THE LUNA’S LAST BREATH

Elaris’s POV

Averic ripped through the hallway as if a storm had taken form.

Violently, his Alpha essence roared around him, causing the wall sconces to tremble and servants to stumble and fall on the stones in their effort to get out of his way.

I followed close behind him.

My feet pounded against the cold floor with each desperate run.

“Maevra!”

Averic did not respond.

Nor could he.

The roar of his wolf was beginning to emanate from within him.

Never before had I heard this sound coming from Averic.

It was not one of fury.

It was one of fear.

Fear that only comes when someone knows what they are about to lose.

We burst into Maevra’s room.

Doctor Harwin hovered next to her bed, both of his hands firmly pressed against her chest.

An immense healing spell blazed beneath his hands, but it started to dim.

“No!”

Averic sprang forward.

“Harwin, heal her!”

“I am trying!”

Harwin’s voice quivered in his panic.

“The essence of her heart has stopped responding to my magic.”

“Then give her more!”

“I’ve already done all that I could safely channel!”

Averic’s aura blazed throughout the room.

“Then use mine.”

Harwin regarded him with

“If I absorb that much Alpha essence from you now, I might harm your wolf."

"I don't care!"

I pushed past them and went to Maevra's bed.

Her hand felt very cold.

Unnaturally cold.

I took both of my hands into hers.

"Maevra…"

She moved her fingers only slightly.

I put them to my cheek.

"Please, don't leave."

My tears fell onto her knuckles.

"You still have many things to say to me."

Her pulse was beating very weakly under my fingers.

Once.

And then it stopped.

I didn't breathe.

Then another weak beat was heard.

My heart broke again.

"She's still alive," I murmured.

Harwin glanced at me.

"For the time being."

Averic crouched beside the bed.

"Mom."

His voice choked on that word.

Maevra's eyelids twitched.

I bent to her.

"Maevra?"

She opened her eyes but not much.

Pain covered them, and yet she focused on me right away.

Not on Averic.

On me.

There was surprising sharpness in her dying eyes.

Her fingers squeezed my hands.

I shook my head furiously.

"Don't talk. Harwin is healing you."

Maevra did not listen to me.

She turned her gaze to Averic.

Then back to mine.

It looked like she was looking for something.

Realization flashed across her face.

My stomach knotted.

She knew.

In some way, she knew about the baby I was carrying.

Maevra wheezed desperately for breath.

“Protect…”

Her voice was barely audible.

I moved closer.

“What?”

Her fingers gripped tightly as she used up the last of her energy.

“Protect…”

She coughed lightly.

Averic crouched down beside her.

“Mother, I’m here.”

But her eyes stayed trained on me.

“My… grandson…”

The whole world seemed to freeze.

I gazed at her.

She knew.

She had known.

Maybe she could sense the life inside me from the very beginning.

“Maevra…”

Her lips stretched into the smallest of smiles.

And then her fingers went limp.

She took one final shuddering breath.

And she was gone.

The silence filled the room.

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t breathe.

I held her hand tighter, willing her to have one more heartbeat.

It never came.

“No…”

My voice trembled.

“No, no…”

Harwin made his way towards us.

I shook my head.

“She’s still here.”

“Elaris…”

“She just spoke.”

I could feel the tears clouding my vision.

“She can’t be gone.”

Harwin’s expression was soft with sorrow.

“I’m sorry.”

I glanced at Averic.

He was gazing at his mother.

Deadly still.

As if the information his mind received would not be processed.

Averic slowly sat next to her bed.

He held Maevra’s dead hand in his palms.

“Mother…”

The word broke into pieces.

He rested his head on her hand.

Then a noise burst from his throat.

It was not a human sound.

It was a primal cry of an Alpha that has lost the person who has raised him.

The response of his wolf rang from someplace deep within him.

An echoing howl echoed in the halls of the castle.

Guards outside bowed their heads.

Servants started to sob in the corridor.

I covered my mouth in order not to let out my own sob.

Maevra was not just Averic’s mother.

For years, she was the first person that made me feel as if I belonged anywhere.

But she was gone now.

Harwin finally moved away from the bed.

