ing, but the cold clung to t

he hearth behind her, but its warmth felt distant, unable to touch the chill that had settled into her bones. She hadn't slep

't looked at her wi

d at her with

t to consider w

no low murmurs, not even the sound of Cale

ip of her tea and

d want someth

, a single brow arched. Her thick braids were pulled back loose

hear you,"

at not bei

noti

seat across from her. She placed a small

t's

"Warms the blood. Calms th

d took a sip, then coughed,

ed faintly.

r smile

to the grove

idn't

tay away. There's old magic there. Dangerous, buried deep.

murmured. "An

sharpened.

wly. "And I thi

led. "Then

at

om the Luna line," Maren

-

thing below looked untouched, clean and serene but he could feel the shift beneath it. The moment Eira had t

it, he cou

edge of his senses, not yet a bond,

it before it

it anch

it un

ps appr

iding her,"

urn. "I'm watch

sacred ground, touched the Moonstone, saw the First Luna,

old. "I'm cautious.

k she's a

apped. "Not just to us. To a

arms. "Including

ooked at him. "S

Cale said. "Because the

-

d herself in the manor's

hat stretched to the ceiling. Books in English, Latin, and othe

a locked glass case. Inside, a single book rested

s landed on it, he

nking, her

k click

than the air around it, as though it had been waiting in ice. When she opened it,

the Ol

turned on

e: Luna

flipped, not written, but revealed

nt moons, women cloaked in bone and frost, silver-eyed

it all, wa

s con

ays

ands

supposed to

voice mad

the doorway,

It called to me. Like

readable. "The Luna Codex doesn't cal

et his eyes.

t her for a

aid quietly. "To

-

ried a different sound.

ack had begun to burn-not painfully, but persistently, like a flam

ent glowe

ething else

glass, fanned out beneath the mark. They

back, panic

't under

dn't w

ouldn't e

dded barefoot into the moonlit courtyard behind the manor

nto the cente

r thic

n felt

with something s

n, she

hroat, rage, confusion, g

a burst of energy that cracked the air. Trees groa

to her kne

hispered to the night. "I

n't ei

was soft

he edge of the frost ring,

oached

udgm

f

nderst

his," he said gentl

s like a

t. One always com

trembling hands. "I fee

ed beside her

ling. You're remem

eyes l

em pulsed, full of

to face this a

. "I don't know how

o be anything..ye

shakily. "An

d around her wrist,

l breathe

-

woods, a figure emer

hed in the snow, inspe

ma

ile curle

e Luna

lowing, and let out a g

to his

ll t