All Chapters of ASHES OF THE LUNA QUEEN: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The moon blinked. That was the only way Aria could describe it. A ripple across the sky, like the heavens had inhaled and forgotten to exhale. And then the whisper followed. A new voice. Softer than the others.Sadder. “You loved me once.”“My Queen,” Orion said, striding into the throne chamber, “the northern sentries report a shiver in the Veil.”“A shiver?”“A pulse of soul-light. Old magic. Not Vaelith’s.”Theron joined them, tossing a weathered scroll onto the table. “And this was found near the mountain pass. No one saw who left it.”Aria unrolled it slowly. It was a map, the First Lands, circled in red. And beneath it, a message written in a hand she hadn’t seen since she was eighteen: “Meet me where you said goodbye.”Her heart dropped. Because only one man knew that phrase. And he was dead. Liora screamed that night. Her body trembled with moonfire, her small hands clutching at invisible threads. Aria rushed into her room as Myra struggled to hold the girl down.“She’s having

The search began before dawn. By nightfall, it was clear: Liora had disappeared from every known realm. “No tracks. No energy trail. Not even a soul-scent,” Myra said, breathless from her runescrying.“She’s cloaked,” Orion muttered. “But not by her own hand. Something someone is shielding her.”“She’s only twelve,” Theron growled. “How could she just vanish?”Aria said nothing. She stared at her daughter’s note again. “I’m going to learn how to use it.” A child’s handwriting. But not a child’s resolve. Liora had chosen this. And Aria’s heart cracked with pride and terror in equal measure.The Spiral wanted action. “She must be tracked,” Maeryn insisted. “She’s untrained. Dangerous. If she bonds with the wrong entity, the Queen’s line may shatter”“Finish that sentence,” Aria said coldly, “and I’ll send your bones back to the stars in a jar.” Maeryn backed off. Barely.But the Council was restless. “She’s the Crown’s heir,” Myra warned. “And Vaelith’s key to breaking the last seal.”O

The gates of Nightwind were open. No blood. No smoke. No visible sign of battle. But something was wrong. Aria could feel it before she even reached the outer walls. The land was too still. The wards didn’t recognize her aura. The moonstone lanterns flickered when she passed, blinking like eyes that had seen too much.Theron met her at the courtyard. Alone. His armor dented, sword scorched. But alive. Barely. “What happened?” Aria demanded, pulling Liora behind her.Theron didn’t speak right away. His mouth opened. Then closed. Then he said, “She came out of the forest three nights ago.”“Who?”“You.”Inside the keep, Nightwind was not hers anymore. Every wall still bore her sigil. Every soldier still bowed when she passed. But their eyes… they weren’t filled with loyalty. They were filled with confusion. Fear. Doubt.Because someone wearing her skin had stood in the throne room just a day ago and declared: “The Queen has returned. The imposter who fled to the Wastes is no longer Luna

The eclipse reached its apex. The moon vanished. And with it, every protection spell woven into Nightwind’s bones went silent. The wards dropped. The lanterns dimmed. The palace sighed like it was exhaling its final breath. And then she entered.The Echo Queen. Not with war drums. Not with a roar. With Aria’s voice, saying: “I have not come to fight. I have come to finish what the real Aria never had the courage to.”Her twisted pack followed, cloaked in bone-armor and black flame. Each face was familiar. Each name had once been whispered in Nightwind’s mourning chambers.Leda. Cormin. Nahlia. Evren. All dead in the Sanctuary Massacre. All reborn as Echo-wolves. And they remembered. Not just the betrayal… But the silence that followed. In the throne room, Aria stood tall. She wore no crown tonight. No armor.Only the scar on her palm, from the blood pact she once made with Vaelith, and the truth she no longer had the strength to hide behind. “I know why you’re here,” she said softly.

The Starcourt had not been opened in over three centuries. Its gates were carved from frozen light. Its spires hung in a sky that didn’t obey gravity, only memory. It floated above time, connected to nothing, until Liora opened it. And now, it pulsed with ancient breath. Welcoming her home.She stepped through the rift alone. The wind inside wasn’t cold. It wasn’t warm. It was simply expectant. Waiting. The ground beneath her feet shimmered with constellations, each step a memory of those who ruled before. Then a voice rose from nowhere and everywhere.Heir of Serenya. Daughter of Night. Are you here to claim what was denied?Liora raised her chin. “I’m here to stop what was stolen.”Then you must stand trial not of blood… but of will. Are you moon… or shadow?The court changed. She now stood in a circular chamber, walls flickering with images of her mother, her father, even Kaelen. At the center: a mirror. Black. Motionless. Until she stepped closer. Then it showed her, not as she wa