Page 112 of Untethering Dark

The winter goddess’s eyes shone. “You are ready, Tochter. And I couldn’t be prouder.”

“Thank you.”For being my mother. My protector. My greatest champion.Astrid sucked in a sharp breath and pulled her mother into a tight hug, tears leaving icy tracks down her cheeks. “For everything. I love you.”

“I love you, too, darling girl.” Perchta rocked her from side to side. “Be fierce. Be just. But most of all, be the joy they need.”

Astrid walked with Gudariks to the forest’s edge. Where they stepped, the wind followed, removing all trace of their tracks in the snow.

“Your hair, it’s gotten tangled. May I?”

Astrid nodded, turning to give him access. “Still getting used to that.”

Gudariks untangled windswept hair from her antlers and braided it into a simple plait. “So it doesn’t get caught again.”

When he was finished, he laid the braid over her shoulder. The end was tied with a brand-new ribbon. “A little something to commemorate your first day.”

She clasped her hand over the gift, heart melting into a puddle. “Liebe, thank you. Where did you get this?”

“Oskar was kind enough to procure it for me.”

“I should’ve known.”The little rascal.“Thank you both.”

“I’ll be waiting for you when you get back.” Gudariks cupped her cheek. “Whatever happens... I’ll be here.”

She leaned into his touch, soaking in the warmth.Hopefully the night would bring more joy than heartbreak. But she just couldn’t know. “I’ll need it.”

“Frohe Wintersonnenwende, Hexe.”

“Frohe Wintersonnenwende, Wald Vater.”

A bag of silver coins on one hip, a dagger on the other, and bells jingling from the cord tied around her waist, Astrid descended the snowy slope toward the quiet streets of Baden-Gottsdorf, Gudariks’s loving gaze at her back.

One day, she would have her own familiar, and a sleigh team to call her own, but for now, this was more than enough. Centuries lay ahead. Millennia, even, to grow and build.

Astrid lifted her hands to the sky, calling upon the Yuletide magic she had always loved, her palms glowing with icy blue light.

Snowflakes kissed her cheeks.

“Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.”