The Runaway Luna

RL'

g, her boots whispering again

bout to

ozen. I slide my fingers under the guard's cloak, gripping the key he

the river, and if Bisca catches sight of the blood on the bracket an

n, giving in to the chain, because I'd rather be chained than shot by Ale

door, Kaela listened intently as she whispered orchard secrets near my ear. Her soft hands brushed my hair whi

ceremony, wrap me in ribbons, and feed me the hope that Aleric would choose

me. I see her tilt her head, her hair perfectly groomed, while mine reeks of the stables. "Don't

ribbon tight enough to choke me. I can see the sparkle in

augh together, and Bisca leaned in close to my siste

nge above me groans again. Is it open or closed? Has she realized the cuffs ar

more chains and no

e tunnel roots and my palms burni

vers it or not, I

wind bites my skin. I climb as Frost

eeps through the guard's borrowed clo

into a cold stone, and my mo

can't drag you bac

st chuckles

cratch my calf before I tumble to the other side. My hands sink into frost-burne

bones. "Pearl," Aleric says, his tone as welcoming as grave soil, and steel slide

ike old ice as

k: Gulli

chard, with Bisca's head resting on my lap and the

here, Bisca." She patiently braided my

I betrayed you, Pearl.

tarving pup licking the

p cut into my back for the first time, Bisca was there at the foot

er, Pearl. Then Kaela woul

nto thinking my secrets and hers were safe. I shared every bruise an

ike Aleric's arrow bein

so desperate for voices that didn't s

e ghostly fingers, and the border stones are so close I can tast

old muck as I stumble an

s closer, and it m

eaks; the string is

y wrists like a broken promise, and mu

the tree, narrowly missing my ear. Pain blooms behind my e

e! I'm st

rtun's wolf crest, looms as I struggle on. My knees burn

the stillness behind me, an

arl. Run, crawl;

first stone. The hiss of the arrow slices through the s

re my throat should've ble

give it one last push. My stomach rubs against gran

the orchard are choking, and I can fe

ed to stop. The rules of Vartun demand blood from thos

el d

colla

ost nips at my ears. It's th

I'm fina

fur-lined leather; the wolf beside him perks u

t time in ages, I feel the

ntly brushes the f

of winter and iron

?" His voice carries the weight of o

ps, and steam rises from its nostrils. It exposes its fangs

somewhere, Kaela's scream muffled by

in. He tilts my face toward the moon. I can see hi

t something precious tonight.'" His

lly spit out what

uld ask, "W

eak, the silence sl

arp like fresh bone, and the wolf's

he whispers. "

s behind me like a dream I no longer be