All Chapters of The Luna's Deception : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The scream did not come from the wind or the trees. It ripped through the marrow of my bones, a jagged sound that tore my soul apart. It was my father’s voice, sharp with a terror I had never heard while he was alive."Run, Sera! He has already sold you! Move before the chains find you again!"My eyes snapped open. The cave was a tomb of freezing shadows. For a terrible second, I thought I was back in the cellar. I felt the phantom weight of cold iron on my ankles and the memory of the Council’s whips burning across my scarred back. My heart did not just beat; it slammed against my ribs like a trapped bird breaking its own wings to escape.I did not scream. I did not waste time on fear. I reached out with trembling fingers and gripped the shoulder of the man sleeping beside me.Kieran was already awake. He did not wake up like a normal man. He woke up like a weapon being unsheathed. In one fluid, violent motion, he sat up. His hand clamped around my wrist with a force that made me win

The wind did not bite; it bowed. I stepped onto the highest peak of the Frost Peaks, bracing my body for the killing sting of ice. I expected the air to freeze the breath inside my lungs. I expected the mountain to swallow me whole as a final punishment for my weakness. Instead, a warmth like a summer hearth wrapped around my shivering frame. The transition was so sudden that I gasped, my knees nearly buckling.In front of me, five towering figures emerged from the silver mist. They were massive, their skin glowing with a light that looked like crushed diamonds. These were the Ancients. My heart hammered against my ribs, a familiar rhythm of terror. I was a girl who was born in the dark and raised in the dirt. I knew only the language of pain.To my absolute shock, the five giants did not attack. They did not growl or reach for my throat. Slowly, with a grace that made the very air hum, they all sank to their knees in the deep snow. They bowed their heads low, pressing their foreheads

The burning started before I could even take a breath.It did not feel like magic. It felt like I had swallowed a mouthful of hot coals. The heat started in my chest, right where the Ancient had pointed, and spread rapidly to my fingertips and toes. I fell to my knees on the ice, gasping for air. My skin felt tight, as if the silver light pulsing beneath it was trying to rip me apart from the inside."It hurts!" I screamed, my voice echoing off the diamond walls of the peak. I clawed at the snow, trying to find some relief in the cold, but the snow hissed and melted the moment my hands touched it."Of course it hurts," the leader of the Ancients said. He did not move to help me. He stood over me like a judge. "You are holding the energy of a star in a body made of clay. The Silver Flame is wild, Sera. It is chaotic. It is a forest fire that does not know when to stop."I looked up at him, my vision blurring. The world around me was spinning. "Make it stop! I cannot handle this!""If w

"Turn your eyes away from the valley," the Ancient commanded. His voice was not a suggestion; it was an order that vibrated through the ice floor. "You cannot save the wolf below until you understand the wolves of the past."I tried to pull away. My heart was still racing from seeing the shadow-creature stalking Kieran in the snow. I wanted to run down the mountain. I wanted to scream a warning to him. But the leader of the Ancients stepped in front of me, blocking the view of the valley with his massive, diamond-hard body."The past, Sera," he said. "The truth is the only weapon that can cut a shadow."He reached out and pressed his cold, heavy fingers against my temples.The world dissolved. The white snow of the Frost Peaks vanished. The warmth of the star-energy was replaced by the suffocating heat of a burning house. I smelled smoke. I smelled fear.I was back.I was standing in the courtyard of my childhood home. It was the night of the raid. The night the Council told me my par

The rage from seeing Councilor Thorne holding my mother’s ring was still burning in my veins, but the Ancient did not let me rest. He did not give me time to scream or to punch the ice. He gripped my shoulders tighter, his diamond-hard fingers pressing into my skin."There is one last door, Sera," he said. His voice was heavy with a sorrow that seemed older than the mountain itself. "You have seen the enemy. You have seen the betrayal. Now, you must see the sacrifice."The world shifted for the final time. The smell of expensive tobacco and the sight of the Council chamber dissolved. The air became thick with the scent of lavender, burning wood, and fresh blood.I was standing in a nursery.It was a small room with soft yellow walls. I recognized the wooden crib in the corner. I recognized the toy wolf on the floor. This was my room. This was where I slept before the world turned into a nightmare.My mother was there.She was not running. She was not screaming for help. She was kneelin