The luna's human mate

CHAPTER TEN

Asher.

I finished my art piece on a Tuesday.

I knew it was done because I had nothing left to add to it.

Everything I wanted to put into it was there.

Everything I did not mean to put into it was there too.

This is usually how I know something is finished.

I took a step back. Looked at it properly for the first time.

I had painted Silvia.

Not just her face,. Something bigger than that.

She was wearing the dress she wore to the coronation.

It matched her hair exactly.

Her eyes were gold, not green.

There was a big moon behind her.

You could see the outline of a wolf on her. It was not separate from her.

It was part of her like a shadow.

I did not plan to paint the wolf.

It just showed up when I was working on the painting.

I did not argue with it because that is not how art works.

I stood in front of my painting drinking my coffee.

I thought about Silvia, the woman who had looked at my paintings without saying much.

She had asked to go to the library and thanked me for my hospitality.

She had apologized for the chains.

My exhibition contract was due in two weeks.

I had signed it three months ago before everything happened.

I had assumed I would have something to show by then.

I did not think it would be this.

I was still standing in front of my painting when I heard someone moving in the kitchen.

Then I heard footsteps on the stairs and a soft knock on the studio door.

"Come in " I said.

Silvia opened the door.

She was still wearing her coat. She had a book under her arm.

She looked tired not physically but also emotionally.

She stepped into the studio. Stopped when she saw the painting.

I watched her look at it.

This is one of my things to do. Watch Silvia see something for the first time.

She does not pretend to have a reaction.

Her face just shows what she is feeling.

She looked at the painting for a time without saying anything.

Then she said, "That is me."

It was not a question.

I said, "Yes."

She said, ". The wolf."

I said, "I did not know its name until now but yes."

She was quiet for a moment.

I did not fill the silence because that is not what you do with Silvia.

Then she asked, "How did you know about the wolf? How it is part of me?"

I said, "I did not know. I just painted what I saw."

She turned to look at me.

I held her gaze.

There was something building between us something that had been growing for weeks.

She said, "You see a deal."

I said, "That is what I do.. What I am supposed to do."

She looked back at the painting.

Then she put her book on my workbench. Walked over to me.

We stood side by side looking at the painting.

She said, "I found a book in the library. It is old. It is about humans and wolves."

She said, "It is not a read."

I asked, "What does it say?"

She said, "It says we were not always enemies. The fear came gradually. It can be dismantled."

I thought about that.

It would be hard. It would cost Silvia a lot to try to change things.

She said, "Theoretically it can be done."

I said, "Yes, theoretically."

She said, "But someone has to start."

I looked at her.

She was determined. She was not afraid.

I asked, "Can I show this painting at the exhibition?"

She looked at the painting at me.

She said, "People will see it."

I said, "That is the point of an exhibition."

She asked, "How many people?"

I said, "Enough. The right kind of people."

She thought about it.

Then she said, "Yes you can show it."

I said, "I should tell you something."

She looked at me.

I said, "I was afraid of wolves before.. That was before I met you."

She did not look away.

I reached out. Touched her hair and we kissed.

It was not planned,. It was inevitable.

When we stopped kissing I rested my forehead against hers.

We were both breathing unevenly.

She made a sound, like a laugh.

I said, "I did not plan that."

She said, "I know. Neither did I."

But then she said, "The wolf planned it. She has been planning it for weeks."

I laughed, a laugh.

Silvia smiled, a smile.

I thought, this is it. This is what I have been trying to paint.

Not the silver. The gold eyes, but this moment.

I said, "The exhibition is, in two weeks."

She said, "Then we had be ready."

She picked up her book. Walked to the door.

Then she. Said, "Asher."

I said, "Yes."

She said, "The painting. It is the honest thing anyone has ever shown me of myself."

Then she left.

I turned back to the canvas. Stood in front of it for a long time. I thought about honesty and cost and the kind of courage it takes to let someone see the you and not back away from what they see.

The city outside the studio window was moving through its evening it had no idea that something had just changed in a room above it. The city was completely unaware that two weeks, from now I was going to walk into a gallery with a painting of a werewolf Queen. I was going to ask a room of humans to really look at the werewolf Queen painting.

The werewolf Queen was going to be there when they looked at the werewolf Queen painting.