Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. The whole clearing stood frozen around a kneeling king and a girl who had no idea what to do with her hands.
"Get up," I said, because it was the only thing I could think to say. "Please. You don't need to—"
"I've knelt for less," Kael said, rising smoothly to his feet. Up close, he was taller than Damon, his eyes a shade of gold I'd never seen on a wolf before. He looked at me like I was something he'd been afraid he'd never find. "Twenty-two years is a long time to search for someone."
"Search for me? I don't understand what any of this means."
"I know." His voice was calm, careful, the way you'd talk to someone standing near a ledge. "I'll explain everything. Just not here."
Damon stepped forward before I could answer, his composure cracking for the firs
