The Soul Stone

Chapter 2 The Frostbound Sacrifice

The memory came from the Great Frost, three winters ago.

Everyone in the square remembered seeing me chained to the Moon Punishment Post during the blizzard. Callan had sentenced me for insubordination. I had taken every lash without speaking.

They had called that silence proof of guilt. No one had asked why the barrier grew brighter each time the whip came down.

The Soul Stone drew their attention to the foot of the post.

Blood from my torn back ran through the snow in thin gold lines. Each line reached an ancient barrier rune. Whenever the blood touched stone, the weak light above Silver Moon steadied.

The lines were too straight to be accidental. Even through the punishment, I had guided each drop toward a different rune so the strain would spread across the dome.

Then the image moved to a covered alcove behind the punishment yard. The memory was from minutes before the lashes.

Iris stood over three shivering pups. Frost clotted their fur, and each breath came out short and white. The frost-poison had already darkened the skin around their mouths.

“They’ll be dead by moonrise, Selene,” Iris said. “The barrier has to be strengthened, and your blood is the fastest way.”

My younger self looked from the pups to her. “Why are you doing this?”

“The pack needs a hero. You need reminding where you belong.” She nudged one of the pups with her boot.

“Give me your blood and take the punishment in silence. They will blame you. I will save the pups. Fair enough?”

A stone dropped near the Soul Stone in the present. The mother who had been holding it now stared at the smallest pup on the screen. Her son had survived that winter.

Two other mothers pushed through the crowd. They recognized their children too.

One touched the scar still visible beneath her daughter's jaw, left by the frost-poison. The same hand had thrown ice at me minutes earlier.

Iris gripped Callan’s arm. “It’s a lie! Dark magic can twist memories. She has always been jealous of me.”

On the screen, the first lash opened my back. Gold ran into the runes.

Callan jerked and pressed a hand over his heart. The mate bond carried him a piece of the pain he had ordered three winters ago. His fingers curled against his chest until Iris caught his wrist.

The echo moved through him with every lash on the screen. He had denied our bond for years, yet his body still knew which pain belonged to me.

“Callan, look at me.”

He did. After one breath, he faced the elders.

“Skip this forgery. Show me the battle. Show me the night my father died!”

The head elder laid both hands on the runes. “I’m trying, Alpha. The stone will not release the memory.”

His fingers shook as he tried again. The runes refused to jump ten years forward to the battle Callan demanded.

The blizzard faded from the screen. A crowded square and a plague cauldron appeared in its place.