Starlight’s POVThey think I’m resting. But how could I sleep when my soul is wide awake? Even in my fragile state, I feel the shift in the air, a hum of reverence outside these walls. As if the land itself recognizes me now. My body aches, my mind swims between exhaustion and euphoria, but I am not broken.I am reborn. Two tiny lives rest beside me, their warmth tethering me to this world. Each pup has my scent... and yet something more. One burns like fire, another shimmers like the sea, and hums with stardust and shadows. Our children are not ordinary. And neither am I.The door creaked open, and I didn’t need to look up to know who it was. His scent always preceded him, cedarwood, smoke, and something deeper now... regret, maybe? Or reverence. “Helios,” I whispered, and he froze mid-step, as if hearing his name from my lips physically struck him.He knelt beside the bed, eyes rimmed red, cheeks stained with silent tears. “Star… I still don’t understand how you survived. How you b
Star's POV The days passed in a hush of healing, quiet awe, and growing light. For five full days, I rested, by order of everyone from Helios to my newly found dad to the Oracle herself. The twins never left my side. Their tiny breaths, their moonbeam fingers curling around mine, anchored me to this new reality: I was no longer the girl who once flinched from her own shadow. I was a mother now. A Luna. A sovereign in the making. And on the sixth day, we rose.Hesperion’s jet cut through the sky like a blade of polished silver. We flew above the cloudline, my newborns cradled in my arms, Helios seated beside me, tense but proud. The seats were stitched with ancient sun emblems, embossed with the Hesperion royal crest. Still, nothing felt heavier than the silence between Hesperion and his queen.“She has been kept in isolation,” he said, not looking at me. “No one has seen her since the Oracle’s declaration.” I didn’t respond immediately. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to face the woman
Star's POV Later that evening, after the moonlight celebrations quieted and the palace halls glowed with soft amber light, I stood before the High Council in the Star Chamber. It's a vast circular room walled with crystal and etched with lunar glyphs. The King was seated at the head of the crescent table, his expression unreadable. The advisors whispered amongst themselves, still dazed by the roaring approval the public had shown me and the twins. But I was calm. Focused. Changed.“My Queen,” the King began, his voice warm yet formal. “Tonight you have earned the devotion of a kingdom. The people called you Moonborn... and I believe they were right to.” I inclined my head with measured grace. “I am honored, Your Majesty. But before we speak of titles and formalities, I have a request.”The murmurs quieted. The King studied me. “Speak it.” I glanced at Helios, who stood near the chamber doors in silence. Unlike the other alphas, he wore no medals, bore no sigil. Just quiet strength a
Unknown POV Helios stood on the balcony just outside their private wing. The morning sun bathed the palace in gold, but his mind was a storm. He had seen enemies turned to ash, not by war, not by warriors, but by newborns wrapped in silken cloth.Star approached quietly, barefoot, hair down, a soft robe draped around her as if the cosmos had woven it. Her aura pulsed gently, no longer shy or hesitant, but commanding and calm, a sovereign in spirit. “You’re still thinking about it,” she said softly. Helios turned. “I failed to see it before. Who you really are. What you carry. What they carry.”“You didn’t fail,” she murmured. “You saw me when no one else did. Even when I didn’t see myself.” His throat tightened. “I submitted to you... because it felt right,” he admitted. “Even when everyone mocked me. Even when I thought you were just an omega... I felt your strength. But now...”Star stepped closer, cupping his cheek. “You don’t need to submit anymore, Helios.” He blinked. “I—what?”
Star’s POVThe grand council chamber smelled of old stone and thinly veiled fear. Seated on the moonstone throne, I faced them, the gathered leaders of the supernatural world. Vampires, druids, wolf alphas, witch covens, and even some wary fae ambassadors. Their faces were polished masks, but I could taste their unease.At my side stood Helios, no longer a mere Alpha of Moonlit Pack. He was my mate, my shield, and my equal. And farther down, seated stiffly at the high counsel table, was King Hesperion. My biological father.A king who once tried to deny me. A king who now watched me with a complicated blend of guilt, pride, and awe. Calder Greyfang, the Grand Arbiter of the Council, slammed his staff against the marble floor, demanding order."We are gathered to address the consequences of treason against the Crown," he intoned. "And the...incident involving the demise of Ravena, Hutchins of the Moonlit Pack, and the former Queen of Hesperia."The word "demise" was almost too gentle.
