“The moon children. They are lost without you, and I fear after the next battle, there won’t be enough of them left to rebuild the tribe.”
“I don’t understand… what battle?”
“Your arrival has set into motion a chain of events that can’t be stopped. Soon, the moon children will rally to attack the castle once more. Without you, they will most certainly fail.”
“But…” I looked up at my father, then back at my mother. “Why me? Why am I so special?”
“You are the white wolf, Dahlia. I know you can feel it.” She pressed a hand against my heart. “You are the only one who can bring light to the darkness, and save the moon children from obliterating themselves.”
“Are you telling me I have to attack Windhelm?”
They gave each other hard looks. “I told you she would have trouble with this,” my father said.
“Now is not the time for an I told you so, Michael,” she said, then she looked down at me again. “I cannot tell you what is going to happen in the coming weeks, I only know what the emissary told me. It told me you were the white wolf, and that the tribe would kill you if I left you with them. You had to leave, and then come back and prove yourself before they would accept you. Only then would you be able to help them.”
“That isn’t exactly the way Toross explained it to me.”
“I didn’t tell him everything. I couldn’t. There was a chance he would’ve gone against my wishes if I had told him who you would grow up to become. If he had chosen to bring you back to the others, they would’ve killed you.”
I shook my head. “But if fate has already decided what’s going to happen, then he was never going to bring me back to them, right?”
“Fate is a scribe that is always writing. It cannot compel a person to act a certain way. In the end, the choices they make are always theirs, and then destiny is written anew. Without you the moon children will end, and darkness will reign. But you have the power to change that.”
“Even if that’s true, I can’t stay with them… I have to help the Prince.”
A soft, blue light bloomed into existence near the tree where I had seen it the first time. My mother looked over at it, and frowned. “I don’t have much time, Dahlia. I know you are being asked to do many things, but they are all connected. The moon children, the Prince, the Veridian, and the King. Everything is linked, their fates are in your hands, but only you can make the choices.”
“If you leave them now,” my father said, “Ashera will believe she was right in calling you a false prophet. It will enrage her and she will take the children to the castle and attack out of anger. That has already been written.”
“But if you stay,” my mother said, “If you prove to them that you are the white wolf, the one who will lead them out of the dark, she will listen to you. They all will.”
“What about the Prince?”
She took a deep breath and exhaled. “You know he is at the core of this. He is the one that will bring the darkness to the world.”
I paused, watching her carefully. “What happens to him?”
My mother shook her head. “I cannot answer that.”
“Can’t, or won’t?”
“Dahlia…”
“Please, mother… I need to know.”
My father nodded. “Tell her,” he pushed.
She shut her eyes. “He carries within him the heart of darkness itself. You have to kill him to save them.”
“Kill him?!” I shrieked, and that seemed to anger the ball of light because it blossomed and grew rapidly, and then it got angry. Instead of hovering quietly, it became a wild, whirling storm that roared and screamed and tugged at my hair.
My father held onto us both, and my mother dug her heels into the snow to keep it from pulling them toward it—it didn’t seem to have an effect on me. “Dahlia, the choices are yours,” she said, raising her voice over the roar of the vortex. “If you don’t help them, the moon children—our people—are doomed to die.”
“I can’t kill the Prince!” I yelled.
“You have to choose. Them, or him!”
I tried to keep hold of my parents, but they were slipping away. “Mum!” I yelled, “Dad!”
“We love you,” my father yelled, “Whatever you do, remember that. We love you, and we’re proud of you.”
The portal had grabbed them both, now. They were being sucked into it, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t hold onto them. “I love you too,” I yelled, “Don’t leave me again!”
My mother smiled at me, then let go of my hand and embraced my father. Together, they were sucked through the portal, which exploded as soon as they were through. Once I gathered my senses, I sat upright and yelled, “Mum!”
But I wasn’t in the same place anymore. It was day, and I was lying in a bed of flowers with a dagger in one hand and a box in the other. I wasn’t crying, but I was dizzy, and woozy, as if I’d just woken up from a deep sleep that had turned into a nightmare.
Toross kneeled at the edge of the flowers and looked over at me. “You saw her?” he asked.
“I… I did…”
“What did she say?”
I shook my head. “Nothing good.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Toross escorted me back to my tent, but I asked him to take me instead to Mira and Melina. He was a little reluctant at first, considering I still hadn’t answered his question about how I’d even come to be in Arcadia. Strangely, he didn’t put up too much resistance when I pressed the issue, and soon enough, he brought me to find the others.
Both of the women sitting in the tent perked up when I pulled the flap aside and stepped through. Mira’s eyes widened, and I noticed her gaze lock with Toross’ for an instant. After lingering for a moment too long, Toross finally moved away from the opening to the tent and gave us a little privacy.
With a flash of green light, Gullie emerged from the back of my hand and had a little stretch before kicking up into the air and hovering nearby. “That was something of a trip, wasn’t it?” she asked.
“That’s a bit of an understatement,” I said.
“What happened?” Mira asked, frowning. You’ve been gone for hours.”
