Aria's POV
Nobody slept.
The sanctuary emptied slowly, warriors filing back up through the tunnels in silence, none of them quite meeting my eyes. I understood why. An hour ago I had been the Silver Luna, chosen and marked and impossibly powerful.
Now I was also the sister of the thing every one of them had spent weeks preparing to kill.
Damien didn't let go of my hand the entire walk back to the Alpha House. Through the bond I could feel him working hard to keep his fear separate from mine, and failing, the way I suspected we both would keep failing at that for a long while yet.
"Marcus knew," I said, once we were finally alone in his study, firelight the only light left in the room.
"Marcus inherited a decision he didn't make," Damien said carefully. "That doesn't make the silence
