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“And?”
“And what.”
“Whoever it was attacked me… he said the Moon Children had no Princess.”
“And they don’t. They followmebecause I’m their Alpha. They’ll still respect you while you’re here, don’t worry about that.”
“I was ambushed in the forest. That doesn’t sound like respect.”
“On the contrary. One of our young wolves decided to challenge you… that tells me a few things. One, the wolf you faced is questioning his place in the pack, and in our world. And two, he thought you were a worthy enough opponent that he’d earn honor and respect by defeating you.”
“Don’t you mean kill me?”
Radulf smiled. “What happened there was a rite of passage. For him, and for you. You wanted to come to our village. Now, you’ve spilled blood at our shores… for the first time in your life, Amara, you’ve entered the village of the Moon Children as one of us.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Welcomehome,little sister.”
“I guess that makes me feel a bit better,” I said. “I hope he doesn’t try to kill me in my sleep, though.”
“He won’t. His pride has been hurt, he’s still one of the runts of the pack, so he’ll have to find someone else to challenge.”
“That challenge has to be a wolf, right?” Tallin ventured.
A pause.
“Right?” Tallin prompted.
“No,” Radulf said, a cheeky grin on his face. “They can’t challenge you.”
My stomach rumbled as we reached the bottom of the hill. Already I could hear the sounds of life coming from the village itself. There were Fae here, thousands of them living their lives. Some were skinning the flesh off fresh kills, while others cooked the meat from their bones. There were children too, zipping around tents playing tag, and hide and seek.
Everyone I looked at had a wary expression to give me, which made a change from total and utter adoration. Radulf, on the other hand, was met with a slight turning up of the neck, followed by a tug on the collar of whatever top they were wearing.
It was a symbol of submission, of reverence for their Alpha.
A slight nod from Radulf was all it took for the Fae to go back to whatever they had been doing before they had crossed paths with him. There was no conversation, no requests for a blessing, and no running off to tell their families they had just seen the Princess, or the King, or the Queen.
There was an undercurrent of quiet respect that moved through this place, and I absolutely loved it.
Radulf showed Tallin and me to his large, main tent, the entrance to which was flanked by tall, strong looking Fae covered in war paint and markings. They nodded at their Alpha as we went past and moved through the curtains to get inside. Already I could smell food. Hot food. My stomach rumbled again.
“Take a seat,” Radulf said, “Make yourself comfortable.”
Before me was a long, black, furry carpet made from the skin of what looked like a massive, dead bear. Its substantially large head was mounted at the top of the tent, overlooking the gathering area on which the rug lay. There were bean bags here, small tables with bowls filled with dried fruits on them, and it was warm, too—far warmer than I would have expected, considering this was a tent.
“Are you sure?” I asked, “Won’t people get weird about me being here?”
“Relax, Amara. Like I said, you’re home. I will go and fetch you both something to eat.”
“Thank you,” Tallin said, taking a seat on one of the bean bags and making himself comfortable. I nodded at my brother and joined Tallin, sitting opposite him and allowing my muscles and bones to relax. I hadn’t realized how much pain I was in until I sat down. After a moment, I didn’t think I would be able to get up again.
“You look tense,” Tallin said. “Tenser than usual.”
“I think he’s going to send me back…” I said. “I hope it’s not true, but I just have a feeling.”
“Let’s just… see what happens, okay?”
I nodded, and out of the corner of my eye, I caught a fluttering of strange, green light. When I turned to look at it, it was gone. I could still hear it, though—it was like a twinkle, a weird, almost sparkling sound. I felt a tug along the back of my head, and when I ran my hand through my hair, I felt something, only I wasn’t sure what.
“What… the hell?” I asked, as I tried to make sense of what I was touching.
