Three days later, we returned to the valley. At first, I had protested, wanting to stay longer for my father’s sake. But after a very convincing argument on his behalf to the tune of me being the independent woman I claimed to be, I reluctantly agreed to return with Raydir.

“Arwyn! How is your father?” Rosie greeted us. “Come, you all must be hungry.”

Before we could answer, Rosie led us up to the Grand Cabin for a late dinner where everyone greeted us, swarming around to offer condolences. I gripped Raydir’s arm as my head swam, my knees buckling beneath me. I couldn’t breathe. My eyes scanned the room for something, anything, to focus on. Caesaria had disappeared into the crowd. Raydir was just acting as a support, which did very little to help the panic creeping into my throat.

“My apologies, Rosie,” Raydir said. “I think it may actually be best if Arwyn and I retire early tonight. We’ve had a very intense couple of days and could use the rest.”

She nodded. “Of course.”

We left the scene of people and returned to our cabin where I promptly flopped down on our bed.

“Are you still thinking about what happened in Gwyniar?” Ray asked, coming to sit down next to me. He uncuffed his shirt and lifted it over his head.

I looked down at the bed. “Which part?”

He raised his eyebrows. “You know which part. That voice you heard.”

I groaned and swiped a hand down my face. “You know, when you told Rosie that we were ditching dinner to sleep, I thought you were being serious. I didn’t think you were going to interrogate me about this. Again.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” He pulled me into his arms and I laid my head on his chest. “I just want to make some sense out of what happened.”

“Mm, you’re warm.” I closed my eyes and changed the subject. “Can you do that thing that you do with my hair?”

Raydir kissed the top of my head. “Yeah.” He brushed his fingers over my hair, untangling the knots and sending a euphoric sensation through my body.

“I don’t know what happened in Gwyniar,” I settled on answering after the silence between us became too unnerving. “I-I’m getting used to having your voice in my head because of our link and I’ve always had my own voice in my head. But now, I don’t know. It wasn’t normal.” The truth was that I was scared. Admitting to what I’d heard meant that it could be true.

“Do you think it was because of your link with Darius?” Ray asked.

My mouth turned dry and I sat up. “You think I still have the link with him too?”

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Did yours go away?” I asked.

Raydir scratched the back of his head. “As far as I know, yeah. You said that he told you it was supposed to go away but what if it didn’t? I mean, I wouldn’t put it past him to lie to you like that. It’s clear he has some feelings—”

“Oh my God." I ran a hand down my face. "Ray, I don’t feel that way about Darius. I never have. And if he feels that way about me, he’s going to have to deal with the fact that he can never have me. Where is this even coming from?”

“I don’t know. He just bothers me.” Raydir pulled back from me, tension settling between us.

“Yeah, you and me both,” I muttered. I turned down the covers of the bed. “Look, I don’t want to fight about this. Let’s just get some sleep.”

“Goodnight.” He slipped under the sheets next to me and I tucked myself into his embrace.

When I woke up the next morning, a new feeling of despair ran through my veins. Images of my father laying in the Gwyniar hospital floated through my mind. I couldn’t just sit here in Darqua and do nothing. I should’ve stayed longer. The voice at the ceremony meant to bring us back. But did that mean returning was the right choice?

What would it mean if my link with Darius never went away? I would’ve thought that with Raydir’s marking on the Alignment, things would’ve returned to normal.

We should’ve stayed. But since we were here, there had to be a way to fix this. I had to find my father’s attacker. My sister’s killer.

So I went to the one person who I knew could help me and the second-best archer in Darqua and someone I knew I could trust.

Caesaria.

When I got to her cabin, she was already dressed for archery training, so she was happy to walk with me to where we normally practiced.

We went a few rounds in silence first to feel the waters.

Caesaria stepped up to shoot another arrow. “So what did you want to talk about?”

“I want to start training,” I said.

Thwap. Her arrow hit a perfect bullseye and she didn’t miss a beat. “What type of training?”

“The type to protect us from the rogues. If I’m going to be a permanent member of the valley, I need to learn what to do if there’s a threat.”

Her expression changed, a darkness clouding her face as she reached to take a sip from her canteen. “If we do that, it’ll be the same training that Raydir has been doing since the first Alignment.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“That’s fine. I need to learn to control my powers and I want to know more about combat.”

“We’ll make it work. The Wolf Council had wanted me to talk to you about training anyway, so this was inevitable.” She notched another arrow into her bow and aimed at the target.

“So you’re gonna train me?” I asked.

Caesaria scratched her head. “Not exactly. The council hasn’t made an official decision on your trainer yet. But they have an idea, and I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”

“Oh.” Then realization hit me. There was only one person who I seriously clashed with that would be the reason Caesaria would have reservations. “Oh no. No. Not Darius. You can’t…no.”

“We figured you would react like this.”

“We? Who, exactly, approved this?”

“Rosamund—Rosie—and Bennett. Rosie is the den mother, leader of the Wolf Council, so she makes a lot of these decisions.”

I shook my head. “I can’t train with him, Cae.”

“Trust me on this, Ar.” She rested her hand on my arm.