“Some stuff happened, but first—what was that?”
“That?”
“That look you just gave my uncle.”
She touched her hand to her chest. “Look? What look?”
Gullie grinned. “Busted,” she sang.
“Busted?!” Mira shrieked. “No such thing has happened.”
“Really?” I asked, “Because a couple of hours ago I saw you flirting up a storm with him.”
“You asked me to distract him, did you not?”
“I did, but—”
“—well, it’s not my fault that I ooze sexuality and confidence.” She turned her nose up. “Besides, I am many, many decades older than you are and can do what I want.”
I cocked a thumb over my shoulder. “Except him, understood?”
Mel’s eyebrow arched. “I don’t see how you get a say…”
I placed a hand on my hip. “What does that mean?”
A strange, tense silence filled the room. “Really?” she asked, “The glow all over your face speaks volumes about what you got up to earlier.”
My cheeks flared hot and red. “Glow? What glow?”
Gullie pointed at my face. “That glow. Your sex glow.”
“Gull!” I yelped.
“What?” she shrugged, “I was just trying to clear things up.”
“Well, thanks, I really appreciate that.”
Mira pressed her palm to her face. “Tell me you didn’t.”
I stared at her, trying to regain a little of my composure. “I… don’t see how that’s any of your business,” I said, “And yes, I realize the irony of saying that. But supposing it was your business, why is it a bad thing?”
“Because the Royal Selection isn’t over.”
I looked around the room. “Mira, we’re in a tent
, far away from the castle. I would say it’s over.”
She shook her head. “You wrote your name on the frost stone, so the selection must be completed. Remember?”
“Oh… no, I guess I didn’t. But how can the selection continue? We’re not going back.”
“I don’t know, but when it’s over, if you don’t win…”
Fate will rewrite itself, and I won’t be his soulmate anymore. She didn’t say it, but she didn’t have to. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that the selection needed to be completed. I’d assumed it was done. It didn’t change the way I felt about him, though. It also didn’t take away the hunger growing in the pit of my stomach.
But was that enough to risk what would happen if he continued to live?
“Alright, look,” I said, “I didn’t come here to talk about what I did or didn’t do with the Prince.”
“Is this about the plan?” Mel asked. “Because I’ve been thinking—”
“—I can’t leave.”
She paused, looked at Mira, then back at me. “What? Why not?”
I shook my head. “Something happened just now. Toross took me out to a garden somewhere behind the village and… I saw my parents.”
“You saw your parents?” Mira asked.
“In a vision or something,” I said, “But it was so real… it wasn’t like a dream at all. You forget your dreams, but this, I haven’t forgotten a single second of what happened. I don’t think I ever will.” A tear threatened to spill down the side of my cheek as the emotions started bubbling up again. I caught it and held myself together. “I talked to them.”
Another paused moved through the room, but this one was tense, dark, and serious. “Let me make sure I understand this,” Mira said, “Because we never established what happened to your parents.”
“I never had it established for me,” I said, swallowing the catch in my throat. “But now I know, they’re dead. They’ve been dead… for as long as I’ve been alive.”
“And you spoke to their spirits?”
I nodded. “Something like that.” I was still holding the box in my hands, and I showed it to them now. Opening it, I revealed the dagger inside. “This was my mother’s. Touching it triggered some ancient spell that allowed me to speak to them. It doesn’t work anymore. The magic’s gone.”
Gullie settled on my shoulder and touched the side of my neck. “Sorry.”
I smiled at her. “It’s okay,” I said. “I feel more at ease, now, knowing where they are, and who they were.”
“Who were they?” Mel asked.
I moved a little closer to the center of the tent and lowered my voice, as if I had a secret to tell them. “My mother was the Alpha of this place, of these people. I don’t want to say too much more because I don’t really know who’s listening.”
“Alpha? That’s big.”
“She also knew who I was, who I would become. I’m the white wolf, and I’m supposed to lead these people on a crusade against the castle, or they’re going to die. All of them.”
“Is this… true?” Mira asked, “Can it be verified?”
I shook my head. “I only have my mother’s word—or her ghost’s word, I guess. But I can feel it in my heart, I know it’s true. She said if I don’t help them, Ashera is going to lead an attack on the castle that’s going to end up killing them all, and there will be no moon children left.”
“Because these are the last…” Mel put in. “That was something I heard, once. They’d been all but exterminated.”
I nodded. “That’s why I can’t leave. Toross wants to train me, so I have to train and prove to them that I’m the white wolf, and then they’ll listen to me. They won’t follow Ashera toward the castle and throw themselves at death’s door for no reason.”
“Has fate not already decided that will happen?” Mira asked.
“My mother told me fate was a scribe that was always writing. That some things are written, that others are not, but that all can be changed depending on who makes what choice. My mother asked Toross to smuggle me away from the moon children and keep me away from them, but he could just as easily have chosen to come back and get me on his own. That would probably have resulted in my death, and then everything would be different right now.”
