All Chapters of ECLIPSE BORN: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

{Ava’s POV}The Palace had a strange way of reminding you that no matter how comfortable you began to feel within its walls… you still did not belong there.Tonight was one of those reminders.By midday, messengers were already running through the halls shouting about formal announcements, ceremonial preparations, and the “necessary restructuring of the Great Dining Hall.” Even the soldiers looked exhausted from the commotion. And then—around noon, the King summoned Liam and me to a private corridor lined with glass-paneled torches.We stood before him while he clasped his hands behind his back, chin lifted with that effortless authority that seemed carved into him.“Tonight,” King Draeven said, “we host the annual Royal Convergence Dinner. The noble houses, the military heads, the council branches— they all gather, once a year, to show their loyalty and… their opinions.” His eyes flicked to Liam. “Both of which will matter very much in the coming days.”Liam stiffened slightly beside

{Revna’s POV}The Palace assembly grounds were a sea of bodies.Wolves from every corner of the Reigns—nobles in polished armor, council elders with their jeweled insignias, some combatants from Moonspire, town heads, Generals, dignitaries— so many people had gathered beneath the colonnaded pavilion as the King prepared to address them about the recent unrest.Perfect.Exactly the kind of crowd I needed.I stood among the servants at the far edge of the courtyard, disguised in my plain maid uniform, a tray of water pitchers in my hands like a proper little worker. My hair was tucked away and my eyes were downcast— Posture meek.Disguise Level A.Enough to get close.The King stood upon the stone dais, Prince Liam at his right, Queen Serana at his left. Ava stood a few steps behind them—dressed simply, hands clasped, head slightly bowed as if trying not to draw attention.How ironic.She was now popular due to how fast news spread and so every eye in this courtyard followed her.A mons

{Ava’s POV} The Palace had never felt so loud and so quiet at the same time.Every corridor hummed with activity, yet every conversation died the second I walked past. Every pair of eyes flicked to me, then away—too quickly, too deliberately, like people trying not to stare at a wildfire creeping across their doorstep.By morning, the events of the assembly had already metastasized into something bigger. Something heavier. Something with teeth.Whispers curled through the hallways like smoke.“…that girl—”“…I heard she isn’t even—”“…Yes. Did you see her eyes that day—”“…dangerous… unpredictable…”Their breaths tightened the air.I kept my head down, but it didn’t help. It only made the walls feel like they were bending inward.By the time I reached the corridor leading to the training yard, a familiar ache bloomed beneath my ribs again—sharp, pulsing, wrong.I stopped walking.Pressed a palm against my sternum.The ache throbbed once. Then again. Then again— like something inside

{Queen Serena’s POV}The Palace was loud today.Not in sound, but in temperature.Emotions heat the air long before they reach the tongue, and the Reigns had been simmering since yesterday’s incident at the assembly. Everywhere I walked, I could feel the shift in the servants’ pulses, the stiffening of guards’ shoulders, the faint bite of unease beneath their breaths.Wolves were excellent at hiding fear.But they were even better at radiating it.I crossed the upper corridor overlooking the training grounds, the marble cool beneath my steps. From high above, the courtyard unfolded like a precise diagram— warriors drilling, instructors barking orders, armor gleaming.But my eyes were not on them.They were on the two figures in the center of the grounds.My son and the girl.Ava Varyn.I studied her as I’ve been doing.She moved like instinct sculpted her— fluid, natural, instinctive. A creature built for combat in ways even the most seasoned warriors took years to acquire. Even now,

{Ava’s POV}The world did not return to normal after the corrupters fled.It held its breath.Every warrior stood frozen in the courtyard, ears perked, claws half-drawn, chests rising and falling too fast. No one spoke. No one dared to move.But everyone kept staring at me.At the corpse at my feet.At the way its twisted fingers still reached in my direction, frozen in a gesture I couldn’t name.Liam’s voice came first— quiet, careful, too gentle for a battlefield.“What did it say to you?”The word pulsed through my skull like a second heartbeat.Moonchild.I swallowed hard, the taste of iron in my mouth. “I— I don’t know.”That was a lie. Clearly.I knew exactly what the thing said. I just didn’t know why.Before Liam could say more, a howl split the sky.But it wasn’t a wolf.It was deeper. Older. A sound that felt like it rose from the bones of the earth. It scraped across the horizon like claws across a tombstone.Everyone whipped toward the treeline.Liam stepped in front of me