《The Phoenix Wolf's Awakening 》全部章節：第 121 章 - 第 130 章

Mona's povI woke Vesna at midnight and told her everything in the space of eleven sentences.I did not soften it. I sat on the end of her narrow bed in the west building of the school and I told her about Kesh — the councillor's name, his coronation stare at little Aeron, the anonymous notes, the years of watching, Nova's identification at Bloodrose, tonight's dinner request to visit at second bell. Vesna sat up against her pillow with her hair loose and her knees drawn up under the blanket. She did not interrupt me once. When I was done, she said only, "So he was the man at my door." I said, "Yes." She was quiet a long time. Then she said, in a voice that was not fear but was very close to it, "Mona. I have been afraid of that man since he stood on my step. Not because of what he said. Because of what he did not say. He was not asking me if I was interested. He was measuring whether I could still be pointed." She looked at me. "What do you need me to do at second bell?" I told her.

Mona's POVThe rider had come from Silver Moon, not from Kesh's territory, and that in itself told me the shape of what had happened.He was one of Aeron's own — a young man named Tass, sweat-streaked and pale — and he handed Cassian the letter and then swayed on his feet until a groundskeeper caught him and sat him down on the step. I read it standing beside Derek's chair, one hand still resting on Derek's shoulder. Aeron's handwriting was careful even in crisis. Aunt Mona. The Ashfen Pack has claimed the north ridge above Silver Moon's border. They say the boundary was set wrong two generations ago. They have moved three families onto contested ground. Their alpha is refusing arbitration. I have kept our warriors on our own side of the ridge, but two of them have already been struck at, and one is wounded. I have never done this before. I need your counsel. Please. — A. I folded the letter. Derek looked up at me. He said quietly, "Ashfen has not moved on Silver Moon in forty years."

Mona's POVSophie moved to Nightshade in the spring, and I understood on the day her cart came through the gate that I had been waiting for her without knowing it.The little house Cassian had picked out for her was three lanes from mine. It had a small stone step, a good south-facing window, and a garden strip just wide enough for the herbs she had been growing at Silver Moon for forty years. She stood in front of it with her hands on her hips the way Leon used to stand in front of new things, and she said, "It will do." That was all. That was the whole ceremony. Her cart held less than I had expected — a bed, a chair by the fire, three chests, a bundle of tools, and the small locked box that held Leon's ledger and my mother's letters. She had brought both. She had brought the whole weight of what we were still carrying together, and she had brought it in a locked box small enough to sit on a shelf. I helped her unload with my own hands. My back complained. I did not care. When we we

Mona's POVThe letter came on an ordinary Tuesday, and I have never trusted a Tuesday since.I was in Sophie's kitchen peeling apples for a pie neither of us really wanted, but the peeling was the point. Cassian's rider came through the lane on foot, ran up the small step, and handed me a folded page without a word. Inara's handwriting. Short. Please come. We lost the baby. Lyra will not stand up. Please, Mother. — I. The knife slipped in my hand. I did not feel it. Sophie caught the paper as it drifted, read it, and stood up before I could. She said, quietly, "Go. Now. I will send word to Derek and Cassian. I will pack for you." I said, "I do not know if —" She said, "Go." She had my cloak on my shoulders in under a minute. She kissed my cheek. She pushed me toward the door. Behind me, from her small kitchen table, she said the only useful thing anyone said to me that day. "Mona. Do not try to fix it. Just sit in the room." Then I was on the road. Nova rode with me — she had heard wi

Mona's POVI was on my knees in Sophie's garden with a trowel in my hand when Lyra's stable boy came running down the lane, and I knew before he spoke.He was fourteen years old and out of breath, and his face had gone that particular grey a young person's face goes when they have been sent with news too big for them. Sophie stood up beside me. She said, low, "Breathe, boy. Then say it." He said, gasping, "Ma'am. The Alpha's mother. Little Mona. In the herb garden at Lady Lyra's house. She — her hand — a leaf caught fire — nobody was hurt but she is not stopping crying, ma'am, and Lady Lyra says please come, please come now." I set the trowel down carefully in the dirt. My knees were stiff. Sophie helped me stand. She was already reaching for my cloak from the low bench. She said, "I will send word to Derek. Take my horse. He is the faster one this year." I did not argue. I took Sophie's horse. I rode. The day was mild and gold and the last of the summer flowers were still along the l