Book 16: Wrapped Up Together

Lexa

I’ve been to funerals like this before but always in Endova. There haven’t been many deaths in Silverhide. Our pack is young, with hardly any elders, and we’ve been relatively safe.

I find myself clutching Kaleb’s forearm while we walk through the city under a cloak of wet, humid darkness, my mind racing over the battle on the beach. How many pyres were lit in the days that followed? Dozens? I missed them all.

Kaleb doesn’t flinch away from my touch. His progress to the pit, the massive gate to the outside world, is slow, steady, letting me set the pace. My legs feel like lead despite the healing draft still working through my system. My elbow is fine now that it’s set back in place, and the drafts have done their job knitting my tendons back together, but the ache in my heart remains.

A crowd has gathered along the wall. Shadowed figures of men, women, and children look up at us as we approach. I see familiar faces. Familiar curious gla