Chapter 24: First Frost

My wolf came out of me.

One moment I stood on the wet grass of Cold Fen.

The next I was on four paws, low and grey.

The whole fen smelled of rain and woodsmoke and a hundred wolves.

I had forgotten what it was to run without a fever.

Thane's black shape fell in beside me, shoulder to shoulder, his flank warm against mine.

The pack poured out over the marsh behind us in the dusk, a river of fur and breath.

I ran until my legs shook and my chest sang.

I finally dropped, panting, in the reeds.

He lay down next to me and put his big head across my paws.

Through the bond I felt his joy.

It was so loud it made me dizzy.

The first frost came to Kingsmoor three weeks later.

I woke to find the windows white.

Thane was already up, standing at the glass in his shirtsleeves.

The scar under his collar was nothing but a thin pale line.

"It's cold," I said.

"It's the first frost."

"I know what it is."

"It means the long table," he said, and the corner of his mouth lifted.

"Pippa has been planning it for a month."

The long table stood in the kitchen of the King's wing.

Pippa had said the great hall was for lords and the kitchen was for family.

She had put out nine candles, a goose, and four bottles of the fen's dark wine.

The doctor sat at the foot of the table with a plate piled high, looking pleased with the world.

Beside the doctor sat the Keeper, in a clean grey gown.

Her granddaughter, a shy girl of eight, had come with her from Cold Fen.

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