Page 92 of In the Light of the Moon

Because I was leaving.

I gave Orion a long look, and by the grim purse of lips and subsequent glance at Sylvie who was still gazing at Coill, he’d deduced the answer to his question.

Fifty-five years, and I was finally going to be leaving with my mate. Going to his realm to truly begin our lives. To do so, though, I’d be giving up this one.

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Sylvie’s question made me jump, but I really shouldn’t have been surprised. With each passing day, while she honed and came into her powers, she was far more aware than either of us were used to.

Admittedly, I’d been a wreck for a while. The guilt and nerves had been eating away at me while the excitement left me at risk of floating through the days. When I met her stare, no words came out. But my nod was enough, and Sylvie’s simple one in return was a kindness and a dagger to my heart all at once. I didn’t deserve her, because even though I could see the grief already creeping over her, I was going to leave anyway.

We all sat in silence for a while, leaning into the cold wind and the creaking of the wood. Just as she’d finally met her grandfather, he would be leaving.

Though he was powerful, his body wasn’t stable in this realm. My blood made it possible for Caley and Sylvie to live here, but each minute diminished his strength. It was probably why the other one, now just a pile of dust stirring in the winter wind, had solicited the pack to supply sacrifices. Hearts.

And when the opportunity came for them to exact some right of twisted honor by keeping their bloodline free of mixed blood, they solicited the pack to take out Sylvie. Just as his family had gotten another to kill my Caley. After Coill returned and slaughtered those that had a hand in Caley’s death, they took care to leave us alone. Until now, apparently.

My consolation that we’d hopefully be able to visit next winter solstice felt cheap, so I held it back. Sylvie had already lost so much, and I felt a right villain for adding to it.

But then there was him. My mate’s hold tightened around me, and another wash of calm softened the negative emotions swirling in my mind. With him, my heart was so, so full.

Coill broke the silence, “I know that I have no right to ask you both of anything, but I hope that you will continue to watch over her. To know you are her mate warms my heart, Snow Pup.”

Though his face was blank, Orion’s eyes were sharp. Assessing. “I will. Always.”

“Hey, because I’m part…” Sylvie waved her hand, unsure of what to call him. A strong pull of fondness made me want to wrap her in my arms. Despite her anxious spirit, when actually faced with danger or world-shattering information, Sylvie was able to find her footing so easily. I was almost loath to admit that I’d been more rigid the first time Coill and I met. How silly my skepticism felt, now.

“Fae,” Coill supplied.

“Fae. Since I’m part Fae, can I be turned? By a shifter bite.”

Coill frowned like the question didn’t make sense, but then his expression smoothed with understanding. “No. Shifters are descendent from those of us Fae that are able to change forms. With my blood, you are immune.”

Sylvie turned and shared an excited grin with Orion who offered a much more guarded, but just as excited, smirk in return. I had an idea about what they were looking forward to, and I was happy for her.

When she turned back to us, her head tilted like it so often did during our lessons. How I would miss those. “You can change forms? Is this what you really look like? Or just in this world? Can I change forms?”

Coill still had blood on his face, but his grin at her didn’t look menacing in the slightest. My mate was vicious when it was needed but also so kind and sweet.

Without a word, golden light began to shimmer around him. Though I was certainly biased, I appreciated this shift as opposed to the contorting way the shifters of our world did it. Coill’s features slid and changed within the golden light, hisbody shrinking to a height similar to Orion’s. His horns were still present, but his skin released the bark camouflage and smoothed. The lankiness disappeared to reveal strong, bulkier limbs. His thighs pressed against his leather trousers, filling them out where they’d before been loose. Instead of a back hunched to reach our line of sight, his spine was straight and noble. Royal.

His hair was no longer green vines and leaves but tumbling waves of black, and I saw the moment true recognition dawned on Sylvie. She’d gotten some features from her father, but her likeness to Coill’s true form was undeniable. He was hard and delicate at the same time. The pointed taper of his ears, I knew, were sensitive and left him a chuckling mess when tickled, but his lengthened canine teeth were their own vicious weapons.

How many times had I caught Sylvie out of the corner of my eye and thought, for a split second, that it was him?

Coill gestured to himself, “This is my true form. The other is easier to assume in this world. For protection and to blend into the wood. In my world, on the other side of the veil, is the wood that our family calls home.” Some of his smile faded, “Though you have inherited many gifts from Sylvana and I, I do not sense an ability to shift. I am sorry.”

But Sylvie took it in stride. She just nodded and looked, cataloguing the features of her grandfather and adjusting all of this into her model of the world around her. She was so good about that. All of this.

“And… is that where you’re going to go?” she looked at me, “Where you’re both going to go?” I remembered her as a little girl. Being worried about her father or when she realized for the first time that I lived alone. Her worries grew along with her and the understanding of the complexities of the world, but when actually faced with danger or something difficult, she slippedinto another place. Another sense where even at a young age, she squared her shoulders and faced it head on.

She was looking at me like that, now, and I drew my own courage to match hers. “Not the forest, exactly. But—yes.”

Her lip wobbled, but she shook her head. Her eyes shimmered with the threat of more tears. “Now?”

For that answer, I looked to Coill. To cross the veil, to become Fae enough to live amongst him was complex magic that had taken him all this time to figure out. Since the day Caley was killed, he’d taken it upon himself to find a way to bring me over so that we could be together. So that he could protect me himself, instead of relying on the veil to separate me from those that wanted to drive us apart.

Coill always called me his sun, but looking into his eyes was like being under the warmest sunshine. With the way he crossed from his world into ours, time was different and twisted, but the love between us was constant. I was scared to leave Sylvie, if only to say goodbye to what we’d have if I decided to stay, but I was done being apart from my mate. “I would like to seal the portals. To prevent any more from coming over tonight and reprimand all that knew of Amnes’s plans. And more importantly, I have found a way for us. Our home is prepared for you, my mate. I am ready whenever you are.”

“Will,” I cleared my throat, “will we be able to come and visit? Like you’ve visited me each year?”

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