Moon Cursed (Book 2 in The Star and Her Moon Series)

Choice

Raff

"From the sea she was born."

A single mark of oil across the temple.

Meribella's voice carried through the trees. Strong. Sure. He didn't know how much he needed to hear her speak until now. A sign that she was okay after their connection went quiet. He increased his speed. Damn it. He knew she was a fighter. He knew she didn't need him at her side every moment, but he wanted to be there. To help.

"To the sea she returns."

One down from her forehead to her nose.

Another voice joined hers. One he'd only heard a few times, but he knew it well. He remembered anyone and everything that hurt the woman he loved. Nerida was a danger to humanity. Whatever scheme she'd planned with Morgan would destroy them, and she had to be stopped. It was more than enough to bring a death sentence upon her, but he would see her dead for touching Meribella. Maybe it made him a sick bastard with twisted priorities... so be it.

"May the gods embrace their child."

Two bits of sea glass over her eyes.

Growling and snapping. Twigs snapping and thuds. Sounds of fighting. Hisses of pain. Blood perfumed the air, and Raff was still too far away.

"And may the living find comfort that she is home."

They lowered the shroud over her face.

"Stop," Raff yelled, grabbing Valencia's hand. Aurora whined at his side. "Not yet. Please."

"Raff, we have to prepare the body."

"It's not a fucking body. It's Meribella!"

"Yesterday it was Meribella. Today, it is a shell that houses no soul."

Aurora growled and leaped onto the table. She folded herself over Meribella's form and closed her eyes. When the Harpy Clan leader tried to push her aside, the wolf whipped her head around and snapped.

"Raff, please."

"Valencia, just give them a minute," Dorea said, touching her grandmother gently.

Her face was pale, and her hair greasy. A hundred years had settled on her shoulders in a day. This was the first time she'd been in to see Meribella since Raff carried her back to the village. But Raff could see the toll it took on her every time she looked at the still figure.

"We should have done this yesterday," Valencia insisted but allowed herself to be walked out of the room.

Thankful to be alone at last, he dragged his chair over to the table. Folding his hands together on her stomach, he pressed his forehead against them. Drawing a deep breath, he hunted for a single breath of jasmine or honey. Instead he smelled only the oils and herbs they'd used to prepare her, and the musky scent of wolf.

"Why?"

He'd asked her the same question as she bled out in his arms. Her hot blood spurting between his fingers as he tried to stop the bleeding. He swore he could feel it still.

The trees around him thinned, and the ground sloped down. From the top of the hill, he could see Nerida collide with Meribella. They went to the ground hard, and then Meribella was on top, two knives in her hand.

"That's my girl," he said, walking slower now. He didn't want to startle Meribella and give Nerida a means to escape. They were talking to each other. Words he couldn't quite catch.

Then Nerida reached up and drove the knife into her chest. Raff froze, bewildered by Nerida's suicide. She must have chosen death on her own terms. But he wasn't prepared for what happened next.