Chapter 35:
ALESSIA
The light from the symbol faded slowly, like embers dying in wet ash, and when it was gone the clearing felt colder than it had before, as if the air itself had been holding its breath and finally let it go in a shudder. The wolves were gone, the faceless thing was gone, and the only thing left was the ache in my wrist and the faint outline of the symbol burned into the dirt where my blood had touched the ground. My legs shook beneath me, but I didn’t fall, because the bond was still there, steady and insistent, and through it I felt the triplets closing in fast, their panic sharpening into something like relief when they realized I was still breathing.
Azriel was the first to break through the treeline, his coat torn and his face streaked with dirt and blood th
