69

“Elder Sage is right,” Mom said. “Bryn, step into the circle when you’re ready.”

“Right.” Bryn started walking toward it, but I pulled her back.

“Just a minute,” I said. Elder Sage seemed displeased but didn’t say anything as I pulled Bryn aside.

“Are you nervous?” she asked.

“Aren’t you?” I pushed her hair behind her ear and bent so I could talk to her at eye level. “Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?”

She kissed the corner of my mouth, then looked up at me with love blazing in her eyes. “I haven’t been this sure about something since the first time we made love,” she whispered.

The kiss, followed by the memory of that first night, seared through me. Yet, it still seemed so unsafe. “Everything in me is screaming at me not to let you go in that circle,” I told her.

“I know you want to protect us,” she said, her hand on her belly. “But Night, you can’t protect me from this. This will answer so many of my questions about who I am. I need to do this.”

I let out a long breath. I