I ran a hand through my hair. After my conversation last night, I knew I’d never hear the end of it from Ray if I told him I was training with Darius. “I need to swim. Check in later?”

She hesitated then nodded. “Just think about it, Arwyn. Please?”

“Yeah, Cae. I’ll think about it.” I packed up my bow and arrows, handing them to her to bring back to the weapons shed.

Once she was gone, I made my way to the spot on the lake that wasn’t too far away from our archery spot. My fingers trailed in the water, checking the temperature. Cool and inviting like always. Checking to make sure no one else was around, I stripped out of my clothes and dove in. The water circled around me, bending to my will as I opened my eyes. Minnows darted around me while seagrass waved slowly back and forth with the currents.

I let the water guide my body as I floated on my back with no clear destination. My argument from last night with Raydir loomed in my mind. I winced at how ungrateful I’d sounded. I knew all he wanted was to keep me safe.

But the truth was that the voice had been on my mind ever since it spoke to me at the ceremony. From what I knew about the mind link, it wasn’t Raydir which meant it could’ve been Darius. Part of me wanted it to be him so that I could confront him about it and all of this would go away.

“Hey, Ar.”

My head dipped below the water as I reacted to the voice. When I emerged, Raydir stood smiling on the edge of the lake, his shirt halfway unbuttoned.

“Hey!” I didn’t see you there. I wrapped my arms around my naked torso, realizing I had just been floating completely visible to the world.

So glad it wasn’t Darius who found you.

“You want some company?” he asked with a smirk.

I nodded. “Company would be great.” My heart swelled with happiness as he undressed, teasing me with every button. Finally, he dove into the water and emerged grinning, running his hands through his hair. I wrapped my arms around his neck. His hands latched under my legs, swinging them up into his arms.

“Ray!” I shrieked.

He laughed. “We’re alone out here, Ar. No one is going to see us.”

“Well that’s what I thought too, and then you showed up!” I said, flapping my arms. He pretended to let go, causing me to shriek again and cling to his neck. “I’m glad you’re here, Ray. And I’m sorry about last night when you brought up the voice. ”

“I know. And I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have brought it up again and I sure as hell shouldn’t have accused Darius.” He lowered me to the water so I was looking up at him while he supported my back. His hands felt nice against my skin.

And that’s when it all turned to chaos.

I spotted something in the distance, and self-consciously lowered myself more completely into the water. “Um, Ray. I need you to turn around very, very slowly.” A wolf, black as night with piercing icy eyes, roamed the grassy bank.

Raydir furrowed his brow and turned around in the water. He cursed under his breath. “Get behind me, Ar.”

I grabbed his hand and hid behind him. “What is that thing?”

“I have no idea. Just stay behind me, and don’t make any sudden movements.”

I gripped his arm, my fingers leaving red marks on his skin.

“Not so tight,” he said through gritted teeth.

I eased my grip. “What should we do?” Those deadly eyes just screamed nightmare. There seemed to be no way we were escaping alive.

Who’s bright idea was it to go swimming naked? Yours, doofus. I cursed at myself and lowered my body more into the water. My heart started to beat faster as I willed the beast to leave us alone. I really hoped it couldn’t sense fear.

“Arwyn.”

“What?” I tore my gaze away from the wolf when I realized Raydir was talking to me.

“The water.”

I froze. “What about it?”

“You control it, don’t you?” He turned to face me, which was dangerous considering the threat looming on the bank. “Distract it.”

“What?! Raydir, are you crazy? I can’t.”

“Yes, you can, Arwyn.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked firmly into my eyes. “You just have to focus.”

“I haven’t trained for this, Ray.” My breath shook as I spoke. Not yet at least.

The beast growled, its eyes moving toward us.

“Do it now, Ar,” he whispered.

“I’d rather do this while clothed,” I grumbled but nevertheless thrust my hands out in front of me, focusing my attention on the water. Come on, come on, come on. Slowly, the water began to churn, forming into a funnel in front of us. The beast on the grass regarded the funnel carefully, arching its back and spreading its wings. Wings?!

“Good, Ar. Keep it up!”

“It has wings!” I shrieked. This, of course, attracted the beast’s attention. I pushed my hands further, the water funnel moving closer to the store in an effort to scare off the creature. Luckily, that was enough to scare it off. With a final bare of its teeth, the creature sulked away. I dropped my hands, my whole body shaking.

“You did good, Ar.” Raydir wrapped his arms around me and pressed a kiss to my temple.

“Ray, what was that thing?” I held onto him tightly.

“I still have no idea.” He swam to the edge of the lake and lifted himself out of the water, pulling on his pants. He held out a hand to help me out of the water.

“Oh no, no, no. You are not making me walk back to where I left my clothes. I’d rather swim.”

He smirked. “Take my shirt, ok? We’ll walk over together.”

I reached an arm out. “Then hand me your shirt now.”

He tossed it to me, and I put it on before climbing out of the water.

“What was that thing?” I asked, shivering.

“No idea, but we’re safe now.” He squeezed my hand. “That thing—whatever it was—can’t hurt us.”

Glancing back over my shoulder, I noted the now-empty bank. But an uneasy threat still loomed in the air. I wish we knew that for sure.