Page 98 of In Her Own Rite

“I know,” I say, nodding. “I believe it.”

“To be honest, I don’t think I believed in myself for a long time, either,” she says quietly. “I think that’s why it hurt so much when you didn’t.”

From behind us, I hear one of the van doors slam closed, and I look over my shoulder. The gang’s crowded into the back of the van, leaving the front two seats for us.

“We should head back to thefikarig,” I say. “But I want to make this up to you, and I have some stuff I need to tell you later. Not as an excuse. Just so you… understand.”

She bites her lip and nods, and the blue and gold of her eyes feels like it softens for me.

“I have stuff to tell you, too,” she says. “Big stuff. Crazy stuff.”

“Okay,” I say, and we start to walk towards the van. As we do, she surprises me by grabbing my hand. And I feel a tiny part of my world slip back into place.

We dropQuinn off at her apartment first, then head back to the pack house. Saga and Dagmar have prepared a big welcome-home dinner for everyone, and the house erupts into noise the second we walk through the door. For once, the dinner conversation is jovial—everyone has questions about Em’s training and rite, about Maren’s latest product launch, and about how Gabe’s healing is going. He’s still in his full-leg cast, but he looks a lot better, and I notice Em look around nervously when Saga asks about it. For all the happy conversation, I know that talk about Thalia and the rebels will erupt into disagreement, so I change the subject every time we get too close to the topic.

After dinner, as Isolde and Viggo clean up the table, Em takes my hand.

“Let’s go upstairs,” she says. “Maybe to the library?”

I swallow at the look in her eyes. “I’d love to. And later tonight, yeah. But first I need to talk to Seb, okay?”

She furrows her brow. “What about?”

“I’ll tell you after.”

“Okay,” she says, and turns for the stairs.

I walk outside and find Seb and Maren sitting on a bench on the back porch.

“Good to be home?” I ask.

“Weird, mostly,” Seb says.

“I actually didn’t mind it, with the six of us on the north island,” says Maren. “It’s a preview, I guess. For how it’ll be once we get our own place.”

Seb nods. “Actually, speaking of. With Em doing her rite in the next week or so, I think we can afford to start looking at places soon.”

“Yeah?” I ask.

He nods. “I’ve heard there’s a few places on the other side of Moon Lake that are for sale.”

“Those places are pretty pricey, right?” I think of the massive houses I’ve seen at the far edge of the lake, close to the woods. They’re beautiful, and I never imagined I’d be able to live in a place like that. Although I guess with Seb’s salt business and how much money I’ve saved in the last few years, it might actually be feasible.

“We can look, at least,” Maren says. “We were thinking of doing some tours later this week.”

I nod. “That sounds good. Hey, Mare, you mind if I talk to Seb alone for a few minutes?”

“Be my guest,” she says, standing up. She leans over to give him a kiss on the cheek, then walks into the house.

I take a seat on the bench beside him.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“I, uh. I need to talk to you. About the rite.”

“Yeah? What’s going on?”

I swallow. “You told me before I went up there that I shouldn’t let whatever I saw get in my head. I don’t think I listened.”

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