I just watched, stunned and unable to believe my eyes.
The elk’s horns had been lowered to me, and even the way they bowed was so divine and majestic.
Then, it lifted its head and took a step back.
I turned back to the luminous figure.
"You are not alone." He said. "When you need me, I have been there for you. At the right time, you will fulfill your destiny."
"Fulfil my destiny?" I was alarmed. "I don’t understand what you’re talking about. What do you mean you have been there for? Please help me understand."
"Daughter of the red moon. You will understand." He assured me, and just as I was about to start begging, the light began to diminish bit by bit until it was gone entirely.
There was no one there.
I could have said that I imagined it all had it been for the white elk who still stood before me.
It was now grazing the grass.
Before I could determine whether I had dreamed it was real, I heard some noises in the bush.
Reflex and I stood right before the white elk again, but this time it was Xaden.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"You’re alive and well." I said my heart was in my chest.
"You found it." That was the first thing he said.
Then he came towards us, and then he stopped short when he saw the wolf dead at my feet.
"You killed him?" He asked me.
There was bewilderment and disbelief in his eyes.
If I had told him that a person I hadn’t seen and only spoken to had been the one who killed the wolf, he would have called me insane.
So I said. "It was tough, but I managed to. But he had a dagger, so I used it against him."
He stared at the wolf, unable to say a word, and I prayed that he wouldn’t toss the wolf over.
If he did, he wouldn’t find a stab wound.
Fortunately, he didn’t, and I sighed in relief.
Then he walked across the wolf and came up to me. Then I remembered that he was going to want to kill the wolf.
"Move aside." He said. "I’m taking the horns."
I shook my head.
I had never, for once, defied him, not even for my own sake.
But here I was, staring into his handsome face and the mark cut across his eye.
Making him more dangerous and alluring.
"Please, he doesn’t need to die." I pleaded.
"You don’t get to decide." He told me, and then he took a step closer.
My feet went wobbly instantly. "Mind, I remind you that you are already in big trouble."
I looked down at my hands.
Before I said anything more, the elk stood at attention behind me, and then he bent his head.
I thought he was bowing down again, and then I saw what he was doing.
I understood it.
"He is offering his horns." I said. "He knows you need it. You need the horns. You don’t need to kill the animal."
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