The Lycan King’s Broken Mate
The Moon—if it exists here—is invisible; the light seems to come from beneath the lake.
The crying is closer now. On the opposite shore, a thin silver line flickers—trembling like the fine fabric of the Veil when the wind lifts it. I take the shorter path across: step into the water. The surface is cold, but not wet; it feels like well-kept glass—firm beneath the first step, then the second, but at the third it gives way, and I sink to my knees in the thick, black, scentless liquid. There are no waves, only resistance. I retreat to the shore; my knees tremble, and on my skin remains a film of fine, gleaming dust—the water is not water.