Blood of The Shattered Moon

The morning after the dream, I can't shake the feeling that something has shifted. Changed. Like a door I didn't know existed has been cracked open, and now I can't close it no matter how hard I try.I can still feel the ghost of Kael's touch on my skin—the warmth of his palm against my cheek, the desperate pressure of his mouth on mine. My lips are tender, as if the kiss was real. As if he was real.Kael.Even his name feels dangerous. It sits on my tongue like a secret I'm not supposed to know, heavy with meaning I can't quite grasp.I sit at the edge of my bed in the small room I've occupied all my life, staring at the Dreambowl on the wooden table beside me. It's a shallow basin carved from moonwood and filled with water that gleams silver in the perpetual twilight filtering through my window. Every family in Eclipsehaven keeps one—a sacred vessel for catching dreams, for recording the visions that Irethiel sends in the night.But I've never put mine to use. My mother forbade it y

The Starveil Caravan is unlike anything I've ever seen.Even battered and diminished by the Dominion attack, it's an impressive sight—six remaining wagons painted in deep indigos and blacks, trimmed with silver filigree that catches the light like captured stars. Each wagon is pulled by creatures I've only heard about in stories: Voidsteppers, massive horse-like beasts with coats that shimmer like oil slicks and eyes that glow faint purple. They're native to the floating shards that orbit the Core Sea, and they're said to be able to walk through shadows when properly trained.The people of the caravan are just as varied and exotic. I see Varellan nomads with their crystalline skin-markings, Marshborn with subtle gill-slits along their necks, even a pair of Runeborn whose skin glows faintly with etched symbols of power. They eye Kael and me with a mixture of curiosity and wariness as we help load supplies and tend to the wounded.No one speaks to us directly. Not yet.I'm given a spot

The morning after the dream, I can barely look at Kael without blushing.He rides in with the scouts just as the camp is breaking down, his face carefully neutral, but the moment our eyes meet across the clearing, I feel the bond flare hot between us. He knows. He remembers every detail of the dream, just as I do. I can see it in the way his jaw tightens, the way his hands clench on the Voidstepper's reins. The way his gaze drops to my mouth for just a fraction of a second before he forces himself to look away."You slept well, I hope?" Riven asks cheerfully, appearing at my elbow with a cup of weak tea.I take it gratefully, using it as an excuse to avoid eye contact. "Well enough.""Liar." She grins. "You look like you spent the night wrestling demons. Or dreaming about wrestling a certain cursed prince.""Riven—""I'm just saying, the bond affects dreams too. Everyone knows that. And judging by the way he's been avoiding looking at you all morning, I'd wager you two had quite the s

The landscape changes dramatically once we cross into Varelle. Gone are the silver forests and black-sand shores of Lyriah. Gone is the misty, dreamlike quality that made everything feel slightly unreal. Varelle is harsh. Unforgiving. Beautiful in a way that's sharp enough to cut. The Crystal Wastes stretch before us like a frozen ocean—endless dunes of sand that shimmer with embedded gemstones, throwing rainbow refractions in every direction. The sun here is different too. Brighter. Hotter. It beats down mercilessly, turning the inside of the wagon into an oven."Welcome to Varelle," Riven says cheerfully, apparently unbothered by the heat. "Land of beauty, danger, and terrible dehydration. Remember to drink water regularly, or you'll be hallucinating within hours.""Comforting," I mutter, taking a swig from my waterskin. The caravan has been traveling for three days since we fled the Moon Sanctum scouts. Three days of pushing hard, sleeping little, and constantly looking over our sh

The hours crawl by.The Bloodmoon hangs overhead, swollen and red-tinged, and I can feel its influence pressing down like a weight. Through the bond, I feel Kael's constant struggle—the curse pulling at him, demanding he break free, that he hunt, that he feed. But he doesn't. He holds. For me.I've moved closer now, sitting just within the circle of salt and crystal. Close enough that if he strained against the chains, his fingers might brush mine. But I don't touch. Not yet. I'm waiting for him to ask. Waiting for him to be ready."Tell me about Eclipsehaven," he says suddenly, his voice still layered but more controlled than before. "What was it like? Growing up there?".The question surprises me, but I understand what he's doing. Grounding himself. Focusing on something other than the hunger. "Beautiful," I say. "And suffocating. Everything glowed—the trees, the beaches, even the mist. It was like living in a dream that you could never quite wake from." I pause. "People were kind, m