“But he didn’t,” Gullie said, “And that’s why fate wrote you into the Royal Selection. To put you on a path to collide with the Prince, the one with the heart of darkness inside of him.”
“Heart of darkness?” Mel asked.
“That’s the other thing my parents told me… but I don’t want to go into it right now. It’s just… it’s something I have to do or not do. A choice I have.”
Mira’s eyebrow arched. “What’s the choice?”
“If I make it, you’ll know.”
She frowned. “I thought we didn’t keep secrets, here.”
“If I tell you, and then you tell someone else, then everything changes. I can’t risk that.”
“Who am I going to tell?”
Mel nudged Mira with an elbow. “Toross?” she asked, grinning.
I jabbed a finger at her. “Don’t even joke about that.”
“If you’re trying to embarrass me,” Mira said, “It won’t work. I spent years training to be a custodian—my composure never breaks.”
“That’s a lie,” Gullie scoffed. “I’ve watched you melt the hell down before, and it’s hilarious.”
“Silence harpy,” Mira hissed.
“Hey, I thought we were passed that.”
“Well then, don’t make me reinstitute it.”
I waved my arms. “Can we get back on track, here?” I said, “I just wanted to tell you both that the plan is off. There’s something I have to go and do. I need to make that choice. One way or another, all I want is your support… please. Do I have it?”
Gullie floated over to the space between the three of us. “You’ve got me always,” she said.
Mel nodded. “I’ll support you,” she said, “I think I understand what’s happening here, and I know what you’re going through.”
“You do?”
She shrugged. “My family were commoners, and commoners know more about the wild winter than is taught at the castle. I know a bit about fate, prophecies, the moon children. Fate couldn’t have chosen a less prepared person to deal with all this, but that’s where we are.”
I frowned. “Thanks?”
“All I mean to say is, whatever you need from me, just ask.”
I turned to Mira hoping to find agreement, but finding the opposite. She didn’t seem convinced. My keeping the whole thing about the Prince from her was probably throwing her off, and I couldn’t blame her, but I couldn’t take the risk, either.
I knew she would want me to kill him. And if I couldn’t, she would do it herself. It wasn’t that she was evil, but she was a realist, and she carried within her that bitter coldness of the castle fae. It was thawing out, sure, but she still held onto that sense of cold logic.
“I don’t know if you are making the right decisions,” she said. “I fear everything that’s happened is clouding your judgment, and we both know your judgment wasn’t great to begin with.”
“I know,” I said, “But I had a great teacher. I learned a lot from you, and all I’m asking is for you to trust me to make the right decision now. Can you do that?”
“And if we all perish as a result?”
I shrugged. “Were you really planning on living forever?”
She cocked an eyebrow. “What kind of a question is that?”
“A simple one, if you think about it.” I came up to her. “You didn’t follow me all this way not to trust me now, here, with this.”
Mira frowned. “Fine,” she said, “You have my support. But if we all die, I’m blaming you.”
“If we all die, you can tease me about it for the rest of time.”
“Oh, I intend to, don’t you worry. I just hope you make the right choice, in the end.”
I stared at her eyes, then nodded. “Me too…” I trailed off. Then I turned to look at the tent flap. “Speaking of which, I guess there’s no time like the present.” I looked over at Gullie. “Do you mind waiting with Mira while I go and do this?”
“If it’s all the same,” Gullie said. “I’d like to hang out with Mel?”
“Me?” Melina asked.
“Yeah… you said you know a lot about pixies. There’s probably a bunch of stuff you can teach me that I don’t know.”
“But… you are a pixie.”
“I know. But I’m an exception to the rule, trust me. I spent about as much time on Earth as Dee did.” Gullie looked over at Mira. “As long as you don’t mind?”
Mira rolled her eyes. “No, I don’t mind.”
“Are you sure?” Gullie asked.
“You will not offend my sensibilities or hurt my feelings. I have plenty of things to keep myself busy with.”
Nodding, Gullie floated over into Mel’s hair. I, meanwhile, reached into the black box I’d been holding and pulled the dagger out. The weight of it felt good in my hand; light, but sturdy and deadly. I turned it over once, twice, then I held it behind my back.
“Is that part of your choice?” Mel asked.
I side-eyed her. “Do I really need to answer that question?”
“I suppose not… be careful.”
I nodded. “I will.”
Opening the flap, I headed out into the village and made my way over to the Prince’s tent. I was trembling. I hated the weight that had been put on my shoulders, but I had to do something. I still didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew I had to act now, before it was too late.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I found the Prince waiting exactly where I’d left him. Nobody stopped me, nobody asked where I was going, there were no armed guards by his tent. When I stepped inside, he turned to look at me. I scanned his eyes, trying to figure out whether he was Cillian or Radulf as my grip tightened around the handle of my dagger I had at my back.
My heart was pounding, adrenaline surging through me like waterfalls. I knew what I had to do; what choice lay ahead of me. The decision would’ve been easier to make if Radulf had been in control right now instead of Cillian, but when his expression softened and he took a hasty step toward me, I knew, it was him.
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