Chapter 103. Ash Moon

The Moon Goddess did not stop time.

She stepped into it.

The men on the wall kept moving. The horn finished its note. Somewhere a pan boiled over and a cook swore. The world didn’t freeze. It bowed without meaning to.

She wore no crown. She needed none. Her eyes summered and wintered, both at once.

“Little one,” She said.

“Mother,” Mavienne said, and her staff made a sound on stone that might have been kneeling.

I tried to stand. Kael’s hands tightened—not to keep me, to ask me not to fall. I did both—I got to a knee and let him keep my balance.

“You made a choice,” the Goddess said. She was not congratulating me. She was taking inventory.

“I did,” I said. My voice sounded human to my own ears. The brand didn’t answer. It lay quiet, skin over bone.

“You kept your word,” She went on. “You took Shadowfang. You held the Moon. You gave Me your shortcuts.”

She looked at Kael. He did not look away. “And you?” She asked him, gentl