way. Tracked down herds through rain and snow. That's likely how she managed to catch up with the hunting party from the valley.”
Raven shrugged again. “We met up halfway.”
“Halfway to where? The middle of nowhere?”
“It's easy once you know the way,” she pointed out. “You know that.”
“Sure, but even I'm not daring enough to pursue a hunting party weeks after they've already departed.”
Raven smirked. “Well, you've got me there.”
I smiled at her as she moved to set her bowl aside before turning my attention back to Bone.
“Yours?” I asked.
His expression immediately flattened. “Bone.”
I blinked. “I mean your title.”
“Just Bone,” he insisted. “Bone of the Mountain Forest, if we must be formal.”
I studied him as he took a bite from a large root that had been nestled in his bowl.
“You don’t have one?”
He shrugged. “I had one.”
His tone remained easy, but Rain’s attention shifted toward him.
“From when you were a soldier?” I asked.
Bone nodded. “That one’s retired.”
My eyes veered towards the ragged scar that tore across his side, now hidden under the layers of his tunic and thick bear furs.
“Do you still get to use it?”
“If I wanted to.” He held my gaze. “I don’t.”
There was no sharpness in his voice, but I understood. Growler was a nickname he was willing to let me use on occasion. This was something he wanted left behind.
“All right,” I said.
Bone lowered the root into his bowl.
“Bone will do.”
I ate quietly, thinking about that. I’d asked because I wanted to know more about him, but whatever he’d been called as a soldier wouldn’t tell me much about the man sitting beside me.
I knew him from working in his hut. From the meals we’d shared and the room he’d made for me when I needed somewhere to stay.
He caught me looking.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said, my face breaking into half a smile. “Bone will do.”
Seemingly satisfied, he nodded and went back to his food.
I tried to do the same, but my thoughts stayed with what he’d said.
Rain’s title made sense to me. So did Raven’s. I could now hear either and recognize the person it belonged to.
Bone had earned his, too, once. It might even have suited him. Now he wanted it left behind, and I wondered how often other people had let him.
I’d spent so much time thinking about the name I’d chosen that I hadn’t given nearly as much thought to the title that would come with it.
“What is it?” I heard Raven ask from beside me.
I shook my head, hoping to shake off some of my concern with it.
“Nothing,” I said. “I was just thinking.”
She glanced at the food I’d stopped eating, then back at me. “About?”
I hesitated. “My title.”
Bone lowered his bowl. “What about it?”
“I don’t know. I suppose I hadn’t thought much about having to live with it afterward.”
His expression grew more attentive.
I let out a breath.
“You all have reasons for yours. Things you did that people remembered.” I glanced between them. “I don’t know what they’ll remember about me.”
Raven’s hand settled over mine. “You’ve given them plenty.”
“I know. That’s what worries me.”
Rain leaned forward slightly.
“Are you afraid of what Light will choose?” he asked.
“Maybe.” I looked down at Raven’s fingers. “There are things people could say about me that would be true. That doesn’t mean I’d want everyone calling me by them.”
Rain nodded slowly. “No. It doesn’t.”
I was grateful he hadn’t asked for an example.
“If Light chooses your title,” he continued, “he’ll take that responsibility seriously. He won’t use it to mock you.”
“Or make light of what you’ve done here,” Raven added.
I glanced at her.
“He knows you’ve worked for this tribe,” she said. “And he knows there are people here who matter to you. He isn’t going to turn that into something you should be ashamed of.”
Bone shifted beside Rain.
“Mine came from a different part of my life,” he said. “I had reasons for accepting it then. I have reasons for setting it aside now. Light won’t be naming a soldier…”
I looked at him as he leaned forward and held my gaze.
“He’ll be naming you.”
For a moment, I could hear little beyond the conversation carrying on around us.
Then Rain spoke again.
“And remember, it doesn’t have to be Light. You can ask someone you trust to choose it for you.”
I frowned slightly. “Someone else?”
He nodded. “Someone who knows you. Whose judgment you’re willing to accept.”
I remembered Light’s words from our meeting back in his hut. About being able to choose someone that I trusted enough to bestow a title that was fitting.
My gaze moved between the three of them.
“That seems like a great deal to ask of someone,” I said.
“It is,” Rain agreed. “But you’re allowed to ask.”
Raven’s thumb moved against my hand.
“You don’t have to decide right at this moment.”
I looked toward Bone. He was watching me with none of the amusement he’d worn when he first sat down.
“Whoever you ask,” he said, “make sure it’s someone you trust to see you properly.”
I sat with that for a while.
There were people here who knew things about me that most of the tribe never would. People who had seen me scared, confused, or too ill to lift my own head. People who knew me for who I was, and had stayed.
Perhaps I could trust someone with this, too.
I picked up my bowl and managed another mouthful.
Raven let me eat, her hand lingering close to mine. Some of the tension eased out of me as my fingers brushed against hers.
I was nearly finished when I noticed Rain looking past my shoulder.
I turned.
Storm stood a few paces away, waiting for a gap in the conversation.
“There you are,” he stated.
I lowered my bowl.
“Is it time?” I asked.
He nodded. “Light’s ready for you. We’ll go to the gathering hall.”
I’d known Storm would come for me, but now that he was here, my stomach tightened. In a few minutes, I’d be standing before the tribe. I glanced at Raven, reluctant to leave the comfort of sitting beside her.
“I’ll see to this,” she said, taking my bowl from me.
I let out an unsteady breath.
Bone got to his feet first. I rose beside him, straightening my cloak before I caught myself doing it.
His hand settled briefly on my shoulder.
“You’re ready.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him, but I nodded.
Rain stood as well. “We’ll be there.”
Raven rose and took my hand.
“I’ll find Shade,” she said. “We’ll see you inside.”
I nodded. Knowing they would be there helped.
She gave my fingers a gentle squeeze before releasing them.
I drew in a deep breath as I turned towards Storm.
“I’m ready.”
He nodded, and I followed him toward the gathering hall.
It was time to find out what Light had chosen.13Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLxqU7FlXzx
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