[Gale's POV]
I ate the last bite of tanghulu, the hardened sugar shell crunching satisfyingly between my teeth, the sweet-tart strawberry dissolving on my tongue. I tilted my head back and looked at the stars.
They were so bright here. So clear. In Elphame, the eternal twilight softened everything—colors, edges, even the stars themselves. They hung in the sky like distant memories of light, gentle and muted. But here, in the mortal world, the darkness was absolute. And the stars burned against it like defiant sparks, each one a tiny, furious declaration of existence.
The first time I saw Ovelia.
The memory rose unbidden: the forest inside the Silverhowl kingdom, the reek of blood and fur, a black-furred werewolf poised to kill her. I'd been watching from the shadows, minding my own business, when I saw her red eyes flash in the moonlight. I felt her unique aura ripple through the air like a summons I hadn't known I was waiting for.
My gut had screamed at me: Help her.
