Chapter 24: Nineteen

Rowan said it in the kitchen at breakfast, as he had every morning for a year.

"Good morning, sister."

He said it with a cup of coffee in his hand, standing by the stove where the staff used to eat.

The old cook rolled her eyes at him and slid a plate of eggs across the table.

"Good morning," I said, and he nodded and sat down, and we ate.

"Nineteen," Ellis announced, bursting in with flour on his face. "You're nineteen. Nobody is allowed to be sad today. That's a rule."

"Who made that rule?"

"Me. I'm the youngest."

"You're a menace," I said.

"I baked a cake."

"Do I have to eat it?"

"You have to eat it," said Drew from the doorway.

He had a stack of mismatched plates in one hand, and the Alpha's chain tucked under his shirt because he said it itched.

"It's lemon. He did it six times."

"It was nine," Ellis said. "Six was the one that fell."

I laughed so hard I had to sit down.

We had it on the shore at the foot of the black rock, with a cloth spread on the stones.

Half the pack stood around us.

The sky was clear, and the sea was calm. It was the first week of autumn.

A year ago, to the day, I had stood in a white robe on this rock and asked the Moon Goddess for her mercy.

Today there was a cake on a plate on my knees, with nineteen candles that wouldn't stay lit.

"The wind is on purpose," Ellis said, shielding one with both hands. "Hold on. Hold on."

"Ellis."

"I've got it. I've got it. There."

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