THE HUMAN LUNA

Sera’s POVThe alarm bells of Thornwall hadn’t rung in three years.When they rang now, I was already running. I’d been in the war room, staring at a map that kept telling me the same terrible truth; we had food for forty more days, ammunition for twenty, and hope for about three.I’d been trying to find a fourth number that made the first three less fatal when the bells split the morning air like a blade.I grabbed my sword without thinking. My boots hit the stone corridor before the second ring died."What is it?" I shouted at the guard sprinting past me."The east gate, Commander. You need to see it yourself."That was never a good sentence. I took the stairs three at a time, burst through the heavy iron door at the top of the wall and pushed through the cluster of soldiers gathered at the parapet. They parted for me without being asked.I looked down, and saw just one man, one horse, no army, no flag, no weapons. I could see it from up here.But I knew who he was before I saw his

Sera’s POVMorning came grey and cold.I hadn’t slept all through the night. I’d sat at my window and watched the cooking fires light up one by one in the settlement below as people rose before dawn the way hungry people always do… because empty stomachs don’t let you sleep past first light.I washed my face, strapped on my sword, braided my hair back tight the way I always did before something difficult, then I walked down to the outer yard.I stopped the moment I saw him.Cael Duskborne. This early?But he was not alone this time. Six wolf guards in full Duskborne armor flanked him on each side, standing perfectly still in the pale morning light. Massive, silent, expressionless. Not a threat exactly, more like a reminder. A quiet demonstration of exactly what was waiting beyond Thornwall's walls.He stood at the front of them, still in that same unhurried way, hands clasped behind his back, watching me cross the yard toward him.His amber eyes moved to my sword, then back to my face

Sera's POVI stared at him and didn't move.He stood one step inside the room, relaxed as always, watching me with those amber eyes that gave away exactly nothing. The firelight caught the angles of his face and made him look like something carved rather than born.I hated that he was attractive. It felt like a personal insult."You said we would discuss what this marriage looks like," I said "So discuss."He moved further into the room, toward the sitting area, where two chairs faced each other in front of the fireplace. He sat in one of them and looked at me with an expression that said well?I crossed the room and sat in the other one.If he was surprised I did sit with just a gesture, he didn’t show it."The bond has to be real," he said. "Not performed. Real. Wolf noble houses will be watching… If they believe this marriage is hollow they will use it against both of us.""Real means different things to different people, and–""In wolf culture it means witnessed," he cut me off. "

SERA’S POV; Cael stood there looking at me, just exactly the same way he always used to.He was calm, elegant and composed, with his hair a little loosened as if his thought had been interrupted rather than his sleep.What always struck me about him was that there was no guard, no entourage, no security, just him and himself alone.I surveyed his body from head to toe, and I could not help but notice that his hands were empty.“Hey, did something happen?” I asked him, wondering why he had such countenance. He glared at me and sighed, then his eyes went straight to the window, and then back at me. “Yes, something happened,” he replied, his face turning slightly towards the window again. I felt a tight nudge on my stomach.“What happened? Talk to me,” I said, already getting impatient and anxious.Despite the fact that I was pressuring him and rushing him to talk, he did not respond to me and answer my question immediately, and that alone told me everything I needed to know.I inhale

Sera’s POVWith a deep breath, I jerked up from the large bed, the woods intact and noiseless as though they had been warned by their makers never to have their owner question their capabilities.I breathed heavily, my head spinning as if I had been on one of those playful wheels found in an amusement park all night. It was morning now, but the last thing I could recall was Mira helping me out of my formal dress. My eyes darted around the wing and its rooms, trying to fish out a particular unusual thing that could at least confirm the fact that something had happened to me and that I wasn't just gradually running mad under the influence of whatever it was I ate at dinner.I wiped the beads of sweat on my forehead, swinging the blankets off my feet in urgency as I tried to get off the bed. As soon as I bent to find my fur-like room footwear, a sharp ring sounded in my ears for quite a long moment, making me wince in pain. That was when it dawned on me, the memories of last night. The d