He bowed his head.

His voice was low.

"Luna Maevra Thorne is dead."

The words were pronounced.

I let go of her hand.

My hands were shaking.

Harwin looked at the tray with medicine.

Then at the empty vial.

His expression changed.

“What is it?” I asked.

He did not respond right away.

He picked up the discarded stopper with a cloth.

“There is residue here.”

Averic raised his head.

“Residue of the poison?”

“Partially.”

Harwin examined it.

“But there is another substance.”

My heart skipped a beat.

“What substance?”

“I don’t know as yet.”

He looked over at the smashed vial that was seen before.

“However, it will help us figure out if the aconite was mixed in with her medication.”

Someone moved in the doorway.

It was Virelle.

She entered cautiously, hugging a lace handkerchief.

Her face was set with utmost sorrow.

“Oh, Goddess…”

She clamped her hand over her mouth.

Some of the guards turned around to look at her.

She dropped her head and started crying.

But she wasn’t shedding any tears.

I noticed straightaway.

The handkerchief was totally dry.

She approached Averic.

“I came as soon as I heard.”

Her voice shook.

“I am so sorry.”

Averic did not react to her.

Virelle looked over at Maevra.

And then at me.

For a brief moment, triumph shone on her face.

It vanished without anyone noticing.

Virelle touched Averic’s shoulder with shaking hand.

“She deserves justice.”

Averic didn’t say anything.

Virelle sighed dramatically.

“The person who handled the medicine will pay for it.”

I looked at her.

“You can’t decide who killed her.”

She turned toward me as innocent as ever.

“I never mentioned your name.”

“You didn’t have to.”

Her expression changed instantly.

“I just want the truth.”

“No.”

I was shaking with rage and sorrow.

“You want a conviction.”

Finally, Averic turned to look at us.

Virelle dropped her gaze at once.

“She is grieving,” she said in whisper.

I was almost laughing.

Not from anything being funny.

Because suddenly I realized all the care she took about every single second.

She didn’t have to point fingers at me directly.

She just had to make everybody do that for her.

Averic got up.

Slowly.

Too slow.

His expression became frighteningly calm.

The warmth I saw before was gone.

His eyes became dark as his wolf fought under his skin.

Everyone stopped speaking.

“Everybody leave.”

Virelle paused.

“Alpha—”

“Everybody.”

The order shook the whole building.

Even Virelle listened to it.

When she was passing me, she brushed my shoulder.

She whispered so quietly that nobody else heard.

“You should leave while there’s still time.”

I faced her.

She was putting back her expression of grief.

And then Harwin spoke.

“Alpha.”

Averic glanced at him.

Harwin raised the piece of cloth with medicine stopper.

“I must test everything in liquid form in this house.”

Virelle stopped right by the door.

Just for a split second.

Averic’s eyes shifted from Harwin to the medicine tray.

“Test everything.”

Harwin nodded.

“Every tonic, every herb medicine, every bottle in Luna’s chambers.”

Averic’s dark eyes became hard.

“If anyone poisoned my mother, I will find him.”

His voice fell to something deadly.

“And when I do, he will pay.”

Harwin started collecting the bottles.

And then he froze.

“Alpha…”

“What?”

Harwin showed Maevra’s empty tonic bottle.

“There’s something in the glass.”

Averic walked up to him.

Harwin turned the bottle towards the light of the moon.

There was a thin silver thread sticking to the bottom.

My breath stopped.

I recognized the color.

It was the same weird silver substance that was surrounding my belly not so long ago.

Harwin glanced at me.

And then at Averic.

“This stuff reacts with something else in the room.”

Averic’s face grew stern.

“Reacting with what?”

Harwin gave a slow shake of his head.

“I don’t know.”

He looked back at the silver deposit.

“But it shouldn’t be there in regular poison.”

My hand made its way to my stomach without me thinking about it.

Virelle caught the movement.

For the first time that evening, she showed real fear.

And I understood something very disturbing.

What she put in the medicine to kill Maevra had reacted with the spirit of the baby growing inside of me.

The poison could have killed Maevra.

But it would also be the first clue that would lead people to the person who created it.