(Calla's POV)The air was thinner here, pine-smelling and cold. Each time I trekked these hills to the cottage of the old seer, it was another world.Freya marched alongside me in her characteristically calm way, but I could feel the inquiry humming under her skin. We had both been through so much, and yet here we were again, seeking answers.Asher's gentle laughter arose in my memory, the way he'd been racing Rowan around the courtyard that day. He had been okay, his cheeks flushed, his eyes bright, but a mother remembers what she witnesses. That fever.The frailty. How his tiny hands had clung to me. Even now, months later, the recollection could leave me breathless.I shifted the basket in my arms, loaded with offerings the seer would never refuse: a bouquet of Freya's garden herbs, honey from the bees of our pack, a small silver coin Asher had insisted on including "for good luck."Freya glanced over at me. "You're not saying much.""I'm thinking," I said softly."About him?" she
Last Updated : 2025-09-30 Read more