Star’s POVThe palace was too quiet. Moonlight spilled across the marble floors like silver blood, and the shadows seemed to breathe with a life of their own. I stood at the nursery’s threshold, fingers curled around the polished doorframe, unable to step inside.Something was wrong. I could feel it in the marrow of my bones, a tension in the air, a thrum beneath my skin. I forced myself forward, heart pounding. Inside the nursery, the twins slept peacefully... yet an invisible storm raged around them. Wisps of light, delicate as mist, curled and weaved through the room, touching the cribs with tender reverence. The air smelled of ozone and ancient magic. A low hum, almost like a heartbeat, vibrated through the space.They were dreaming. And through their dreams, their power was bleeding into the world. "Protect..." "Danger..." The whispered voices brushed against my mind, faint as the flutter of butterfly wings.I took a trembling step closer. The ground shuddered beneath my bare fe
Star’s POVThe summons came at dawn. A formal decree, pressed into my palm by a pale-faced courier who refused to meet my eyes. The parchment crackled in my grip, the words stamped in wax as if the Council thought their authority alone could cage me.Helios stood beside me on the palace steps, reading over my shoulder. His growl rumbled low and dangerous. “They dare summon you like a criminal?” I smoothed the parchment with steady fingers, though inside, a storm brewed.“They fear what they don't understand," I said. "And they never imagined the power they tried to bury could rise stronger than them." He squeezed my hand, silent but burning with unspoken support.The Council had demanded not only my presence, but that of my father, King Hesperion, as if dragging him into their theater of fear would lend their accusations more weight. They were wrong. So wrong.The Grand Hall of the High Council was colder than I remembered. Ancient pillars loomed overhead, carved with the symbols of e
Star’s POVThe first sign came with the breaking of a mirror. It wasn’t just any mirror, it was the ancient obsidian looking glass that had hung in the royal antechamber for generations, unmarred by time or war. That morning, I found it split down the center, a crack as fine as a spider’s web radiating outward like a warning whispered from the bones of the earth. The second sign was harder to ignore.Reports flooded in, whispered by trembling envoys. Reports of black storms rolling across the distant borders, swallowing rivers, rotting crops in minutes, and waking beasts from ancient slumber. Villages that had stood for centuries vanished beneath the storms’ writhing clouds.And every time I reached out with my magic, trying to sense the twins through our invisible thread, I felt a hum of urgency. A pulsing hurry that prickled against my skin. The threat was coming. Not in months. Not even in weeks. Days.I gathered my court in the war room, a vaulted chamber carved of stone, with a
Star’s POVThe gardens had changed so much. Once, they were a tangle of wild vines and neglected fountains. Now, they bloomed in every color the mind could conjure, a testament to years of peace, nurtured by steady hands and hopeful hearts.I sat beneath the silverleaf tree, a thick book resting in my lap, though I hadn’t turned a page in some time. Instead, I watched. Two figures stood at the edge of the training grounds, bathed in the golden haze of late afternoon.Lyra moved like liquid light, a blade in each hand, her strikes swift and sure. Kaelen countered, laughing, parrying her every move with effortless grace. Their magic pulsed between them, visible now,mwoven into every step, every breath.I smiled. They were no longer children clinging to my skirts. They were warriors. Leaders. Legends in the making. "You look proud," Helios said, dropping down onto the bench beside me. His hair was dusted with gray at the temples now, and fine lines fanned from the corners of his golden ey
Star’s POVThe great plaza of Solis Magna had never held so many. From every corner of the realm, from snow-dusted northern steppes to the emerald coasts of the south, they came.Nobles in gleaming armor. Magi in embroidered robes. Merchants in bright silks. Hunters, warriors, healers, even wandering bards. The city was a living river of humanity, all converging for one reason: To witness the birth of a new era.I stood at the center of it all, the twins at my side, Helios at my back. Today wasn’t just about us. It was about what we symbolized: Survival. Unity. A future carved from the ashes of fear.The royal dais had been draped in banners of silver and indigo, the colors of hope and rebirth. At its heart sat the Twin Thrones, two smaller seats forged from moonstone and steel, twined together by veins of shimmering crystal.An artisan's masterpiece. A promise made manifest. The twins shifted beside me, sensing the importance of the moment even at their tender age. Little Elira clut
Star’s POVThe battlefield was silent. Not with the unnatural silence of fear, but with the heavy, reverent hush of mourning.The crows had come to feast, circling high above the smoldering ruins, but even they seemed hesitant to land.It felt as if the very earth was holding its breath.I stood at the edge of the palace gardens, what remained of them, cradling the twins in my arms. The price of our victory lay all around us. Not in broken stones. Not in burned fields.But in the faces missing from the crowd.Sir Caldus, the grizzled commander who had once sworn never to serve under a "mere omega," had fallen protecting the southern gate, his body found draped over a trio of young squires he had shielded from the cult's last brutal strike.Lady Meriva, my oldest advisor and secret mentor in court politics, had refused to leave the war room even as the ceiling collapsed around her. Her sharp tongue and sharper mind, silenced.And Lord Riven, Helios’ second-in-command, a warrior as fier
