Haken's hands were shaking.
He sat at the edge of the courtyard fountain, water still as glass, moonlight carving lines across his scarred back.
He couldn't stop it.
The urge.
The voice.
The shift beneath his skin.
"You've lasted longer this time," a voice said behind him.
He didn't turn. He already knew it was her.
"Don't you sleep?" he muttered.
"Don't you?"
A pause.
Not well."
Vivi stood beside the fountain now, her reflection trembling in the water beside his. She watched him. Studied the shadows under his eyes, the clenched fists, the way his breath shook on the inhale.
"When I was a child," he said, "I thought the curse made me stronger."
"Now I know it just made me lonely."
She said nothing. She knew that kind of truth too well.
"When I shift, I lose pieces of myself," he admitted.
"Memories. Names. Words I once knew."
"One day, I might not shift back.
But you always do," she said, soft but sure.
He looked at her. Really looked.
"Why do you believe that?"
Because I see what's left behind when the wolf fades."
"And it's not a monster.
She moved to sit beside him close, but not touching.
The water stirred.
Suddenly glowed.
A soft, gold shimmer beneath the surface, rippling outward like starlight in motion.
Both of them froze.
What " Haken started.
Vivi leaned over. The glow responded—following her fingers, dancing in rhythm with her breath.
I've never, done this before," she whispered.
"Magic?" he asked.
"No." Her voice was distant.
"Being seen."
Far away, the priestess who once warned her parents awoke from a vision she hadn't called.
"The curse," she whispered, eyes wide with fear.
"Is beginning to choose."