~Savannah's POV~
They lift me up from the underground. Hands on both my shoulders.
Lila is on my right. She grips my arm and keeps me upright. Hector is on my left. His hand is steady. Their weight makes me move faster than I can walk. My legs wobble. The punishments have left me weak.
Guards fall in behind and before us. Thalia and Elder Silas walk between us like a shield. The elders' hall rises in low domes of stone as we pass. The courtyard smells of smoke and old rock. We head for the Alpha Hall. A fence of hewn stone rings the yard.
The Alpha Hall looms under a steep gabled roof. Guards line the entrance and bow when they see Hector. I stumble through the doorway and the hall takes me.
The hall is wide and plain. Heavy beams cross the ceiling. Long benches flank a central table. Animal hides lie near the hearth. Torchlight throws warm gold along the stone.
They carry me to the Luna room. The door is thick oak bound with iron. A narrow window cuts a strip of morning light. The ceiling is low and beamed. The bed is a heavy oak frame. A mattress of wool and straw sits on it. A coarse linen cover and a folded fur lie at the foot. No silks. No ornaments. The room smells of herbs.
Three women wait. Healers. Their hands move with calm. They wash my wounds with hot water. They press hot clothes to the worst places. They lay poultices of leaves and tie them firmly. The pain cuts, sharp and honest.
I cry out when they scrub the worst. The sound tears out and shakes me. I close my eyes and breathe through it. A healer slips a warm draught to my lips. It is bitter and heavy and it cools something raw inside.
Hector nods once to the healers. He does not watch me. He turns and leaves for his rooms. He breathes once as if dropping a weight, and his shoulders slope like a man carrying weather.
Lila will not stop. Her words jump and spill. She wipes my face with a band and says, "Good luck, sister. The moon never forgets. She saved you through our Alpha. No one could have escaped that."
"I will always appreciate you," I say. "You stood by me." My voice breaks. Tears come without warning.
Lila folds over me and presses her forehead to mine. "Do not say such things," she says. "We cannot change what happened. I need you. I want you alive. I love you, Savannah."
Her hands shake as she speaks. A healer lays a steady palm on my shoulder. "Do not speak like that," she says soft. "You did not choose this. Rest now."
I try to say more. The words choke. "But the people I killed—Hector could have let me die. Maybe my death would have kept other blood from falling. The only way to end this thing is for me to die."
Lila grabs my fingers and squeezes until the pain answers. "No. We stand together. You will not walk into death alone."
She wipes my tears and tucks a cloth under my chin. The healers finish and fold their herbs. They leave us. Lila will not go.
A maid sets a tray on the stool. Elera watches with a careful smile. The stew is thick and herbed. I eat because Lila eats and because the taste settles a hollow.
After the meal Lila helps me to the bed. She pads it with the fur and smooths the linen. The mattress gives and then holds. The window sits high and the light is thin. A single candle stands on a stool.
Lila slides in beside me without fuss. Her body is warm and close. We speak in low whispers. She tells the stories we told when I was still a child. She remembers the time the spearhead fell and she laughed until she coughed. The small memory keeps the dark at bay.
I try to sleep. My wounds ache. I count faces in my head to keep from falling apart. Nicholas' grin. The apple he hid. Sand between my fingers. Anders' face when his daughter fell—I see him turn grief into a blade. I hold that image like a hot stone.
Lila's hand finds my wrist and stays. Her breath even slows. Her hair smells like smoke and soap. She breathes stories and I drift.
***
Before dawn I startle awake. A warm weight sits at my side. My lids lift and I see Hector.
He sits close enough that his breath stirs the hair at my temple. He wears a short linen kilt. His chest is bare. A dark bruise marks his lip. Lines edge his eyes. He looks like a man carved by winters.
He smiles, small and careful. "My Luna," he says. "How was your night? Did you sleep?"
I manage a thin smile. "My Alpha. Some. You?"
"Enough." His voice holds relief and something else. He studies me like a map. "Tell me the truth. Did you choose to kill? Or did the dark take you? I need to know."
The room tastes of herbs and wood. I breathe and answer low. "My Alpha, I never chose to kill. When the dark takes me I am gone. I cannot stop it. It used to come only at new moons. Now it came during the ritual. I do not know who cursed me."
I look down at my hands. Ash sits in the cuts. "I am confused. I do not know who did this. But thank you. For saving me."
Hector presses his palm to the bed and holds for a second. He breathes slowly, then says, "Do not thank me. I have waited a long time for my mate. For the Messenger. The pack may doubt. I do not."
We hold each other's looks. The gap between us is a thing I feel. He has weather under his skin. I am raw. A nervous laugh escapes me before I can stop it. He smiles, surprised and soft.
His hand lifts and his fingers touch my cheek. He tucks a stray hair behind my ear. The motion is small and careful. No man has touched me like that. Men kept away because of what I am.
His hand is warm. He does not move in a way that frightens. He says, low, "I will look after you. I will not let you walk to death alone."
The words settle a small rope around my ribs. For a beat I let the promise in. I breathe deeper.
A sudden clatter comes from the hall. A shout cuts like a blade. Then many voices answer. I sit up. My heart hammers. Hector's fingers clamp at my wrist hard.
The shouting grows into a roar. I hear it clear and raw: "This monster must die!" The line repeats and builds. "Or Moon-Kingdom divides!"
The cold runs under my skin. Hector looks to the door as if struck. Outside, the pack's anger gathers like a storm. My chest tightens and I know the pack's next move before their feet even sound.