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They left on a hunt, and I drew my legs up, swiping at the wetness left by the first wolf. She’d licked right over the mark on my upper right thigh. The dark stain on my skin that looked like a sharp-tipped crescent moon.
When I’d first noticed it, I’d hoped it would trigger a memory.
But it never had.
And now, it was just a mark.
Something I couldn’t wash off. Something that didn’t mean anything.
Sighing, I rested my chin on my knees as the three wolves slinked into the swaying grass beyond the small forest, sparkling silver in the moonlight. They vanished into the thickets until even their spiral horns were no longer visible.
Scurries and squeaks of prey getting out of their way lifted to my ears, twining with the ever-present sounds of singing crickets, hooting owls, and chirping bats.
I stayed there for hours.
I enjoyed the solitude because I had company at my back. I relaxed in peace because it’d been so long since I’d had any. As the moon slowly sank from its pinnacle, giving way to a lighter sky, my gaze locked onto a plume of smoke as it danced heavy and languid in the distance.
Far, far away.
Across the plains.
Something shifted in my chest.
A sudden urge to run in that direction.
I hated fire.
I always had.
So why did all my instincts suddenly nudge me toward it instead of away?
Raising my chin, I sniffed the air.
Soot and char...the telltale flavour of flames.
What’s burning?
Fear fluttered in my heart for my new wolfen family. Fire was the only enemy they could not fight. I’d come across it once while I’d trudged in my endless journey, and it’d almost killed me.
I still carried the scars where the fire had kissed my ankles and calves as I’d run.
So why, having experienced the painful kiss of flames, did I shiver with need? A desperate kind of need filled with a desperate kind of longing?
I climbed to my feet, fighting against the unbearable urge to go.
Standing on the cave’s ledge as the ashy, smoky flavour drifted closer, the mark on my thigh began to itch. I slapped a hand over it, wincing as if I was back in that burning forest with blazing leaves branding me.
Looking down, I scratched at the mark, drawing dirty fingernails over the crescent shape, willing it to stop tingling.
For a single breath, I swore it gleamed as silver as the waning moon above.
But then the discomfort stopped.
It no longer gleamed.
I dropped my hand.
And my eyes once again strayed to the fire in the distance, drawn to it, summoned by it, losing myself to thoughts I couldn’t remember.
Chapter Seven
. Girl .
NIYA SAT ME NEXT TO her, the fire casting us in warmth, the smiles of the Nhil people inquisitive and welcoming. Night had fallen, and the full moon that was the cause of the feast shone brightly as the honoured guest.
I didn’t say much as people laughed, joked, and passed around wooden cups full of purple liquid. A long pipe of sweet-smelling smoke was also passed around, releasing fragrant clouds into the night sky as men and women took a turn, sucking in smoke before tipping their heads back with ecstasy.
A man across the fire caught my stare.
Unlike the many members of his clan, he didn’t have many plaits. He wore his hair shaved on the sides with the top weaved in one thick braid down his back. His ebony chest glowed with flames, dancing over the ashy ink scribed into his shoulders and down his arms. I’d seen a similar design on Solin’s hands and curiosity nudged me to know what it meant. Even Niya had an inked motive running from her middle finger, up the back of her hand, and linking around her wrist.
I narrowed my eyes at her marks, trying to understand.
She caught me looking.
“What’s that?” I reached out to stroke the slightly raised scars with their inky-silvery colouring. I froze before I touched her, shocked that I’d done such a thing.
She raised her arm, twirling her fingers proudly. “When we come of age, we all undergo a spirit ceremony.” Stroking her wrist, she circled a finger around a symbol that looked like an intricate dragonfly. “Along with your naming ceremony when you are a babe, the spirit ceremony is for when you are old enough to know what creature is most in-tune with you. Solin asks the fire to guide him on what dwells within your spirit.”
Rolling her shoulders, she dropped her hand back into her lap. “Once your creature is named, the ashes of the same fire that gave such knowledge is used to mark us, so everyone knows our true nature.”
My eyes widened as I studied her sooty marks. My heart pounded for the beauty of such a thing, all while my stomach clenched for my own guardian.
To never be alone.
