Other Realms

Three days after Kade swore fealty, the warnings started.

They didn’t come with armies. They came with messengers.

And every single one of them wanted to see Aria.

The first arrived at noon. A Vampire envoy in black velvet and red eyes, standing at the Citadel gates with a sealed letter and a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Lady Elara,” he said, bowing low, “I bring greetings from Lord Valen of the Night Court. He requests an audience with the Moon’s true daughter. As a gesture of goodwill between our peoples.”

Darius didn’t let him past the gates. “The Queen is resting with her children. Leave the letter.”

The Vampire’s smile sharpened. “Lord Valen will be disappointed. He has been waiting 300 years for a Moonblood to rise again.”

We didn’t see him after that.

The second came at dusk. Fae. Tall and inhumanly beautiful with eyes like shattered glass and skin that seemed to shift in the light.

“Queen Elara,” she said, voice like wind through leaves, “the Seelie Court wishes to offer blessing to the young Moonblood. Such power should not walk the world unguarded.”

“Blessing,” I repeated. “Or binding.”

Her smile was too knowing. “Blessings can be both, my Queen. Consider our offer.”

She vanished in a swirl of leaves before we could answer.

By the third day, Kade’s wolves were reporting movement at the borders. Witch covens gathering in the east. Vampire scouts in the west. Fae lights dancing in the northern woods.

They were all coming.

“Let them come,” Kade said at the war table that night. He sat with us now, Alpha of wolves but bowing to Lycan law. “But they won’t come for peace. They’ll come to see if the prophecy is real. And if it is, they’ll try to control her.”

Aria slept in a bassinet beside the table, oblivious. Elias sat beside her, hand resting on the edge like he’d keep the whole world away with just that.

“The Prophecy said the blade cuts both ways,” I murmured, looking at her. “What if they’re right? What if she’s dangerous?”

“She’s two weeks old,” Darius said firmly. “She’s not dangerous. She’s our daughter.”

Kade nodded. “But when she’s older… the power in her will wake. And the other realms will know. The Vampires want to bind her to their bloodline. The Fae want to take her to their courts and raise her as one of them. The Witches… they want to use her blood for rituals.”

I stood up, hands braced on the table. “Over my dead body.”

“Over our dead bodies,” Darius corrected, coming to stand beside me. “They want Moonblood? They’ll have to go through all of us.”

Elias looked up at both of us, small but fierce. “I’ll protect her. I’m the shield.”

The prophecy was already happening.

Just not the way any of us expected.

The next morning, the fourth messenger arrived.

This one didn’t knock.

He appeared in the throne room in a flash of silver light and black smoke, dropping to one knee before us. He was old. Older than Darius. His robes were marked with symbols I didn’t recognize, and his eyes were pure white.

“I am Magister Thorne of the Arcane Council,” he said, voice echoing in the chamber. “I come as the last neutral party before war begins. The other realms are mobilizing. They will not wait long.”

He looked at Aria. Really looked, and his white eyes widened.

“So it is true,” he whispered. “Moonblood, untainted for 300 years. The Prophecy is in motion.”

I stood, holding Aria against my chest. “What do you want?”

“To offer a choice,” he said. “Bring the child to the Arcane Council. We will train her. Protect her. Keep her safe from the others while she learns to control her power.”

“And in exchange?” Darius asked, voice dangerous.

“In exchange, she will serve the Council when she is of age,” Thorne said bluntly. “As the Prophecy demands. As the blade that will remake or rend the world.”

The room went ice cold.

“Absolutely not,” I said. “Aria is not a weapon. She is not a tool for your Council or for anyone else.”

Thorne sighed, like he’d expected that answer. “Then be ready, Queen Elara. The other realms will not be so polite. And when they come… they will not ask.”

He vanished in another flash of light, leaving only the scent of ozone and old magic behind.

Silence fell over the throne room.

Outside, the Citadel was quiet.

But in the distance, I could hear it.

The sound of drums. Of marching feet. Of war.

The other realms had made their decision.

And they were coming for my daughter.