The Stargazer's Alpha

Ch. 20: The Great Confession Weather

The Moon-at-Noon Well looked like a wishing well made of wild boulders. Windfall lumber, animal bones and antlers, all of it blanched by the weather, went into the making of the crossbar and the steepled roof. There was no bucket, no winch and no chain. The makers of this well didn't mean for its water to be a mortals' drink.

Blake stood with his back leaned against the structure.

He still wore our flower crown. A blade of grass he crimped between his teeth was new, even though the tufts on its end have already drooped, just like the flower heads. His judgmental wolf was nowhere in sight, so I dumped my stuff on the ground and sprinted the last yards of the stony path toward him.

Barefoot. Foolhardy. Exhilarating.

"Blake!"

He spat out his blade of grass. An unguarded grin replaced his thoughtful frown. He pushed from the stonework to catch me mid-stride and twirl me through the air. His powerful arms held me tight and gentle. The snowy peaks and the clouds in the sky span around us.

"Finally!" Blake cried out.

"Blake! It couldn't have been more than a few minutes!"

His chuckle was rather dry. "Try again."

Then I glanced at the sky. The colors of the sunrise didn't appear yet—I wouldn't have missed it—but it was growing lighter by the moment and the moon was half-transparent in the West.

While by the lake, the night was in full swing. The moon was full and bright and the sky was as black as water.

Running up the trail, I was mostly looking down, to avoid twisting my ankle or stubbing my toe.

"I...I guess, it took longer than I thought."

"Two hours," Blake said. He gazed at me so intently, that my response—magic, huh—never left my lips as I watched him struggle with a confession.

"I paced the entire time," he added at last, and I believed him. The predawn light washed out every color to gray, but his skin looked bloodless, which seemed to be his tell of extreme stress. His cheeks sunk in under his sharp cheekbones too. And I could read an obvious relief in the way the corners of his eyes crinkled.

Why did I dally at the lake? Did I imagine I was important enough to get anything useful out of it? Blake was the only person I mattered to...and who mattered to me.

"I...I'm sorry I made you worried, Alpha. The Moon Goddess...she...oof." He sat me on his feet, so I didn't have to bruise my bare soles on the rocks again, so I still felt like I was swirling on top of the world in his embrace.

Alas, he was looking at me with expectation. Still puffing for breath, I told him everything, finishing with a shaky, "What do you think this means?"

I braced internally for his answer. He was such a direct person, he wouldn't soften the blow. He would tell me that the Goddess sent me an auto reply answer. I had a million of those in response to the resumes they didn't even look at before sending them into trash.

Blake pulled off the crown from his hair and hung it on one antlers's end, over the well, like it was an offering to whatever lived within. He didn't turn back to me, gazing down the well instead.

"The Goddess spoke to you in these exact words?"

"There were gusts of wind as well. Do they mean anything too?"

He leaned even more into the well. "I don't think it needs a lot of guesswork, Celeste."

The echo bounced my name off the well's walls. Celeste, Celeste, Celes...