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His eyebrows raised when my gaze made it back to his eyes. “Good. We’ll share a drink later to celebrate. But right now, we need to collect the money and clear out.”

Lu joined us, wiping a bloodstained blade on his pants. “ Are you good, Dove? ” His question echoed in my head.

“I’m perfectly fine,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant and not think about the fact that I’d killed someone. Now wasn’t the time to listen to Lu brooding over my safety.

“Are you hurt?”

“None of this is my blood,” I assured him.

“Lucius, if you two are about done,” Nico said, interrupting our silent conversation, “I assume everything has been taken care of?”

“Yes. Sawyer’s collecting the goods. There’s more than we expected. Carrying all of it home will be quite the feat. I think we’re just waiting on Jase. He’s taking his damn time collecting Johan’s pawn.”

“Don’t let me hold you up, Lu,” Jase snarked, stepping out from the bushes, the torchlight catching on his naked body.

A pining ache resonated in my chest at the sight of him.

He hadn’t touched me since that first night.

He’d barely even spoken to me. And that damn bond that tethered me to him felt like a vice around my heart, desperate to pull us together. I absently wondered if he felt it too.

“Where’s the emissary?” Nico grumbled.

“My bear got a little too excited. But don’t worry—I didn’t kill him until after he spilled his guts,” Jase said, rolling his shoulders and tilting his head until his neck cracked.

“Are you serious? You knew we wanted him alive and yet you killed him anyway? Why the fuck are we bringing you on missions if you can’t follow orders?

” Lucius barked. His patience with Jase was thin—bordering on nonexistent—and he took every opportunity to scrutinize his actions.

I’d have to broach the subject with him at some point.

I was getting tired of all this dick measuring between the two of them.

“That wasn’t the plan,” Nico huffed. “But at least fill us in on what you found out?”

“It was blood money. Johan was paying the House of Lycaon to get the nobles to increase conscription numbers.”

“More conscripts? Damn, I think we’ve hit a nerve!” Luca laughed. “I bet Johan’s squirming in that stolen throne as we speak. It’s almost time, brothers.”

“Does that mean we’re close? To getting Finn and Hunter out?” I asked.

I hated the hesitant glances that passed between them. I wasn’t sure how long I could handle Hunter’s screams bleeding into my dreams. It was eating me alive.

“I need to get them back,” I whispered, more to myself than anyone else. “Every second they’re in that place feels like I’m failing them.”

Nico’s hand found my shoulder—warm and solid. “We’re close. I swear it. Just a little longer. Lunavale is within the week. I’d like to have a feast, to honor the day. We’ll plan to hit the heart of Mathenholm after we’ve taken a moment to celebrate.”

“We should move to strike on Lunavale,” Jase challenged. “Everyone will be celebrating. They’ll be at their weakest.”

“And we should put our blind faith in you? The one who can’t even follow a simple order?” Lu growled, stepping up to Jase, the two standing chest to chest.

“Perhaps I’m not the type to follow orders,” Jase barked, shoving Lucius back.

“Enough!” Nico bellowed. “We are at war. We don’t need to be fighting with each other. Jase, we’re waiting until after we honor Lunavale. The people need this. And Lu… learn to choose your battles. Now, Michaela and I are late for drinks, and I much prefer her company over the lot of you.”

“What’s Lunavale?” I asked Maxfield, breaking the silence.

Our lesson today consisted of sitting in a quiet spot and meditating.

The calm of nature was supposed to help me connect with my magic—or some ridiculousness he’d come up with.

I think he just wanted to take a nap in the woods and this was his way of accomplishing that without pissing off Lu.

A dull hazel eye popped open beneath a wildly bushy eyebrow. “I’m not here for a history lesson. I’m sure your princes are well versed in that.”

“Oh, come on. I know it has something to do with magic, so technically that’s your area,” I said, trying to sound convincing.

The celebration was in a few days and the camp was teeming with excitement.

I’d overheard more than a few rumors, but there hadn’t been a moment for me to ask Fallon.

