CHAPTER 9 : " The Betrayer Unmasked "

Selene stood before the mirror in the Lunar Queen’s chamber, breathing in shallow pulls. The silver circlet... now fused to her forehead ; radiated a low, unrelenting hum. Her eyes, once molten silver, flickered with streaks of midnight black, like ink seeping through cracks in her soul.

> “The Moon has turned its back.”

Malrik’s last words haunted her.

Ryker watched her from the shadows, arms crossed. “You haven’t been sleeping.”

“I can’t,” she murmured. “Every time I close my eyes… I see her. The Moon Mother. And she’s bleeding.”

He stepped forward, brushing a thumb along her jaw. “You don’t bleed for the moon anymore, Selene. She bleeds for you.”

She wanted to believe that. But the darkness within her pulsed with a different truth.

She turned away. “Summon the council. I want answers.”

The chamber fell silent as Selene entered, flanked by Ryker and Gamma Irisa. The council members ; warriors, witches, and old allies sat with guarded expressions.

She went straight to the point. “One of you has been feeding Malrik information.”

Murmurs broke out. Irisa’s eyes scanned the table. “We locked him in the stone vault. No contact. No outside magic. And yet… he escaped the night of the Trial.”

Ryker slammed a dagger into the table. “So someone helped him. From inside.”

Selene’s gaze landed on each face.

Liora looked pale, avoiding her eyes.

Beta Callen tensed.

Irisa didn’t flinch.

“I’ll find the traitor,” Selene said coldly. “Even if I have to rip out their heart with my bare hands.”

That night, she walked the halls of the keep alone.

Her hands burned with magic she couldn’t control. Shadows clung to her footsteps. Every mirror she passed whispered back pieces of her name.

The curse was growing.

And in the center of her chest, beneath her skin, something pulsed. Something ancient.

She stopped outside Callen’s chambers.

Voices. Two of them.

She pressed her back to the stone and listened.

Callen: “It’s getting worse. If we wait too long, it’ll consume her.”

Unknown voice: “Then maybe it’s time to end her before she becomes worse than Malrik.”

Selene’s blood ran cold.

The door creaked open.

She stepped inside and the voices vanished.

The room was empty.

Except… for a silver dagger still warm from someone’s grip.

She called Callen to the throne room the next morning.

“You’ve been keeping secrets.”

Callen stood before her, chin lifted. “Only the ones that would protect you.”

Ryker growled low. “What does that mean?”

Callen’s jaw twitched. “The curse isn't just corrupting your body. It’s breaking the bond you have with the Moon. You’re drawing power from somewhere else now.”

Selene stepped down from the throne, each heel clicking against the marble like thunder.

“Where?” she demanded.

Callen hesitated.

“I said... where?”

He finally said, “The Blood Moon. The same force that corrupted Malrik.”

The room erupted in chaos.

Selene raised a hand... and everyone silenced.

“I trusted you,” she said, voice icy. “And you thought to protect me by hiding this?”

Callen lowered his gaze. “You’re becoming something else, Selene. Something… we may not be able to stop.”

That night, Ryker found her outside on the battlements.

She stood facing the stars, her hands clenched, black smoke curling from her fingertips.

“You think it’s him, don’t you?” Ryker asked. “Callen.”

Selene didn’t answer.

“Or is it Liora?” he continued. “She’s been disappearing for hours at a time. You saw the way she looked during the Trial.”

Selene turned. “Everyone’s a suspect, Ryker. Including you.”

The silence between them stretched thin.

“You don’t trust me?” he asked.

She hesitated. “I want to. But the moment I let my guard down, someone else bleeds.”

Ryker stepped close. “Then let me help you watch. I’ll find whoever’s behind this.”

Selene looked into his eyes. “You already know who it is, don’t you?”

Ryker’s jaw clenched.

And he said nothing.

They found Irisa’s body at dawn.

Throat slit. Eyes burned black.

Pinned to her chest was a note, scrawled in a language only Selene could read:

> "The Queen’s fire must be extinguished before it burns the world."

The writing wasn’t Malrik’s.

It was someone who knew the Moonborn script.

Selene stumbled back, rage surging.

“She was loyal,” she whispered. “She was mine.”

Callen stepped forward. “The writing… that’s ancient Blood Moon language.”

Selene looked at him, heart thundering. “You recognized it too fast.”

Callen froze.

Ryker stepped between them. “Wait. We need proof.”

Selene growled. “And I’ll get it.”

She summoned the witches.

Under the light of the full moon, they opened the Pool of Memories ; a sacred, shimmering lake that revealed truth.

Selene threw Irisa’s dagger into the pool.

The water shifted.

An image formed.

Irisa, walking through the keep.

Following someone.

A figure in shadow.

They turned, face revealed in the reflection of a blade.

Selene gasped.

“Callen.”

He stood behind her now, slowly backing away.

Selene spun. “You betrayed me.”

Callen’s eyes were wild. “I tried to protect you! You don’t understand what you’re becoming. I loved you, before all of this! But now? You’re not Selene anymore. You’re a monster.”

Her power flared.

“Then you should have run.”

The council chamber exploded in chaos.

Callen shifted, fur sprouting, claws out.

Ryker leapt forward, but Selene stopped him with a wave.

“This is mine.”

She shifted in an instant , her white-gold fur blazing with fire.

They collided with thunder.

Callen fought like a man possessed. Desperate. Ruthless. But Selene was no longer just Alpha. She was Moonborn.

She pinned him in seconds, her teeth at his neck.

“Tell me why,” she growled, voice trembling.

“I loved you,” he whispered. “But you chose your throne. You chose him.”

She stepped back.

His words hit like arrows.

She turned, walking away.

But Ryker didn’t.

He struck.

Callen’s body hit the floor.... lifeless.

Later that night, Selene stood alone before the Moonborn altar.

She dropped to her knees.

“Why does everyone I trust betray me?” she whispered. “Am I the curse?”

The moon above flickered.

And then, a voice spoke behind her.

“You’re not the curse, Selene. You’re the key.”

She turned.

Liora stood there.

Eyes glowing red.

“You didn’t think it was just Callen, did you?”

Before Selene could react, Liora threw something.

A black crystal that exploded on impact.

Dark magic surged through Selene’s body.

She screamed, collapsing.

Liora knelt beside her, whispering in her ear.

> “You were never meant to rule. Only to awaken her.”

Selene’s eyes fluttered open.

And in the reflection of the altar stone, she saw herself....

But not her.

Someone older. Darker. Wearing her face.

The true Moonborn.

And she was rising.

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Get ready for Chapter 10: A Forbidden Alliance ; where enemies become allies, secrets of the Blood Moon deepen, and Selene faces the terrifying truth:

She's not just cursed.

She might be possessed.