Chapter 10: The Goddess's Cup

The Goddess's cup stands on a flat stone at the top of the council ring.

It is old silver, and it holds one swallow of spring water.

At the full moon, the pack's Elders fill it and set it in the light.

Any wolf can be asked to drink from it and answer a question before everyone.

If the wolf lies, the cup burns.

Nobody had asked a wolf to drink from it in forty years.

Tonight the moon rose over the stones, round and white, and the whole pack stood in the ring.

Gareth had come with his guards and with Cora.

He had not wanted to come.

The Elders had told him the rite could not be skipped, and the three Alphas had said nothing at all.

He stood at the front in his black coat with his jaw clenched.

Cora stood beside him in a gray cloak with the hood back, and she was very pale.

I walked up to the stone with the Great Elder.

The silver light in my hands had grown stronger every day, and tonight it ran all the way to my elbows.

"The Goddess has a question for the House of Hargrave," the Great Elder said, and his voice carried.

"I will ask it for her."

"Under the old law, any wolf may be called to the cup if an Elder and a witness Alpha both agree."

"I agree," Rowan said.

"And I," said the old Alpha.

Gareth stepped forward.

"This is theater. The cup has not been used in a generation. You can't summon a girl who has done nothing."

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