Amias stares at the ring like it weighs thousands. He doesn't touch it. He can't. The metal looks harmless but it feels like destiny waiting to lock itself around his choices.
His mother smiles again as if joy alone will keep her alive. "You and Lira will carry a legacy that I could never finish. She will make a wonderful Luna. She is strong, kind, beautiful, and respected."
Those words were supposed to boost Amias's pride, because what man wouldn't be happy about marrying the pack's most exemplary female?
However, they don't. He imagines Heidi for a fraction of a second. He sees her messy butterscotch hair from that night in the woods, her stubborn chin, that sarcastic mouth of hers, freckles shaped like constellations, strength she doesn't even know she has.
His heart aches.
For one small moment, something in him wants to say Mother, the girl I love is not Lira.
