Broken off from the rest of the storm—and the magic that had prevented it from releasing anywhere but in the clearing—the rain poured down.

Selena flinched when she saw the flash of lightning, but she shaped another wedge of wind and used it to slice off another piece of the storm and send it eastward.

The third time she sliced off a piece of the storm, she felt another power brush against hers, another wind grab the storm, pulling it further apart, draining some of its energy and sending it back in a way that would keep some of the storm restrained as it was sent on so that not all of it would fall here.

Rhyann, playing with air and water in a way that would spread the storm farther and farther, diluting it in the process.

Selena’s heart lifted. She worked to slice the storm into pieces, trusting that Rhyann would catch those pieces and send them on, driven by fast winds.

The storm would keep spreading out, driven east by the winds. Other witches who could command the branches of air or water would catch the storm when it came to them and continue to send it on. It would fly over the Mother’s Hills, softened by the many witches who commanded those branches of the Great Mother. Perhaps it would go even further east, but it would diminish to a soft rain, a farmer’s rain that would nourish the crops instead of destroying them.

She worked the storm. She didn’t know how long it took. It might have been hours. If felt like days before she sent the last clouds toward Rhyann and the rain in the clearing finally stopped. Overhead, the clear night sky was filled with stars.

Shivering from exhaustion as much as the chill in the air, Selena slowly grounded the power that held the circle in the clearing. The standing water poured out, spreading itself through the woods.

She walked back to Mistrunner, wondering if she had the strength left to mount—and wondering if he would be able to find his way back to Ella’s house.

As she rested her forehead against his neck, someone said hesitantly, “Huntress?”

She looked up and saw the woman standing nearby, watching her anxiously. She said nothing. She simply waited.

The woman came forward slowly, then went down on one knee. “I, Gwynith, here and now pledge my loyalty and service to you, Selena, the Lady of the Moon…and the Huntress.”

Since she didn’t know the correct response to this part of the ritual, Selena said nothing.

Gwynith looked at her. “Do you accept?”

“I accept.”

A look of relief that was almost brutal to see filled Gwynith’s face. She rose and stepped aside.