The Sound of Falling Water
Janelle's Pov
I did not sleep that night, and by morning I had stopped pretending I would.
Lady Verena's voice kept returning in the dark, calm and almost kind. You have her eyes. Each time I closed mine, I heard the name again, Elara, soft as a prayer, and each time I felt my wolf lift her head and listen. I had spent twenty years being told that I came from nowhere. Now a stranger had put a name into my hands, and I did not know whether it was a gift or a hook.
Mara noticed that I was quiet, but she did not ask again. She brought me bread and a cup of weak tea and sat beside me in the back of the carriage, close enough that our shoulders touched. I took the tea and thanked her and did not look at her face for too long. I hated myself for that. But I had heard what Lady Verena said about kindness, and I had no way of knowing which kind Mara's was.