Nor did I want to bother the others with my curiosities while everyone was so busy.

“This is why you’ve learned nothing. You refuse to listen.” He slammed his one eye shut again, rearranging his robes before setting his hands back on his knees.

“You’re not teaching me anything. I’ll never break the Tribulation if all we do is listen to the birds in the forest. I want to learn about magic.”

“And I want to go home and be left alone. There! I guess neither of us gets what we want,” he grumbled, pulling himself up from the ground and ambling back toward Whisperhold. “Lesson’s over.”

“I’ll make you a deal. Tell me about Lunavale and I’ll send Maeve to fetch you for our next meeting instead of Lucius.”

That stopped him in his tracks. He turned around, scrutinizing me from under those bushy eyebrows.

“Ugh, fine. The only good thing about Lunavale is the serviceberry pie. But I’ll grant you three questions. To the point, and don’t be vague.”

“Well, for starters, what exactly are we celebrating?”

“Lunavale is the day the Divine wove the bond that connected the people of Hiraeth with our beasts. The night the first four were born into existence. It is said that the spirit of the first shifters cross the veil to watch over their descendants.”

“You mean the four houses, right? And what exactly are they watching?”

“Yes, the original four shifters make up the royal houses that exist in Hiraeth today. This isn’t just a festival—it’s a reckoning.

A time to show strength and honor—the primal nature we were born to.

It’s very primitive. Those who prove their dominance in the eyes of the founding ancestors will be blessed in the coming year. ”

“So what about?—”

“Ah, ah. That was three questions. We’re done.”

“It was not! I was confirming what I already knew. That’s not a question.”

“You are insufferable, child. One more blasted question and no amount of sweet talk will keep me from leaving.”

“I heard there was a… chase?” I asked, my cheeks flushing as I thought of the females recounting the prior year’s celebration. Nothing I wanted to verbalize to Maxfield, but I had to know if it was true.

“Ah yes, the Villrenna. The wild run. It is a mating chase. Males chase down their prospective female and, well… for those that manage to catch their prize, nature takes its course. But,” he continued, his gaze flicking to me, “when it’s a fated bond, it becomes something else.

Something sacred. The land joins in the binding.

Villrenna isn’t just tradition—it’s life.

The magic in the soil, in the wind, in the very roots of the trees.

When the fated run the wild together, the realm awakens to witness it.

And when the bond is sealed…” He smiled like he’d seen it once and never forgotten.

“You’re not just tied to each other. You’re bound to Hiraeth itself. ”

I may have been in a peaceful grove, but my heart was racing as if I was already being chased.

“Thank you, Maxfield. Maybe next time I can barter for some actual instruction on how to use my magic?”

The old shifter harrumphed as I wrapped my arm with his, my mind whirling with possibilities.

“You’re buttering me up for something,” he muttered, eyeing me from beneath his bushy grey brows. “I’m not blind, child. Or deaf.”

“Can’t I be nice?” I asked, giving him my best innocent smile. As much as Maxfield tried to hide behind that grumpy demeanor, I could tell he was softening toward me.

He grumbled again but didn’t pull away as we walked back to Whisperhold.

“So,” I said as casually as I could manage, “how long does sprite ash usually last? A full vial, I mean?”

I was pushing my luck asking another question, but I was burning through the ash quicker than I expected. With all the festivities and the possibility of rescuing Finn and Hunter soon—I had to be prepared. My vial was getting uncomfortably low.

Maxfield stopped to glare at me. “The vial I gave you, if properly used, should last you a year. Maybe longer if you’re not being wasteful. How much have you been using, child?”

I blinked as panic washed over me. “Me? Oh… only when I really need it. I have plenty left. I was only curious… you know, for the next time.”

He eyed me for a long time, as if measuring the truth of my words. My hands began to fidget under the scrutiny.

“Good,” he finally said, turning again toward the cabin. “Sprite ash contains potent magic. It’s nothing to be trifled with. But a smart girl like you would already know that.”