Could you tell me a little more about astaria?
Astaria grew up with 24 other witches in Paelford Stronghold. There are other strongholds in other territories that have other witches, but she is quite happy in Paelford, thank you very much. There is a garden with flowers, another garden with food stuffs such as turnips and carrots and blueberries, a large library the size of a small house, and just everything a young witch would need to practice her craft.
The thing is, Astaria...can't. For some reason, she seems to have no magic. She can't cast anything, and spells cast against her seem to fizzle out before they hit her. When a witch reaches magical maturity, her eyes begin to glow the color of her chosen craft (purple for teleportation, blue for telekinesis, etc), but Astaria is the only witch in Paelford with nice normal brown eyes. (Don't tell anyone she said this, but glowing eyes kinda freak her out).
Because of this, she's never been selected as a wolf's potential mate. Ordinarily, this would be no big deal - when the mating spell wears off on her twenty-fifth birthday, she'd just join the other rejected witches in raising the little ones in Paelford and simply live out her life, right? Wrong-o. There are enough witches in Paelford, and Mother (the leader of the witches) is embarrassed of her...lack of talent... so Astaria will be sent to the outer edges of Tykra to a war-torn village to become their Keeper. A Keeper is a woman who is In Charge of Making Decisions, Helping the Community, and Healing the Sick. She's essentially a Mayor that Has to Actually Do Stuff and Has Consequences For Not Doing Stuff.
Thankfully, Dominic decided to break his pact with Aspen to marry Astaria for reasons even he can't explain, so now Astaria has to prepare for being a Keeper to a pack of wolves and witches who are all looking down on her for her lack of magic (at least, they probably will, why wouldn't they?) while also giving Dominic a Child, which terrifies her to no end. Thankfully, the mating ritual extends the spell that allows witches to carry wolf children until their mid-fifties or so, so there's no rush there, but it's still a terrifying prospect.
Especially since Aspen is now the Beta's mate and doesn't seem super thrilled that Astaria has taken her place...