The warmth from my father's letter went cold.
"How long do I have?" I said.
"We don't know," she said. "Could be weeks. Could be less."
I nodded slowly.
Selene was very alert inside me. Not frightened. Alert. Like a wolf who has just heard a twig snap in a quiet forest and is orienting herself toward it.
*Then we don't waste time,* she said.
No. We didn't.
I couldn't sleep.
I lay in my bed with my father's letter folded on my chest and the moon pouring silver through my window and my mind moving too fast for rest. Running through everything Mira's words, my mother's words, the order, the bloodline, Kael in the moonlight saying things in that quiet certain voice
I sat up.
Selene had gone rigid.
*Someone is outside,* she said.
I was at the window before she finished.
I pressed
