Three moons passed. Spring reached the Shadow Forest, and silver leaves appeared beneath the dark canopy.
The first Moon-Tree pushed through the soil near the fortress. By the end of the week, a whole grove of slender saplings stood in the valley, their leaves lit from within. The land had gone a thousand years without one.
I watched them from our balcony with one hand on the new curve of my belly.
A second heartbeat lived under my palm.
For most of my first life, healers had treated my body as a storehouse for Elara. Every recovery ended with another tray of needles. This child would know my blood only as warmth and food. The small kicks beneath my tunic belonged to a future Derrick could never touch.
Below the balcony, Winter Pack survivors worked beside Shadow Forest wolves. They h
