I put both hands on his chest before he was fully on the table.
I did not think about the cost. I did not calculate the risk to the twins or the risk to myself or the hours of sustained work that had preceded this moment; I had already taken more than I had intended to spend. I thought about none of it. The moon-born gift moved, I moved with it, and the space between intention and action collapsed to nothing, which was the only way this particular thing could be done.
The silver was deep. Deeper than Oriane’s had been at its worst. More acute, because a blade delivered it directly rather than the slow accumulation of compound in food. It was in his blood and moving, doing what it was designed to do, and what it was designed to do was kill a wolf who could not be killed by most ordinary m
