VALERIA

Silas, sitting beside her, holding her hand, has slowly been integrating into the family, though it’s obvious he still prefers to isolate himself with Sigrid.

My eyes linger on him for a second, and I can’t help the pang of sadness that hits me.

"Vale, you’re doing it again." Aldric warns me, and I immediately avert my gaze.

Silas came to me in secret—he wants my help with our Selenia magic.

He still has hope that he can be cured, that he might be able to give my daughter pups, and that filled me with deep sorrow.

Sigrid doesn’t know he’s asking for my help; Silas doesn’t want to give her false hope.

I promised to keep quiet, but I can’t hide something this important from Aldric. At first, he completely shut down. I thought he wouldn’t understand.

He barely spoke for an entire day, devastated, but the next day, Sigrid invited him to run as wolves, just the two of them.

I don’t know what happened, what they talked about.

But when he returned, he was calmer and accepted the situ