All Chapters of MOONBOUND : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

The quarry opened before us like a wound in the earth, its stone walls streaked pale where centuries of water had carved runnels straight up the rock face — water running uphill, exactly as Wren's dreams had shown her, defying every law except whatever ancient power still lived in this ground.Torchlight flickered at the quarry's floor. Five hooded figures stood in a loose circle around a stone altar, and at its center, bound but alive, was Elowen."Stop there," a voice called from below, unhooded now, a woman perhaps Maeve's age with the same scholarly bearing Corvain had once carried, though harder, colder. "Come no closer, or the healer's daughter loses considerably more than her dignity tonight.""Who are you?" Rhys demanded, though his eyes never left Elowen."Corvain was my brother," the woman said. "You exiled him. His patrons abandoned him. I do not intend the same failure."Kian's hand tightened into a fist beside me. "His work continues, then. Through you.""His work was nev

Spring arrived gently that year, as though the land itself understood how much the pack needed an easy season after the Weeping Quarry's terror. Wren's new connection to the moon-stone settled, over the following months, into something less overwhelming and more simply hers — Fenwick and Maeve working patiently alongside her to understand its rhythms, much the way Fenwick had once guided her through the earliest uncertainty of her gift."It responds to her emotions now," Fenwick reported to Rhys and me one afternoon, watching Wren practice in the training yard, the faint glow beneath her skin rising and falling gently with her concentration. "Fear, joy, fierce protectiveness — all of it seems to call the power closer to the surface. She's learning to recognize and settle it rather than letting it startle her.""Is she safe?" I asked, the question I'd asked in some form nearly every week since that terrible night."Safer than before, I'd argue," Maeve said, joining the conversation wit

Pregnancy suited Wren in ways that surprised even her, the fierce, restless energy that had characterized so much of her young life settling into something steadier, more inward, as the months progressed."I keep catching myself just sitting still," she admitted one afternoon, visiting with a cup of the ginger tea Ferris had recommended for her occasional morning sickness. "Me. Sitting still. Willingly.""Enjoy it while it lasts," I said, laughing. "Once the baby arrives, stillness becomes considerably more precious and considerably harder to find.""Did you feel like this? When you were carrying me?"I considered the question, memory stirring warm and distant. "Different circumstances," I admitted. "I was newly married, still learning to trust that happiness could actually last. But yes, there was a similar stillness. A kind of waiting that felt sacred, somehow, different from ordinary patience."Wren rested a hand over her growing stomach, something tender and amazed crossing her ex

Halden was three months old when Ferris first noticed something wrong with her sleep."She's not settling the way infants typically do," he said, examining the baby with careful, professional attention while Wren hovered anxiously nearby. "Restless, even when fed and comfortable. And her temperature runs slightly warmer than I'd expect, though not quite fever.""Is it the heritage?" Wren asked immediately, old fear resurging despite years of hard-won peace regarding her own gift."Possibly," Ferris admitted. "Or possibly something entirely ordinary that simply needs careful observation. I don't want to alarm you unnecessarily, but I also don't want to dismiss something that might matter."The uncertainty settled uneasy over the family, old protective instincts sharpening even without a clear, identifiable threat to focus against.Fenwick and Maeve, summoned for their combined expertise, examined Halden with the same careful attention they'd once brought to understanding Wren's own ear

Three weeks passed before word arrived, the waiting stretching Elowen's composure thin despite her determined effort to continue her training with Ferris as though nothing weighed on her mind.The letter, when it finally came, carried Kian's familiar handwriting, though Wren noted immediately, reading over my shoulder, that it seemed steadier than she'd expected given the circumstances.Sable, it read, we have an answer, and it's better news than we feared, though not without its own complications. The specialist identified a treatable condition — pressure building in ways that respond well to a combination of herbal treatment and a minor procedure he's performed successfully many times before. Wynn will need to remain here for the treatment and recovery, likely six weeks, but the prognosis is genuinely good. I wanted you to know immediately, rather than let worry stretch any longer than necessary. I'll write again once the procedure is complete.I felt relief flood through me so comp