The Healer kept two fingers on my wrist for so long that I knew the answer before he spoke. “Seven days, Selene. That’s all the life force your wolf has left.”
The Black Moon bells began ringing outside the infirmary, one after another, until the stone walls carried the sound.
Kael could see again. The whole pack had been waiting for those bells.
I had walked into the Forbidden Grotto alone and given it my sight and wolf soul. The trade had worked exactly as promised. Kael had his eyes, and my wolf was dying.
I closed both hands around the smooth wooden cane and forced myself upright. Before those seven days ran out, I needed one final rite from the Great Hall and one chance to leave as myself.
My cane clicked over the marble as I followed the western corridor by memory. Laughter, che
