Semua Bab The Luna's Deception : Bab 101 - Bab 110

The growl never found a face.Alexei's warriors searched the back of the hall for a quarter hour after the ceremony resumed, blades drawn, every guest questioned in turn, and found nothing beyond a broken window latch near the rear doors and another single black feather caught on the frame. Whoever had been there was gone before anyone reached the spot, leaving nothing behind but the same unnatural oil sheen we had found in the kitchens hours earlier."We finish the wedding," Alexei had said, jaw set, refusing to let fear steal the day from Lyra a second time. "Whoever they are, they do not get this too."The ceremony had gone forward, vows spoken steady despite the tension still coiled beneath the surface of the hall, and by the time Alexei kissed his new wife in front of both packs, the earlier fear had settled into something manageable, watched but not allowed to win.I remembered thinking, as the crowd finally cheered, that even fear itself seemed to understand it had no place le

Smoke rose from the eastern watchtower before anyone rang the alarm.I was crossing the square when I saw it, a thin dark column curling up against the morning sky, and my whole body reacted before my mind caught up, silver flame already gathering in my palm as I broke into a run toward the tower.Kieran fell into step beside me instantly. "Controlled burn," he said, reading the smoke before I could ask. "Alexei's men clearing brush too close to the wall. Nothing more."I forced my pulse to slow, silver light fading back beneath my skin, embarrassed at how quickly instinct had taken over. "It has been months. I should not still jump at every column of smoke.""You survived a war that started with smoke exactly like that," Kieran said. "Give yourself time."I nodded, though the reminder settled uncomfortably against everything I had told myself about how far I had come since the vault, since the eclipse, since the court in the clearing. Some fears, apparently, took longer to loosen

I woke to the smell of wet earth and cedar, and for a moment I could not breathe at all.It was not real, not truly, just a memory dragged up from somewhere deep enough that my body reacted before my mind understood why, heart hammering, throat tight, the scent so vivid I nearly expected to open my eyes and find myself standing in that clearing again instead of my own bed. I sat up fast, breathing hard, Kieran stirring beside me at the sudden movement."Sera.""I am fine," I said, though my voice shook enough to betray the lie immediately.He sat up fully, alert now, watching me with the careful attention he always gave whenever something old surfaced without warning. "You do not sound fine."I did not answer right away, staring instead at my own hands in the pale morning light, steady despite everything churning beneath the surface. Cedar and wet earth. The exact scent of the clearing where my parents had been buried, hastily, without proper rites, the day everything in my old life

The ground shifted beneath my feet before I understood why.I stumbled backward, catching myself against a charred beam, and watched the ash near the flower ripple outward like something disturbed beneath it, a low tremor rolling through the scorched earth in a slow, deliberate wave.Kieran had his blade drawn instantly, stepping between me and the source. "Something is moving down there.""Or something is waking up," I said, silver light already gathering in my palm, though nothing broke the surface, no creature emerging, no attack following the tremor at all. Just silence again, heavier than before, as if the ground itself had simply exhaled.We waited several long minutes, weapons ready, until certain nothing further would come, and slowly the tension eased from both our shoulders, replaced by something quieter and more uncertain."The ground remembers," I said finally, staring at the disturbed ash. "Sovereign has felt strange currents ever since we stepped into this village. That

A hawk screamed overhead, and half the crowd flinched before recognizing it as only a bird.Warriors' hands twitched toward blades out of pure instinct, months of tension from unseen enemies making even the ordinary sky feel like a threat. Kieran's grip on my arm tightened briefly before he scanned the sky himself and relaxed."Just a hawk," he said quietly. "Nothing more."I nodded, though my own pulse had spiked as sharply as everyone else's, the crimson sky overhead making every shadow feel heavier than it should have. Whoever had been sending assassins and cutting ropes and firing arrows from tree lines had not shown themselves today, but the fear of them lingered in the crowd regardless, an uneasy undercurrent beneath even this solemn gathering. I wondered, not for the first time, whether peace would ever feel entirely safe again, or whether some quiet vigilance would simply become part of how we all lived from now on.I turned back toward the two simple wooden caskets resting