All Chapters of The Silent Luna: Rise of the Primal Queen: Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

While we wait for Eunice, let's return to the First Kingdom. Malachi has just made a deal with the Goddess to save your life—and the price is his own time.The glowing white sand of the First Kingdom felt like silk under my skin, but the air was heavy with the scent of ancient ozone and blooming starlight. I could feel the poison from the Inquisitor’s bolt retreating, replaced by a warm, golden hum that started in my marrow and radiated outward.But the warmth was stolen.I looked at Malachi. He was still holding me, but his arms were trembling. I watched, horrified, as a strand of his dark hair turned the color of a winter frost right before my eyes. The lines around his eyes deepened, and his breathing became shallow—not from the battle, but from the weight of years being stripped from him and poured into me."Malachi, stop," I whispered, reaching up to touch his face. His skin felt thinner, like fine parchment. "You’re giving too much. I can feel the life in me... it’s too heavy. I

The obsidian archway pulse-flickered like a dying heart, the black-water surface shrinking toward the center. My mother stood before it, her silver robes catching the bioluminescent glow of the trees. She looked at us—at the young, restored King and the bleeding, broken "Princess"—with a terrifyingly calm smile."One of you stays," Lyra repeated, her voice a chilling melody. "The Gate demands a Guardian to anchor the Void. Who will it be? The King who would die for a girl? Or the girl who would burn a world for a man?"Malachi’s grip on me tightened. He was fully restored now, his muscles coiling with the lethal grace of the Shadow-Wolf I remembered. He stepped in front of me, his shadow-blade manifesting in a hiss of dark smoke."I stay," Malachi said, his voice a low, absolute vibration. "Elara, go. Rule the Spire. Tell them the King is guarding the threshold. Tell them the North and South are one, or I’ll come back from the dark to show them why they should fear the night.""No!" I

The Southern border was a jagged line of silver-grey mist where the warm, spice-scented air of Malachi’s kingdom met the dying, frigid winds of the North. Elara stood at the edge of the precipice, her long white gown snapping in the wind like a battle flag. She didn't feel like the girl who had been kicked into the mud on the night of the Blood Moon. She felt like the storm itself.Beside her, Malachi was a pillar of dark stone. His shadow magic didn't just crawl at his feet anymore; it rose behind him like massive, obsidian wings. He didn't look at the approaching army. He looked only at her, his silver eyes filled with a pride that made Elara’s heart swell."Are you ready?" he asked, his voice a low rumble that vibrated through the ground."I’ve been ready since the moment the bond snapped," Elara replied. She raised her hand, and for a fleeting second, the air around her shimmered with violet heat.A group of riders emerged from the mist. At the front was a massive charcoal-grey wo