Riley’s POV
It has already been three days, and the reality of it kept pressing down on me again and again until it felt hard to breathe.
The day had finally come.
The day I would be sent to the cave for the Rite of the Borrowed Moon.
Ever since that day with Gunnar, everything inside me had changed. I could not stop thinking about his words, about the beasts, about the mark, about the way he had looked at me as if he already knew something I did not.
The worst part was that he had disappeared just like he said he would. I had not seen him once. Not even by accident in the hallway. It made my chest tight in a way I did not want to admit.
I was sitting on the bed, staring at my wrist where the strange mark still glowed faintly, when the door suddenly burst open.
I jumped so hard
