Chapter 4

Celine pulled the deed out first and burned it to ash with the moonfire in her palm.

Delia had seen only the words "Council registration," but her face darkened at once. "Who gave you permission to apply for travel clearance?"

"It's competition paperwork." Celine ground the ash to powder. "I'll come back when the review is over."

Gavin was about to press further when the summoning bell rang out over the Ancestral Fire square. Today was the solstice moon feast, and it was also the birth moon Celine and Cassandra shared. Redridge had to finish the heir trial before sundown, and every hunter was required to be there.

They forgot the tidesalt case soon enough.

The square was covered in pink-silver flowering branches, and the only thing at the center of the long table was a cake shaped like a moon crown. Cassandra sat in the heir's seat and took the blessings while Celine stood outside the fire ring. The announcer did not even read her name.

Rafe brought a blackwood box. Inside it was a Moon Goddess crown, its center set with a stone that changed color with Cassandra's scent.

"There's only one of these in all of Blackwood territory," he said.

Cassandra's eyes reddened slightly. "But today is Celine's birth moon too."

Rafe looked as though he had only just remembered. He pulled a blank charm from the packing material and held it out to Celine. "You can carve any design you like."

The blank charm was nothing more than a spacer meant to keep the crown from shifting in its box.

In her last life Celine had worn it for four years, telling herself an unfinished gift at least proved he had thought of her. This time she did not take it. She let it drop into the fire basin, where it melted into a bead of dark liquid.

Rafe frowned. "Do you have to spoil today?"

"A giveaway nobody wanted. Is throwing it out really spoiling anything?"

Silence fell around the fire ring. Cassandra rose quickly to smooth things over. "This is my fault. I want today to feel fair. Celine just passed her novice hunter trial, so why not let her lead the Moonshadow Hunt? The winner can ask Father for one wish."

She handed Celine a route token and pressed her finger lightly against its face.

Celine caught a very faint smell of bitter almond. Wolfsbane resin.

In her first life, Celine had missed the scent. Once the Moonshadow Hunt began, poison seeped through the lines of her palm. She lost control midshift and plunged down a rocky slope. Everyone blamed her lack of skill.

This time Celine did not refuse. She needed the poison to leave behind a source that could be tested.

The horn sounded, and she led the hunters into the Moon Wood. By the third marker, wolfsbane was searing through her veins. She deliberately pressed her palm to a warden's record stone, then sealed the route token inside the evidence pouch at her waist.

Her inner wolf battered against her bones, and darkness closed around the edges of her vision. She gritted her teeth and stopped on a safe stretch of the slope—just as someone slammed into her from behind.

Cassandra's alarmed voice came from above. "Celine, look out!"

She fell down the rock slope and her back struck a boulder hard. The poison broke loose completely and silver-black lines raced from her wrist toward her heart.

The healer in the healing den went white after the examination. "This is concentrated wolfsbane. Her wolf soul is turning on her. Only heart-moon essence from an heir of the same bloodline can neutralize it now."

Warren pushed Cassandra behind him without thinking. "How much would you take?"

"A sliver. It wouldn't put her life at risk, but she couldn't take part in the heir trials for a month."

Delia shook her head at once. "No. Cassandra is the Redridge heir and there are three pack assemblies after the solstice."

Gavin said, "Celine's wolf soul always heals itself. Give it time."

Celine lay on the moonstone slab, each breath tasting of blood. She looked at Rafe.

He held her icy hand. Conflict showed plainly in his eyes, but in the end he only told the healer, "Try something else first. We can't diminish the heir's essence."

At that moment, Celine understood that a second life did not make the pain any less.

It only stopped her from lying to herself about it.