ot stop when Aria re

uch against her neck-soft, fleet

, every time the wind moved thr

chi

it

s in th

ill ran through Aria's bones. She helped her father stack firewoo

asked, handing

ut of the forest darkness and breathed truths into her marrow? That she was startin

Not

her father changed. He stared

the forest, haven't y

froze mid-re

to, too. Before

dropped li

ou told me she died. T

e woods. One morning she walked beyond the lantern pos

urned. "And y

"But you were born under a blood moon, Aria. I've al

swal

r?" she asked. "W

e the trees had eyes. And they

d down her spine

er didn'

ria returned to

t. Her feet car

smell of moss and rain filled the air. And the mom

nd was

quietly,

rustled

-mov

etween th

be an anim

round. "Wh

le

ching grew heavier.

were

the hollows, among the shadows. She co

lloped. "Sho

through the forest.

backe

ed although the

n she s

ey

ir

lf-seen silhouettes clinging to the trees

whispered, "You'

the sound-but n

the t

the

rned a

er breathing shallow gasps. But as soon as her feet hit the hard dirt roa

not follow be

of worry on her face. "Aria! What's wro

d," Aria pant

e and sat her down in a chai

othing for

e barely above a whisper. "They'

d. "Waiting

thing different. S

hair back. "Then don't let them choose

I get to choose. The prophecy already gave me a name. The

ourself yet," Lila sa

nd. And deep inside, s

more to

her he

nnection than even

, the drea

he center of t

s now wo

glowed lik

od barefoot on a carpet of fallen

ture wa

ma

ling below his jaw. Golden eyes burning wit

zed he

she didn't

un again?"

you," she replied. "I w

ew ne

around them

eathed. "You were once the moon to my hunt. The fire t

if I don't

lose she could feel t

'll rem

ched h

d with it, som

, a bone crown, and the voice of her screaming

oke ga

collar glowed like

in the

s kept