CHAPTER 9

Aria's POV 

The Blood Moon rose, red and heavy in the sky. I watched it from the edge of Crimson Pack territory, the cold wind brushing against my skin. Everything was too quiet. I didn't hear a single bird call, and I didn't hear a whisper from the trees. It was like the world was holding its breath.

One of the elders said the Blood Moon brought change. Magic. Madness. Death.

I didn’t believe in his old stories. Not really. But something about tonight felt wrong. The air had a pulse. My blood felt hotter. As my skin tingles.

Suddenly Elias appeared beside me without a sound, as usual. “You feel it,” he said. Not a question.

“Yes.” I didn’t look at him. My eyes were locked on the moon.

“The pack gathers on the high ridge during the Blood Moon. Tradition,” he said. “Come with me.”

I nodded, though my body screamed to run the other way.

We climbed the narrow path in silence. Below, the forest was a sea of shadow and silver mist. Above, the Blood Moon seemed to pulse like a heartbeat.

The entire pack was already assembled. Dorian, arms crossed, eyes alert; Cato, watching everything, thinking ten steps ahead. Even the youngest wolves stood silent in a wide circle around a glowing stone basin filled with still water.

No one spoke. No one howled. Just silence. And then it hit me.

A soundless crack inside my skull. My knees buckled. I collapsed onto the ground as pain lanced through me—not physical pain, but something else. Something deeper.

My vision went white. And then—.

The vision burned through me.

I saw a stone throne, cracked and scorched, surrounded by fire. Wolves howled in agony in the distance. Smoke curled like fingers into the sky.

A woman stood at the heart of it all. She's tall, and fierce, with wild silver hair, and skin that shimmered like moonlight. 

A crown floated above her head—silver and alive, pulsing with power. She turned and looked right at me. Her eyes were mine. I observed her carefully.

“Daughter,” she whispered. Her voice echoed like thunder inside my head.

The world spun.

Flames gave way to shadows, and I was somewhere else, deep in a forest clearing, hidden beneath a crescent moon. A cradle made of light sat among the roots. Inside, a baby cried softly.

Someone dressed like a woman which I couldn't see clearly, and knelt beside it and placed a necklace around the child’s neck. It was a silver chain with a moonstone pendant. Then I stood up and observed clearly that it was a woman.

The baby reached up. The pendant glowed.

I stood up gasping, cold sweat soaking through my shirt like water. I was on the ground, my heart thundering.

Elias crouched beside me. “Aria,” he said softly, placing his hands on my shoulders. “What did you see?”

I couldn’t speak. My throat felt too tight.

Finally, I choked out, “A throne. Fire. A woman. She called me… daughter.”

He went completely still. He continued.“Who was she?” he asked, voice low.

I swallowed hard. “The Moon Queen.”

Elias helped me sit, his brow furrowed deep with something between fear and awe.

“She’s a myth,” he said, but didn’t sound convinced.

“I saw her,” I whispered. “I was her. And the baby… it was me.”

He looked around quickly, making sure no one else had heard. Then he pulled me to my feet. “We can’t talk here. Come on.” He said, and I followed him.

Back in my room, Elias closed the door and pulled the curtains shut. He stood by the window, tense.

“If anyone finds out what you saw—what you are…” he shook his head. “Magnus will come for you himself.”

I was shivering when I sat on the edge of the bed. “Why?”

“Because the prophecy isn’t just a story,” he said. “It’s a warning. The lost heir of the Moon Queen is supposed to bring change. And that scares people like Magnus. He’s been hunting anyone tied to that bloodline for years. He believes power like that shouldn’t exist.”

I moved, and I pressed my fingers on my temples. “I didn’t ask for this," I said softly.

“No,” Elias said gently. “But it’s in you now. And it’s waking up.”

It started small.

The next morning, I could feel everyone’s emotions—like heat coming off their skin. A warrior near the gate was masking grief; Dorian was angry, though he hadn’t spoken a word; Cato, as unreadable as always, was hiding something sharper—fear?

I couldn’t block it. It was like the feelings were crawling on my skin, whispering secrets I didn’t want to know.

I ran.

And I found a quiet spot under an old pine tree and curled up my heart racing.

Elias found me not long after. He didn’t ask. Just sat down beside me and waited.

After a while, I whispered, “I feel everything. It’s too loud.”

“Empathy,” he said. “It’s one of the first gifts they say the Moon Queen passed down.”

I glanced at him. “How do you know so much?”

He hesitated, later he said. “I grew up in a family that believed in the old ways. My grandmother used to tell me stories. About the Queen, the Blood Moon, the lost daughter. I always thought they were just bedtime tales.”

I looked back at the moon, now pale in the daylight. “So did I.”

That night, I had another dream.

Not a memory—this was something else. A warning.

I stood in a ruined throne room. The walls bled. The floors cracked under my feet.

Lilith stood across from me in a blood-red cloak. Her hair floated like smoke. Behind her, and Magnus cradled a baby wrapped in black silk.

My baby.

Lilith smiled. “You thought the prophecy was about power. About a crown.”

Her eyes glowed silver.

“It was always about the blood.”

Suddenly I woke up screaming, my hands clutching my stomach. The baby… it was still there. Still safe.

But for how long?

The next day, Cato summoned me to the war room. His chessboard was laid out again, but this time he didn’t move a piece.

“Sit,” he said, gesturing with his hand.

I did.

He watched me, his expression unreadable. “You collapsed during the Blood Moon. Had a vision. Dorian said your aura changed.”

“It was just a dream.”

“No. It wasn’t.” He replied immediately.

He leaned forward, tapping a carved moon piece on the board. “Do you know what this represents?”

I didn’t answer.

He did it for me. “The Moon Queen. Her line was thought to be extinct. But the prophecy says, her heir would awaken during the Blood Moon. And the signs are aligning.”

I stayed silent.

“You think I’m her?”

“I think you’re something dangerous,” he said. “And valuable.”

I stood up. “Is that why you let me stay? To watch me?”

“No,” Cato said quietly. “I let you stay because Elias believes in you. And because part of me hopes you’re who the prophecy speaks of. Because if you’re not—then we have no hope when Magnus comes.”

That night, I sat alone in the sanctuary gardens, staring at the moon through branches. Elias joined me, quiet as always. He didn’t speak, just held out a necklace. A thin silver chain. At the center, a smooth moonstone.

“I found this,” he said. “In the ruins near where I rescued you. Thought it might be yours.”

My fingers closed around it. It felt warm in my hand, and I slipped it over my neck.

And something inside me clicked.

Not pain. It's power.

Ancient. Familiar. Like coming home.

The next morning, a scout went missing. Dorian tracked his scent to the border. Blood was smeared across the snow.

And carved into the stone wall, in black ash, was a single word—

QUEEN.