For him, for Kael, I chose to remain in this brutal, unfamiliar world. I taught them to till the soil and coax life from the earth, to hunt with strategy, to master fire. I gave this clan everything I knew, all to see Kael ascend to the rank of Chieftain. Then, on the day his father was laid to rest, Kael brought a woman back to our stone hut. A timid, trembling thing. “Lyra,” he’d said, his voice low, “this is Faye. She was my father’s mate.” He paused, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. “By the Old Ways, the Clan Law… I must take her in. I must care for her.” I stared at the woman cowering behind his formidable frame. A bitter, ugly smile twisted my lips. “I don’t accept this.” Kael’s face hardened, turning to stone. It was the first time he had ever defied me. He forced the issue, bringing Faye into the hut beside ours, a place built for her and his father. And every night since, the sounds began. I would lie awake, staring at the wall of our hut, at the marks I’d scratched there with blood and charcoal. A calendar only I could read. The full moon was coming. Soon. 1 The sounds started again. A low rhythm from the stone hut next to mine. The grunts and soft cries, the heavy thud of bodies against the shared wall, a testament to the raw, desperate passion unfolding within. I pulled the thick furs over my head, trying to block it out, curling into a tight ball on my own cold bed. I don’t know how much time passed before the furs were lifted. A body, radiating heat and the scent of sweat, sat on the edge of my bed. A hand reached for my head, but I flinched away, burrowing deeper into the pelts. “Don’t touch me.” Kael’s hand froze mid-air. He let out a frustrated sigh, his voice laced with a cold edge. “Lyra, don’t be like this.” “It was a duty, nothing more. A ritual for the clan. Why can’t you let it go?” he demanded. “You are the only one who holds the title of my mate.” I clutched the edge of the fur, my knuckles white, refusing to answer. His patience snapped. He ran a hand through his dark, tangled hair. “Once the spring child is born, I’ll send her away. It will satisfy the elders and give the clan an heir. You need to stop being so stubborn. We will raise the child together. He will call you ‘Mother.’ Only you.” He stood then, the conversation over. He couldn’t stand my silent condemnation, so he turned and walked back toward the hut where Faye waited. It was a scene that had played out every night since she arrived. I wiped the dried tear tracks from my face and sat up. The embers of our fire still glowed, but a profound chill had settled deep in my bones. Three years. I had survived in this harsh, primitive world for three years. A world of bitter cold and constant struggle. If it weren’t for Kael, I never would have missed my chance to go home, to let the full moon pass me by. He was the clan’s fiercest warrior, and his courtship had been just as fierce, just as sincere. I pulled the necklace from my throat, a single, sharp tiger’s tooth on a leather cord. My eyes burned. He had broken his vow. He had betrayed me. I remember the day he gave it to me, the day I chose to stay. “Lyra, thank you,” he had whispered, his hands closing mine around the tooth. “I don’t care if you don’t have a Life-Mark. I, Kael, swear on my honor, you will be the only woman in my life. Even if we never have children, I will have you.” And now, a mere three years later, he had brought his father’s mate into our lives. The Clan Law was simple and brutal: a son inherited his father’s mate. This woman, Faye, who shared no blood with Kael, was now his responsibility. His property. He had to care for her, and in return, she had to bear him a child. I had foolishly believed Kael had risen above such primitive traditions. For me. I let out a short, sharp laugh and tossed the necklace into the glowing embers. The firelight danced as the bone blackened, cracked, and crumbled into fine white powder, disappearing into the soot. A tainted promise. I wanted no part of it. The soft, feminine laughter from the next hut drifted through the stone walls, a needle in my ear. My fingers brushed against the bone ring I wore on my right hand. My eyes lifted to the wall, to the crimson symbols I’d painted there. The full moon was coming. It was almost time. 2 I stood trembling with rage, looking at the field of seedlings. Drowned. Suffocated in a pool of muddy water. Beside me, Faye clutched an empty wooden bucket, shrinking back as if I’d struck her. Tears welled in her eyes, a perfect picture of innocence. “Lyra, I didn’t mean to,” she whispered, her voice choked with pity. “I only wanted to help. I didn’t know… I didn’t know a little extra water would kill them all…” Her voice broke into a sob. The high collar of her tunic had slipped, revealing a constellation of red-purple marks on her neck—the bruises of passion. My eyes darted away as if burned. A sour mix of anger and grief churned in my stomach. What was the point of saying anything? The seedlings, our food for the coming winter, were dead. My fists slowly uncurled. I took a step forward, intending to see if anything could be salvaged. Suddenly, Faye gasped, her eyes wide with manufactured terror. She staggered and fell backward in a dramatic heap. Before I could even react, a force like a battering ram slammed into me, sending me flying. My knee crashed against a sharp stone, and a bolt of white-hot pain shot up my leg. I looked up, sweat beading on my brow, and saw Kael. He was dressed in his hunting gear, covered in the dust of the trail. He must have just returned. His eyes were bloodshot with fury. He had Faye cradled protectively in his arms, and the look he gave me was one of pure accusation. “Lyra! You can’t stand the sight of her, can you? You would harm her and my child?” My lips trembled, but the sound that came out was a broken, disappointed laugh. “Did your eyes see me touch her, Kael?” I challenged, my voice shaking. “Or do they only see what you want them to see?” He faltered, his gaze flicking from me to the flooded field. He fell silent for a beat. “They’re just plants, Lyra,” he said finally, his voice hard. “She was only trying to help. Don’t be cruel.” Just plants. With those two words, he dismissed everything. All my work, my knowledge, my gift to his people. Before I came, this clan lived hunt-to-hunt. Their improperly cooked meat led to sickness, to weakness. Their children were born frail, and few survived their first winter. I was the one who found the wild seeds, who taught them to farm, who brought them health and prosperity. My knowledge is what made the clan respect him, what made him Chieftain. And now, he looked at my life’s work and called it “just plants,” all to defend the woman who had destroyed it. “Kael… my stomach hurts,” Faye whimpered, burying her face in his chest. She clung to him like a parasitic vine, her tear-streaked face the very picture of pitiable fragility. It worked. Kael’s attention snapped back to her. He shifted his grip, placing a large, gentle hand over her belly, rubbing in slow, careful circles. The gesture was so tender, so practiced, it was like a knife in my heart. Kael was not a naturally gentle man. He had learned that tenderness for me. Every time I’d been sick or hurt, he’d hovered over me, his rough hands learning to be soft. And now, he was giving that tenderness away. A wave of despair washed over me. The pain in my knee was a dull, throbbing echo of the agony in my chest. I dug my fingers into the damp earth beside me. They stayed like that for a long moment, lost in their own little world. “It still hurts,” Faye whispered. Without another word, Kael swept her up into his arms. He looked over at me, his expression a complex mask of duty and regret. “Lyra, I’m taking her to the Elder Healer.” He started to say something else, but I cut him off. “I’m hurt, too.” Kael froze. I met his gaze, my hand trembling as I pressed it against my bleeding knee. “I’m hurt, too, Kael.” The air grew heavy with silence. His lips parted, his body shifting as if to move toward me. But then Faye’s arm snaked around his neck, pulling him close. “Blood…” she gasped. A slick of crimson ran down her inner thigh. Kael’s face turned ashen. All hesitation vanished. He clutched her tighter and broke into a run, racing toward the Healer’s hut at the far end of the village. I watched them go, a hollow, empty space where my heart used to be. A small, bitter smile touched my lips. In that moment, the last wisp of feeling I had for Kael finally died.
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