All Chapters of The Last Moonbane: Chapter 31 - Chapter 37

Stephen's POVI used to think I understood Seraphina.Even when she was quiet. Even when she hid behind her dry humor and restless hands. There was always something between us—an echo, maybe. A thread that pulled taut but never snapped.But lately, all I feel is silence.Not absence—she’s still there, technically. But the version of her I know feels... blurred.Like I'm watching her through a window thick with frost.Ever since Riddle took us, something’s shifted.She didn’t say it aloud, but I could feel it: guilt. And fear. But also something else—determination, maybe.Then came Ambrosius.I tried not to let it bother me. She has the right to choose her own life. She has the right to be happy.But still.She didn’t tell me.Not about the late meetings. Not about the rumors that spread like smoke down every corridor of the North Tower.She didn’t even ask what I thought.That stung more than I expected.Maybe because I thought we were partners.No—more than that.I thought we were te

Seraphina's POVBirthdays used to mean something. A wish whispered into a candle. A mother’s hand brushing your hair. A hope that maybe, this year, things would be different.When I was small, I thought birthdays were magic.I’d wake up early and sneak into the library, pretend not to be waiting as the castle stirred. I thought maybe, just once, she would come. That my mother would remember. That she would smile.She rarely did.And later, after I learned what it meant to be born a Moonbane, birthdays turned sour. They were markers, countdowns. One more year closer. To what, exactly? Death? The curse? I wasn’t even sure.This year, I hadn’t expected anything. Not really.So when I walked into the stone dining hall and found it transformed—garlands of pale flowers hung from the sconces, soft gold light pooling on the long table, silver cutlery so polished it glimmered like stars—I froze.Ambrosius leaned against the far wall, arms crossed.He didn’t smile, but his voice held a rare sof

Stephen’s POVI don’t remember when I started counting how often she laughed without me.But I remember tonight.The birthday candles had long since melted into pale wax puddles. The music had dulled to a far-off echo. The air inside the ballroom had felt thick—like honey and smoke and something unsaid.And then she left.I saw it from across the room. Her slipping out a side door, posture stiff, chin tilted like she was trying to hold in the breath that refused to come. No one noticed, not really. Except me.Of course I followed.Not like a fool. Like a brother. That’s what I told myself, at least.She was in the gardens when I found her. Half in shadow, leaning against the old stone railing with her eyes closed and her arms tucked around herself. The wind picked at her dress like it was asking her to dance again.I stopped a few paces away. Let the silence sit between us before breaking it.“You didn’t even stay for the toast.”She opened her eyes slowly. “Too many people. Too much

Seraphina's POVAfter Ambrosius left, I didn’t return to the ballroom.Didn’t speak to anyone. Didn’t remove my jewelry. Didn’t even untie my hair.I let the night bury me.My limbs felt like stone. My thoughts, like fog—thick and unmoving. The weight of the evening had settled into my skin like dust, and I didn’t have the strength to brush it off.I told myself I would lie down for just a moment.Just a breath.But sleep found me too quickly.The dream began as silence.Not the peaceful kind. Not the kind lovers share beneath starlight.This was the silence of forgotten cathedrals.Of things buried.Of endings that hadn’t yet arrived—but already mourned.Above me hung the red moon. Not a full orb, but fractured, as though something ancient had taken a bite out of it. The sky pulsed in hues of bruise and rust.And beneath that cursed glow, I stood alone on a road I didn’t recognize.The path curved like a serpent through a garden I did not remember planting.I took a step.The stone b