“Walk with me, child,” Lavinia murmured.
Dani wanted to run.
She wanted to grab Aurelia and sprint back through the woods until the mountains swallowed them whole. She wanted to pretend she had never heard Arthur’s voice again, never feltthe mate bond slam into her like a blow, never seen the way he looked at her daughter.
Our daughter.
Her stomach twisted.
But Lavinia’s hand was gentle, cool, and sure on her arm.
Dani moved.
Because she didn’t have a choice.
Aurelia clung to her side, tremors running down her small body. “Mom….”
“It’s okay, Auri,” Dani said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “You’re staying with me.”
Her daughter gulped, her expression tight and scared, nothing like her normal boisterous self. Dani’s heart cracked.
“Is he…what he said…about me…”
Dani pressed a kiss into her hair. “I will explain everything, I promise.”
Aurelia looked up at her, big blue eyes swimming with tears. “So it’s true?”
She heaved in a breath, panic clawing at the edges of her control. Her daughter. Her beautiful, brave, perfect daughter. “Oh, Auri….”
“Aurelia,” Lavinia’s voice was like water over stone, “stay with Edith and the others. I need to talk to your mother.”
Aurelia gripped her arm tighter, shaking her head fiercely. “No, I don’t want to!” Her voice was ragged, on the edge of breaking, her breath coming hard and fast. Dani knelt instantly, uncaring about the snow soaking through her jeans.
“Auri, Auri, look at me,” she said, placing her hands on her shoulders, gripping her tight. “I know this is scary, I know it’s a lot to take in. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I wanted to protect you from it, I don’t—”
She choked over her words, shoulders trembling as she looked into her daughter’s watery gaze.
The pain there, the panic, the betrayal…
It threatened to bowl her over.
“Come now, child,” Lavinia said, kindly, placing a hand on Aurelia’s back, “there will be time enough for explanations.”
Robotically, Aurelia turned and followed Lavinia’s nudge towards the rest of the witches, leaving Dani’s hands hovering in the empty air where they had been holding her daughter’s shoulders. She watched woodenly as Aurelia turned towards the wolves.
Towards Arthur.
He wasn’t looking at either of them, but she could tell by the set of his jaw, the flint in his eyes, that he could hear them. He knew the distress his actions caused.
And he didn’t care.
Dani stood, her legs stiff as ice, not taking Lavinia’s hand. The older witch didn’t flinch. She just turned towards the trees, gliding towards them with impossible grace, knowing that Dani would stagger after her.
A low, sharp whistle sounded. Several hulking wolves, both Volkhov and Nordan, fell into step some distance from them. Far enough away that they could pretend they had privacy. Close enough that they knew they were surrounded.
Lavinia paid them no heed. Dani, on the other hand, flinched whenever one moved too close, whenever she glimpsed a flash of sharp tooth or curving claw. She had never gotten used to the enormous beasts, despite making peace that she would never be one of them years ago. They wouldn’t harm her. Not without Arthur’s command.
A shiver ran over her skin, and she ran a few steps to catch up with the High Sister.
