Lahat ng Kabanata ng LUNA'S CURSE; Her Three Messiahs: Kabanata 61 - Kabanata 70

Keira’s POVThe sun blazed overhead, scorching the arena like it wanted to burn us all to ash. My boots kicked up dust as I stood in the center, the crowd’s roar pounding in my ears like a heartbeat. My own heart slammed against my ribs—once, hard, then again, steady but fierce. I kept my shoulders squared, my chin high, even as my body screamed from the fight. This was the final trial. I’d made it. I’d beaten Alia. And now, I just had to hold on.Alia’s glare burned into me, her eyes swimming with hatred so bright it felt like it could cut. She lay in the dirt where I’d left her, chest heaving, face twisted with fury and humiliation. She didn’t speak—didn’t dare—but I could feel every word she wanted to scream, sinking into my skin like barbs. Her golden armor glinted in the sunlight, mocking her defeat, but her silence was louder than any insult she could’ve thrown.I kept my gaze forward, my sword steady in my hand. The weight of it grounded me, the warm hilt familiar against my p

POV: KeiraI woke to the sound of screaming.At first, it didn’t feel real. My mind floated somewhere between dreams and smoke, tangled in warmth and the soft rise and fall of Dax’s chest beneath my cheek. His arm was still wrapped around me, loose now, his breath slow against my forehead.But the sound grew louder. Closer.A wailing alarm.Shrill and sharp.I sat up fast, heart thudding.Nylo shot from where he’d been curled at my feet and dove into my hair like a terrified mouse.“Kiki!” he squeaked. “The pack is under attack! Wake up!”My stomach dropped.I scrambled to my feet, nearly falling. The bond pulsed faintly inside me, still warm from the night before, but everything else felt cold. Off. Wrong.Dax stirred behind me, groaning.“What’s—?”“Alarms,” I said, already stumbling to the edge of the cliff. “Something’s happening—”I turned. The palace loomed in the distance.Then I saw it.Flames.Thick smoke curled upward from the eastern side of the structure. The wall glowed o

POV: KeiraSmoke stung my throat the moment I opened the door. The hallway was no longer the same marble corridor I’d walked the night before—it was a war zone. Chunks of the ceiling littered the floor, flames licked the wooden beams above, and the air was thick with ash and screams.I coughed hard, pressing my sleeve over my mouth as I stumbled into the chaos.“Nylo!” I cried out, spinning in place. “Where are you?!”A tiny squeak answered from above. “Kiki! I’m here!” He fluttered down from a beam, his little fur singed at the tips. “You have to get out! The palace is crumbling!”“I’m not leaving without the others.”I started running, ignoring the way my bare feet burned against the hot stone. I didn’t know where I was going, only that every instinct in me screamed find Dax. My heart pounded against my ribs, not from fear—but from something else. A pull. A thread tightening.A bond.I turned a corner and froze.Through the thick smoke, I saw him.Dax.He stood in the middle of the

POV: KeiraThe first thing I felt was fire.Not real fire—but burning. At my wrists. It seared through my skin like acid, sharp and constant, like something alive. My muscles twitched in response, but even the smallest movement sent white-hot pain flashing through my nerves.I winced, shifting slightly, and that’s when the ache in my head roared to life. A deep, pounding throb pulsed behind my eyes. Each heartbeat made it worse.My throat was dry. My lips cracked. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth like parchment.Where…?“Keira,” a voice whispered close to my ear, trembling and small. “Kiki—don’t move. Please.”Nylo.I blinked, forcing my eyes open through the pounding in my skull.Everything was dark. The kind of darkness that felt too close, like the shadows were pressing in from all sides. The air smelled thick with smoke, sweat, and something metallic—blood. The wooden floor beneath me groaned with motion.I was in a wagon. A moving one.Each bump jolted my spine. Every ratt

POV: KeiraThey dragged me back into the throne room the next morning.My legs shook beneath me, every step heavier than the last. The stone floor was cold, rough under my bare feet. My wrists burned from the silver restraints. My throat was dry. My body… tired.So tired.But I didn’t let myself fall.I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.Kaden, I realized, sat on his throne like a god carved from shadows—lazy, relaxed, but with those sharp eyes that never stopped watching. He leaned forward slightly when he saw me, his gaze trailing slowly over my body like he was sizing up a piece of meat.A faint smile pulled at his lips.My stomach turned.Nylo sat on my shoulder, his tiny paws gripping my tunic. He hissed low in his throat, fur bristling like a wildcat.“Touch her,” Nylo growled, baring his sharp little teeth, “and I’ll bite your face off, you glorified shadow puppet!”Kaden chuckled, low and slow. The sound curled around the room like smoke.He stood from his throne and walked t