Aftermath of War

The battle ended at noon.

We won. But “won” felt like the wrong word when I walked through the Citadel afterward.

The gates were gone. The outer wall had a 40-foot breach where Thorne’s magic hit. The training yard was a graveyard of bodies - Vampire, Fae, Witch, and Lycan all mixed together in the mud.

And the smell… gods, the smell of blood and burnt magic and death was everywhere.

Roric survived. Barely. He’d be in the healers’ wing for weeks with a broken spine. The two healers from the vault were dead.

Thorne’s traitor Lycans were all dead too. Every single one. Elder Vex’s brother had died with a smile on his face, like he’d accomplished what he came for.

I found Darius in the courtyard, covered in blood that wasn’t all his, holding Elias who was shaking despite trying not to.

“You’re okay,” Darius said the second he saw me, pulling both me and Aria into a hug so tight I couldn’t breathe. “You’re both okay.”

“We’re okay,” I whispered back, kissing Aria’s head. She’d slept through most of the cleanup, like she’d burned through all her energy on Thorne.

Elias pulled back and looked up at me with eyes way too old for a 5-year-old. “I killed someone today, Mommy.”

My heart broke.

I knelt down to his level. “I know, baby. I’m so sorry you had to.”

“He was going to kill you,” Elias said fiercely. “The one with the Witch mark. He was casting at you.”

“I know,” I said again. “And you did what you had to do to protect us. That’s what the shield does.”

He buried his face in my shoulder and finally let himself cry.

Kade found us like that. He stood at the edge of the courtyard, looking wrecked in a way I’d never seen the Alpha before.

“We lost 312 Lycans,” he said quietly. “The other realms retreated when Thorne pulled back. But they’ll be back. They saw what Aria can do now.”

Darius stood up, putting himself between Kade and us. “Did you see what she did, Kade? She’s a baby. And they want to use her as a weapon.”

“I know,” Kade said. “That’s why I stayed and fought. That’s why I’m telling you this now: the Arcane Council isn’t done. Thorne escaped. And he’s going to tell every realm exactly what he saw in that vault.”

I stood up, Aria still in my arms. “Then we prepare. We fortify. We train.”

Kade shook his head. “Training won’t be enough, Elara. Moonblood doesn’t work like normal Lycan power. The records I found… they say it grows with emotion. With fear. With anger. The more she feels, the stronger it gets.”

Aria shifted in my arms and whimpered in her sleep, like she could hear us talking about her.

“So what are you saying?” I asked.

“I’m saying you can’t hide her forever,” Kade said. “And you can’t let her power control her. If she loses control again like she did with Thorne… next time it might kill her. Or someone else.”

The words hit like a physical blow.

Darius put a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”

The healers’ apprentice came running into the courtyard then, out of breath. “Queen Elara! The vault - the Moonstone - it’s reacting!”

We were running before she finished the sentence.

The new Moonstone we’d installed after shattering the old one was in the Throne Room. It was supposed to be inert until we needed it for ceremonies.

Now it was glowing.

Pulsing with silver light that matched the rhythm of Aria’s breathing.

And it was hot. So hot the air around it shimmered.

Darius stepped forward to touch it and jerked his hand back immediately. “It’s burning.”

Aria stirred and opened her eyes.

The Moonstone’s light flared brighter.

And I realized with sick certainty what was happening.

The Prophecy wasn’t just about Aria.

The Moonstone was reacting to her. To her power. To her presence.

_“The first shall be shield, the second shall be blade,”_ I whispered.

Elias was the shield. Standing between us and the world.

Aria was the blade. And the blade had just woken up.

And the world was going to feel it.