Wheeling Gull Isle they are two alone

We.

Yes, that was how it must be. Two against one was always better odds - even if the two of them were both somehow half-people, or previously drawn and quartered, they could be whole when they faced Phox. If and when the opportunity arose, they could handle it together.

Maegi's lamentations were met with a tighter squeeze, then a heavy draw of the tongue across her face. Warmth spreading across her cheek until the air cooled the kiss.

Happiness — they were owed as much, after all that they had been through. Mou did not know what to say; he knew the bad luck had to run out eventually, that their curse could not be endless, regardless of the crimes he may have committed in the past.

In his mind the calamities of the Blackfeather wolves boiled down to two aspects: the zeal of Maegi's now scattered family and the soul-debt of Mou, who had disgraced the dark woods time and again. Whatever evil was invoked upon them both in youth should have been appeased by now.

He would not let it happen a third time.