[redith].
The won moved then, stepping closer and forming a true circle now.
Each of them raised a hand, palm out, moonlight pooling against their skin. The air vibrated softly, like the hum before a storm.
Then, my grandmother lifted her walking stick and struck it once against the earth.
The sound rang in a final stance.
"Stand barefoot on the ground," she instructed.
I obeyed, slipping out of my slippers. The earth was cool beneath my feet, grounding in a way I hadn’t expected. It felt as though the land itself recognized .
"Close your eyes."
I did.
Imdiately, darkness blood behind my lids and then sothing else—a presence.
"redith." Valmora’s voice unfurled inside , deeper and clearer than ever before. Then, she asked, "Do you feel it?"
"Yes," I whispered aloud, my voice shaking. "I feel everything."
Fear. Anticipation. Grief so sharp it made my chest ache. Relief so overwhelming it nearly brought to my knees.
"This is the last threshold," Valmora said. "Once you cross it, there is no returning to what you were."
My breath hitched. "I don’t want to go back," I said. "I don’t want to be small anymore."
The mont I made the last statent, power stirred inside my ribs, answering that truth.
Then the won began to chant in a low, rhythmic cadence that seed to rise from the ground itself. The sound wrapped around , ancient and deliberate.
My grandmother stepped closer and placed her hand over my heart.
"This seal was woven with fae magic and lunar law," she said. "To undo it, you must call your wolf willingly. Not in anger. Not in fear."
I swallowed hard. "What if I lose control?"
"You won’t. Because this ti, you are not alone." Her voice softened.
The chant deepened.
Heat blood beneath my skin—gentle at first, then insistent. My breath grew uneven as sothing shifted inside , stretching, pressing outward.
The half-moon mark on my shoulder burned.
I gasped, dropping to my knees as sensation—release tore through . Like sothing long imprisoned, finally slamming against an open door.
It was followed by mories that flooded . mories that weren’t mine.
A throne beneath a silver sky. A howl that bent armies to their knees. A crown of moonlight and blood.
I cried out, my hands digging into the earth as the seal resisted, pulling tight like a living thing.
"Let through," Valmora growled—not at , but at whatever bound us.
The mark flared white-hot. I scread. And then—
Crack!
The sensation was unmistakable. Like glass finally shattering.
Power surged through , wild and imnse, flooding every vein, every breath. I felt my wolf—no longer restrained, but vast, ancient, whole.
Then the chanting stopped, and the night held its breath.
I collapsed forward, gasping, my palms pressed to the ground as moonlight poured into without resistance. The mark on my shoulder faded completely. There was no glow or scar.
There was absolutely nothing.
I was shaking, crying, laughing. I was finally free.
My grandmother knelt before , her hands cupping my face. "It is done," she said softly. "The fae seal is broken."
I looked up at her through blurred vision. "I feel... different."
She smiled. "You feel like yourself."
The realization hit all at once. The pain was gone. The fear was gone. The moon no longer lood—it answered.
Tears stread freely down my face as I pressed my forehead to the earth, overwheld by gratitude, grief, and awe all at once.
"I wasn’t cursed," I whispered again, voice breaking.
"No," she replied. "You were becoming."
Above us, the moon shone brighter than ever. And sowhere far away, I felt the world shifting.
The Queen had awakened.
But the powers swirling inside of did not fade. It settled.
At first, I thought the trembling in my limbs was exhaustion. My knees were still pressed into the earth, my breath uneven, my heart racing as it had just learned a new rhythm.
Then the feeling changed.
It gathered low in my spine, a slow, deliberate pull, like the tide drawing back before a wave. My senses sharpened all at once. The night grew louder.
I could hear the wind combing through the grass at the edge of the clearing, the soft pulse of life beneath the soil, the distant breathing of the won around .
And beneath it all, her.
"Do not fight it," Valmora said, her voice no longer separate from mine, but layered within my thoughts like an echo that had always belonged there. "You are safe now."
My fingers curled into the earth. "I’ve never..." My voice broke. "I’ve never shifted before."
I had never felt this imnse power before. And neither have I connected to Valmora on this deeper level, nor have I had the urge to break out.
"Then let this be your first ti," she replied gently. "Let it be joy."
Then the pull deepened.
Heat spread through my body expansively. My bones humd, my blood singing as sothing ancient stretched awake inside .
And sowhere in the middle of this first-ti, long-awaited transformation, I heard my grandma say, "Don’t hold back, Edith."
I gasped as the world tilted, my balance shifting, and my centre lowering. I could feel every change, every movent, yet there was no panic. Only wonder.
My hands pressed into the ground, but they were not hands anymore. My fingers lengthened, reshaped, the sensation oddly natural, as if my body had been rembering this all along.
My spine arched, muscles realigning, strength pouring into in waves.
Silver spilt through my vision.
My hair—my fur—flowed down my back, liquid moonlight woven into every strand. I felt my senses bloom fully then: the sharpness of scent, the clarity of sound, the way the world opened instead of closing in.
When I lifted my head, the night bowed.
I stood on four powerful legs, tall and sleek, my coat a luminous silver that mirrored the moon itself. I could feel Valmora fully now—not as a voice, but as a presence moving with , within .
We were not fighting for control. We were one now.
I took a step forward. Then another. And then—I ran.
The clearing blurred as I burst into motion, my body cutting through the night with effortless grace.
The earth responded beneath my paws, firm and alive, as if it had been waiting for my weight.
The wind tore past my ears, carrying a thousand scents, a thousand stories.
I laughed, or perhaps she did, but the sound tore free from my chest, wild and unrestrained.
I had never felt so light.
I circled the clearing, faster and faster, my silver form flashing between shadows and moonlight. Every movent felt right. Every breath felt earned. There was no pain, no resistance.
Only freedom.
Reviews
All reviews (0)