The earth was colder than I expected.
My fingers sank into it anyway.
Dirt packed beneath my nails.
Small roots scraped against my skin.
The ash tree stood above me in silence, its branches shifting gently in the wind, as though it had been waiting for this moment longer than I had been alive.
I dug faster.
Not carefully.
Not gracefully.
Desperately.
My wolf pressed against me with every handful of soil I pulled away.
Keep going.
The words weren't spoken.
They were felt.
Deep.
Certain.
Mine.
The pendant resting against my chest burned warm.
Not painful.
Guiding.
I paused only once to catch my breath.
The first hint of dawn stretched across the horizon, painting the sky in bruised shades of purple and gold.
Beaumont slept below.
Behind me.
Beneath me, the truth waited
