جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 84

Winter's hand drifted to her chest, pressing against where the mate bond sat. "Did you?" "No." The word came out flat. Final. "Lyra died of illness. A fever that swept through the palace. But Theron needed an excuse to eliminate a potential threat to his power, and grief makes people believe lies." Sophia's expression hardened. "He started with the obvious targets. Witches who lived in werewolf territories, who'd married wolves, who'd integrated into pack life. He called them traitors and collaborators." "Like my father," Winter said quietly. "Ronan protected me." Sophia's voice cracked slightly. "When the executions started, he hid me. Planned to get me to safety with other surviving witches. We were going to run together, start over somewhere far from Crescent territory." She stopped. Breathed. "Theron found us the night before we were supposed to leave. Killed Ronan in front of me. Would have killed me too, but I was pregnant and managed to escape in the chaos." Winter had hear

"What are you doing?" Sophia asked. "My father's name isn't here," Winter said. She positioned the chisel against blank rock. "Ronan. He died in the massacre too. He should be remembered." Sophia made a sound that was half-laugh, half sob. "He was a wolf. This wall is for witch victims." "He was killed for loving a witch. For protecting witches. For choosing family over species loyalty." Winter started carving, the chisel scraping against stone. "That makes him a victim of the massacre. His blood doesn't disqualify him from being remembered." She worked slowly, carefully, forming each letter of her father's name. The stone resisted but Winter kept going, using the same stubbornness that had gotten her through seventeen years with Griselda. Behind her, Sophia was crying. Quiet, controlled tears that she probably thought Winter couldn't hear. When Winter finished, the name sat carved among hundreds of others. Ronan Crescent. Not as deep or elegant as the surrounding names, but th