Page 232 of May: Bloom & Bane

I know that voice. I know both of those voices.

“Sage?” I yell uselessly against the vast white distance. “Ashán?!”

I spin toward the meadow, my heart slamming against my ribs. The baby gives a sharp kick.

The sound that echoes back isn’t a reply. It’s a roaring, guttural scream. I take a frantic step back toward them. “Sage! I’m here. I just⁠—”

The fox lunges, his jaws snapping shut around my boot, tugging me deeper into the snow. He lets out a panicked whine, his pale eyes wide as he stares past my shoulder.

“Let go!” I try to wrench my foot free, but he doesn’t give. “Something’s wrong! I have to go back. Those are my mates!”

He whines high in his throat and doubles down, pulling harder.

The scream rolls across the snow again, closer now. The baby kicks frantically. The fox goes still, his ears swiveling toward the snow ahead of us. The hair on my arms rises.

A massive figure steps out from between the trees. He is a mountain of a creature draped in thick white fur. A great rack of antlers curves up from his head, branching toward the sky. And his eyes, as pale as the fox’s, are fixed on me. I have never seen anything like him. Or the way he simply appeared out of the snow with no sound at all.

“Hello, Anya.” He tilts his antlered head and takes one slow step toward me. “Your sister has been waiting for you.”

CHAPTER 67

it’s sort of our whole thing

He offers a large, claw-tipped hand to me.

“I don’t have a sister.”

“You do,” he says. “She has grieved you twice. I will not make her wait a third time.”

“My name isn’t Anya. My name is Eden.” I wrap my arms around my belly.

He studies me as snow gathers on his antlers. “It is now.”

“I need to get back to my mates. I never meant to come this far.”

“Eden, I know you can read me.” He crouches beside me. “I judge souls. And yours is just as beautiful as Lumi said it would be. I know you can feel me. So tell me… am I lying?”

I already know he’s not. That’s what makes this so hard. There isn’t an ounce of deceit anywhere inside him. There is nothing but the unwavering love for my sister, and the truth.

“You are her mate?” I ask.

“I am—across two lifetimes.”

“Where is she?”

“She sent me the moment I felt you at the border.”

“Why wouldn’t she come?”

“I wouldn’t let her.”

“Let?” A gust cuts across the clearing, and I pull my coat tighter.

“That’s correct.” He smiles. “She may be your sister. But she is my soulbond, and she had a very rough delivery a few months ago. She is still recovering. And Eirlys is too small to bring out in this weather for too long.”

“Eirlys… I have a niece?”

“You do. And if we’re not back soon, Lumi will ignore me and come to look for us both.”