Page 202 of Gift from the Wing

“No,” I snort at her immediate growl. “The little wolf’s name comes with a story to be told. You’ll know soon enough. Have patience, old friend.”

Standing, I offer her my hand to help her up and I throw my head back, laughing when she slaps it away. “Do not treat me like I’m fragile,” she growls.

“Fragile, no. Hormonal already, yes,” I tease and jump out of the way of her oncoming claw.

“Not funny. Damn, everything makes a lot more sense now. I threw a whole flower pot at Esben yesterday.” She says it with a fond smile on her face like it’s a precious memory and I look at her, a little petrified.

“Did you miss?”

“No. I never miss.”

Laughing together, I walk her to her stoop where her men instantly surround her, checking her over from head to toe, and I do smile fondly at the display of affection. They’re about to get ten times worse.

“Sure you don’t have time for tea after all that?”

“I wish, old friend.”

“Next time then,” she says, waving me off as she climbs the steps to go inside.

“Next time,” I murmur sadly.

I hate to know that the next time I see my friend, I will be sending her off on her final journey.

Blinking my eyes open, Willow is statue-still in my lap and I have to adjust my hold to check and make sure she’s breathing. She is, but she’s unnaturally calm and I immediately begin worrying I never should’ve shown her that.

“Willow.”

“She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,” she whispers.

“You take after her.”

She slowly pushes herself up and turns around so she can face me fully. Those shattered silver eyes are so familiar, it’s breathtaking.

“I’ll never meet her in person, will I?”

“No, my sweet girl, you won’t,” I say as softly as I possibly can.

“Do you think she’s watching over me wherever she is?”

“I know for a fact she is. She’s in a place we call the beyond. It’s where the most special and the strongest of our kind go.”

“One day, I’d like to go there and visit her.”

My heart clenches so hard, it steals my breath, and I have to force my lungs to take in air. I hope and pray she never ends up in the beyond. Despite that it’s a paradise for those of us who perish before our time, I never want her time to end.

“One day, Elementra will show you her.”

“And you’ll give me my book? I’d like to read it now.”

“You will as soon as the time is right, my girl.”

I haven’t the heart to tell her the book hasn’t appeared yet. I’m the only one who can pass the barrier of Iris’s ward, and I’ve checked multiple times. Finally, Elementra told me to stop, and it would show when it should.

She cocks her head to the side, and her calculating look quickly turns to devastation. I’m not sure why, or if maybe the reality of what she just watched is settling in and it’s upset her tremendously.

“I’m sorry, Willow, maybe it wasn’t the right time to show you that,” I say, pulling her closer to me and hugging her tightly.

The Memoria stone around my neck heats at my command and just as I go to call for her memories to come to me, she speaks. Well, more so shrieks.

---