Elara's POV
Her amber eyes snap open at the sound of my voice. She stretches luxuriously, like she has just woken from the world’s most comfortable nap, then focuses on me with that intelligent gaze I know so well.
“Luna, come here!” I’m sitting up now, my arms reaching for her.
She gives me one of her most imperious looks—the one that clearly says she’ll come when she’s good and ready—then gracefully leaps down from the branch, straight into my arms.
The moment her warm, solid weight hits my chest, the dam breaks.
Everything I’ve been holding back crashes over me at once. The betrayal, the terror, the bone-deep certainty that I’d lost the one creature who truly loved me. It all comes pouring out in great, shuddering sobs that shake my entire body.
“I thought you were dead,” I gasp a
