Alle Kapitel von Bound by the Cursed Moon: Kapitel 521 – Kapitel 530

Point of View: Kieran"I did not do it, Guardian. If I wanted that wall gone, I would have done it with a hammer, in daylight, where everyone could see me hate it."I am Kieran, and the young man across the table from me had not slept. It was morning, and the village hall was nearly empty. A gray light leaked through the narrow windows. Bram Marrow sat with both hands flat on the wood, his key chain laid between us like a dead snake. His jaw was tight. His eyes were red."I believe you," I said."Do you?""I believe you would use a hammer. That is not the same as believing you did not use a trowel." I leaned back. "I am not trying to trap you, Bram. I am trying to count the pieces."He blinked. "The pieces?""Of the puzzle. Sit still. I will say them aloud, and you will tell me if any are wrong."I had spent half the night with Rhen, laying it all out on the floor of our borrowed room like a wounded soldier's belongings. She had paced. I had written. My wife is clever, and brave, and

Point of View: Kieran"You knew, Maren. You knew something was wrong for sixty years, and you let me walk into your hall and be called a monster. Tell me I am wrong."I am Kieran, and my daughter said it in the old woman's cottage with her chin raised and her hands shaking. It was noon. The room was small and smelled of dried herbs, wool, and a little of mouse. Maren sat by the fire with a blanket over her knees. Isolde stood at the window. Dorian and Sable waited by the door. Rhen was beside me, her shoulder pressed against mine, and I could feel her trembling.Briar had not asked for us. She had only said that she would speak to Maren, and then, quietly, that she would like us to be there. Rhen had gone very still. I knew what it cost her to hear that. I knew what it cost me."I knew something was wrong with the cord," Maren said. "That is all.""That is not all. You told Isolde to bring me to the stone. Your own people said my line broke the ring. And you let them say it.""I said

Point of View: Kieran"Do not tell me I am brave, Bram. I came out here at midnight to be a coward in private. Please let me finish."I am Kieran, and I heard my wife say it from the corner of the guesthouse wall, where I had stopped with my hand on the stone. I had woken at midnight to find her side of the bed cold. I had pulled on my boots and followed the frost prints across the yard. Now I stood in shadow, unseen, and I could not make my legs move.Rhen sat on the cold step outside the hall in a thin shawl, barefoot. Bram Marrow sat two steps below her with his hands raised, half amused and half ashamed."I was only checking you were not frozen," he said."I am nearly frozen.""Then take this." He pulled off his coat and tossed it onto her lap. It was heavy wool. "Do not argue. It is the least I owe you."She drew it around her shoulders. For a long moment neither of them spoke. Behind them, the stone hummed faintly to itself in its sleep."Why are you really here?" she asked."I

Point of View: Kieran"If you want my daughter out of this valley, you will have to say it to my face, Maren, in front of everyone. And I will answer with every word I have."I am Kieran, and my wife said it standing in the middle of the village hall in the white light of morning, with half of Hollow Ash crowded around her. I stood at her shoulder. Briar sat on a bench near the wall, shaking, wrapped in Sable's cloak. Her bandage was gone. The shiny scar on her palm lay in plain sight, and I felt every stare on it like a nail."I did not say it," Maren said from her platform. "Others did.""They said it in your hall.""Because they were afraid." The old woman lifted her chin. "In Hollow Ash we decide by vote. A hand for stay, a hand for go. It has been so for four centuries. I will not break the custom because I am old and tired.""Then count the hands," Rhen said. "But hear me first."A murmur ran through the room. The old mason Osk, bandaged and propped in a chair, watched my wife w

Point of View: Kieran"Tell me you are not the one who struck him, Corra. Tell me, and I will believe you. I am too tired to do anything else."I am Kieran, and my wife said it a little before sunset, standing in the doorway of a lavender scented cottage with the wind tugging at her coat. By then, all of us had crowded into Corra's small kitchen. Bram had come, and Wren, carried down the hill in a cart. The ashes in the bowl were still warm.Corra sat at her own table, hands folded, a small gray ghost. Isolde knelt on the floor beside her, gripping her knees. Briar stood against the wall with her arms wrapped tight."I did not strike Osk," Corra said. "Do you think I am a monster?""I think you are afraid," I said."I am." She gave a broken laugh. "I have been afraid for thirty years.""Then say it plainly. Start with the wall."She drew a slow breath. "Three nights ago I went to the market and took Bram's key from his belt. I am not proud of it. I am a poor thief, and he is a good bo