Star’s POVThe dawn rose blood-red over the battlefield. I staggered through the wreckage, every breath burning in my lungs, every muscle aching. Helios’ hand never left my back, steadying me, grounding me. But it wasn’t over. Not yet.Above the palace, the twin beams of light pulsed stronger, not fading, not weakening but building. Growing. Drawing every soul’s attention like a lodestar. The survivors turned, warriors, mages, servants, all of them lifting their heads, faces bathed in the radiant glow.Even the enemy’s corpses, corrupted and twisted, seemed to dissolve into dust under its touch. The world itself was changing. I knew I had to get to them. Ignoring the protests of my battered body, I ran, up the crumbling stone steps, through the shattered gates, until I burst into the palace.The halls were filled with light. And at the heart of it all, in the throne room, the twins stood. No longer fragile infants. Not quite children either. They hovered inches above the ground, tiny
Star’s POVThe night before the battle, the sky wept black rain. It fell in thick sheets against the palace windows, painting the world in shadows.The twins slept fitfully in their cribs, tiny fists clenching, soft whimpers escaping their lips. Even they could feel it, the tension tightening the air, the storm gathering beyond the horizon.I stood at the highest tower, my armor a second skin, my sword strapped to my back, celestial magic humming at my fingertips. Below me, the army gathered. Wolf warriors clad in dark steel. Mages with their staffs glowing faintly. Archers stringing arrows tipped with silver and starfire.Helios was already at the front, speaking to the troops. I could feel him through the bond, calm, steady, a blazing force holding the line. I closed my eyes and let my power rise. Tonight wasn’t just another skirmish. It was the first true war cry of an ancient enemy. And we would answer it.The cult came with the storm. They poured out of the forests like oil slick
Star’s POVThe first sign was so small, so easily missed, that it almost slipped through my fingers. A scout failed to report back on time, nothing unusual, given the chaos at our borders.But then another disappeared. And then a patrol found strange footprints at the edge of the northern woods: bootprints, human, but alongside them, the scorched marks of something... other.I tightened the palace defenses that night, weaving additional layers of celestial magic into the gates, the walls, even the air itself. I didn’t sleep. I didn’t dare. Because deep in my bones, the truth was already stirring: There was a traitor among us.Three days later, it struck. The twins were asleep in their nursery, the palace humming with low, wary energy. I was reviewing troop movements with Helios when the alarms screamed through the halls, a keening, unnatural sound that made every hair on my body rise.I sprinted, Helios at my heels, instincts howling. Bursting into the nursery, I found chaos. The head
Star’s POVThe morning after the council’s cowardice was laid bare, the sun rose blood-red over the horizon.I stood alone on the highest tower, the cold wind snapping at my hair and cloak, my heart burning with a fire no frost could quench. Below me, the courtyard buzzed with nervous energy, soldiers drilling harder, blacksmiths hammering faster, scouts galloping through the gates.We had little time. The vision the twins had shared in flashes, beasts without faces, storms that bled black rain, fires that howled like grieving mothers, haunted me.The darkness wasn’t waiting politely at our borders. It was coming.And this time, it was not a squabble over thrones or a petty rebellion. It was annihilation. Helios joined me silently, his presence steady at my side. His arm brushed mine in a silent vow: Whatever comes, we stand together.I turned to him. “It’s not enough,” I said simply.The preparations, the drills, the polished armor, it wasn’t enough to face an ancient enemy that wiel
Star’s POVThe first sign came with the breaking of a mirror. It wasn’t just any mirror, it was the ancient obsidian looking glass that had hung in the royal antechamber for generations, unmarred by time or war. That morning, I found it split down the center, a crack as fine as a spider’s web radiating outward like a warning whispered from the bones of the earth. The second sign was harder to ignore.Reports flooded in, whispered by trembling envoys. Reports of black storms rolling across the distant borders, swallowing rivers, rotting crops in minutes, and waking beasts from ancient slumber. Villages that had stood for centuries vanished beneath the storms’ writhing clouds.And every time I reached out with my magic, trying to sense the twins through our invisible thread, I felt a hum of urgency. A pulsing hurry that prickled against my skin. The threat was coming. Not in months. Not even in weeks. Days.I gathered my court in the war room, a vaulted chamber carved of stone, with a
Star’s POVThe summons came at dawn. A formal decree, pressed into my palm by a pale-faced courier who refused to meet my eyes. The parchment crackled in my grip, the words stamped in wax as if the Council thought their authority alone could cage me.Helios stood beside me on the palace steps, reading over my shoulder. His growl rumbled low and dangerous. “They dare summon you like a criminal?” I smoothed the parchment with steady fingers, though inside, a storm brewed.“They fear what they don't understand," I said. "And they never imagined the power they tried to bury could rise stronger than them." He squeezed my hand, silent but burning with unspoken support.The Council had demanded not only my presence, but that of my father, King Hesperion, as if dragging him into their theater of fear would lend their accusations more weight. They were wrong. So wrong.The Grand Hall of the High Council was colder than I remembered. Ancient pillars loomed overhead, carved with the symbols of e