All Chapters of The Blood Moon Prophecy : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Anara’s POV“You kissed him.”Liora said it like she was commenting on the weather—flat, certain, not even a question.I was sitting on the edge of my bed, clutching a cup of tea that had gone stone cold ages ago. I’d been staring at the same spot on the wall for so long that the morning light had slowly turned from soft gray to warm gold without me even noticing. Liora had walked in, taken one look at my face, sat down across from me, and stayed quiet for a solid two minutes before those three words finally came out.“I kissed him,” I admitted.“And then you walked away.”“Yeah.”She was silent for a beat. “How was it?”I just looked at her.“What?” she said, shrugging. “It’s a fair question.”I set the cold tea down on the bedside table and pressed my palms flat against my knees. How was it? I’d been sitting here since before sunrise trying to find the right words, and nothing even came close. It was like trying to explain color to someone who’d only ever seen gray.“It was my first

ELARAHe was standing right outside my door.Not casually leaning against the wall like someone killing time. No, he was planted squarely in front of it, arms hanging at his sides, jaw tight, like a man who had made up his mind and shown up before he could change it. The moment I opened the door and saw him there, my heart did something sharp and sudden that I immediately decided not to examine too closely.“You were in the garden last night,” I said. “Under my window.”“Yes.”“And then you left.”“Yes.” His eyes never left mine. “But I came back.”I stepped aside without another word and let him in.The room changed the instant he entered it, the way it always did when he was near. It felt smaller, warmer, more alive. He stopped in the middle of the floor and looked at me. I stayed near the closed door, looking back at him. For a long moment, neither of us spoke.“I owe you a real explanation,” I said finally. “Not the half-truth I gave you in the garden.”“You don’t owe me anything,

Anara"You're glowing."Liora said it the second she stepped into the room and caught sight of me at the vanity. The way she said it made me actually look at my own reflection properly for the first time that morning. She wasn’t wrong. There was something different about my face. A softness around the eyes, a relaxed curve to my mouth—the kind of look you get when someone has kissed you senseless and you haven’t quite figured out how to put your usual mask back on."I don’t know what you mean," I said.Liora set the dress box down and raised both eyebrows at me. "Ana.""I really don’t.""Your hair’s still a little messy on the left side," she said lightly, "in that exact way it gets when someone’s had their fingers running through it. And you’ve been smiling at that mirror ever since I walked in, without even realizing it."I pressed my lips together."So," she went on, opening the box, "good night?""Close the door," I told her.She shut it and turned back to me with such open, shame

Anara "However."I let the word hang in the air for a second, because some words need that kind of space to really hit."I’m withdrawing from the tournament."The reaction was instant shock rippling through the room in waves. Thorne shot to his feet. Two of the elders started talking over each other. Somewhere to my left, I heard Vexa let out a sound of pure disbelief that, under different circumstances, would’ve probably amused me.I didn’t look at any of them."Furthermore," I continued, and the room fell quiet again. I’d clearly learned a thing or two from watching Kaelen use that word. "I don’t accept the mateship that’s been declared for me." I looked straight at him as I said it. "A bond requires two people to choose it. And I’m not choosing it tonight."The silence that followed felt different deeper, heavier, almost intimate.Kaelen hadn’t moved. He stood at the head of the table, staring at me, his face tight with something controlled and painful. I forced myself to hold his

Anara The chains felt ice-cold against my skin.That was the first thing that hit me before I was even fully awake the chill of the metal biting into my wrists, the rough stone floor beneath me, and the damp, unwelcoming air of a room that hadn’t seen warmth in a long time. I stayed perfectly still for a moment with my eyes closed, quietly taking stock of my body and surroundings before letting anyone know I was conscious.My head throbbed from whatever they’d injected into my arm. My mouth was bone-dry. The green silk dress I wore was torn at the hem, probably from catching on something while they moved me, and one shoe was missing—I could already tell from the uneven feel of the floor against my feet.I opened my eyes.The ceiling was solid stone. Old iron torch brackets lined the walls, two of them flickering with orange light that barely pushed back the shadows in the corners. The chains were fastened to a heavy ring embedded deep in the wall above me, long enough for me to sit u