Chapter 21: The Moon Rite

Iris's POV

The Moon Rite was held in a bowl of dry grass below the Blackwater estate.

It took place on the one night of the month with no moon at all.

The pack lit torches and stood in a ring.

Three hundred Blackwater wolves filled the ring.

A hundred and fifty more from Redfern stood in a quiet block on the north side, in their plain jackets.

Ronan stood among them with a bandage under his shirt and his arms folded.

He had not let me see him wince once since the raid.

The five Elders sat on a plank dais at the south end.

The old woman sat in the middle with her cane across her knees.

Beside them, under guard, sat the blond man from the raid, still in his torn jacket with his arm in a sling.

The twins were not there.

June had tied a green hair ribbon around my wrist that morning, with a knot I could not have undone.

"For luck," she said. "It's the good one."

"Where did you get it?"

"I won it at the fair," June said. "It's my best one, so you can't lose it."

"I won't."

Now it sat against my pulse, and I held my wrist against my stomach and waited.

Ansel came into the ring at the head of his wolves.

He wore white, as the heir to the seat did, and his hair was neatly combed.

Lorna walked a step behind him, in a pale gray dress.

She was not wearing the silver moon.

She was smiling at the crowd, softly and sadly, the way she had smiled at the funeral.

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