All Chapters of The Rogue's Forbidden Luna: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

45 Chapters

I'll keep watch

Luna's POV It started with the burn.The kind that crawled under my skin like wildfire, slow at first, then all at once. My knees buckled before I even had time to call out.“Luna!” Kael was there in an instant, catching me before I hit the ground. My vision blurred, silver light sparking at the edges. The mark on my skin pulsed like it wanted to tear me in half.“It’s-” My voice caught on a gasp. “It’s happening again.”“I’ve got you.” His arms were strong and steady, even when I wasn’t. He lowered me onto our bedroll, one hand behind my head, the other gripping mine so tight I could feel the tremor in him.The heat spread, a wave that made it hard to breathe. My skin felt too tight, my heart racing like it might burst.“Stay with me, Luna.” His voice was sharp now, commanding, but there was fear in it too.“I… I can’t-” My words melted into a sound I didn’t recognize, half-pain, half-plea.Kael cursed under his breath and moved fast. I heard the splash of water, the sound of cloth

And if you forgot

Luna's POV The village looked safe in the way a painted door looks solid until you push on it and your hand goes right through.Children chased a wooden hoop down the lane. A woman sold flowers from a cart, pink and yellow bunches tied with twine. Smoke curled from ovens; the air smelled like bread and roasted onions and sweet fruit turned into jam. For a breath, I wanted to forget everything.Kael didn’t. He never forgot. His eyes tracked the rooftops, the alley mouths, the way conversations paused when strangers walked by.“Stay close,” he murmured, his hand brushing my lower back.“I am close,” I said.“Closer,” he said, and the tiny smile I didn’t mean to make almost got loose.We moved through the stalls like we knew how to be normal. I picked out apples with the smallest bruises. Kael bartered for hard cheese and dried meat, voice steady, hands never straying far from me. The baker - a round man with a flour-dusted beard - offered us two rolls “on the house” with a look that

I can try

Luna's POV Kael didn’t look. “He won’t. But he just bought himself a long memory.”We skirted the outer lane, past a low fence and a pen of sleepy goats. A dog lifted its head, sniffed, and decided we weren’t worth a bark. The trees waited at the edge-tall, dark, familiar. We were almost there when a shout went up at the far end of the square.“Gate!” someone yelled. “Close the gate!”“Run,” Kael said, and this time we moved.We cut across a patch of wet grass, leapt a ditch, hit the treeline. Branches grabbed at my sleeves. Kael ducked under a fallen limb and pulled me after, our hands locked tight. We ran until the village was only smoke and noise behind us, until the ground turned to soft leaf and old root and the pine-dark swallowed the last of the roofs.When we stopped, I bent over, hands on my knees, lungs burning. Kael stood watch, back to me, scanning the spaces between trees. He listened with his whole body. The forest listened back. No pursuit. Not yet.“Here,” he said,

For yelling

Luna's POV The river sounded like teeth.Cold, fast, hungry. It rushed over the rocks in white snarls, pulling the sky down into a slick gray ribbon. I stood on the bank and felt the bite of the wind through my clothes, and I knew - if we went in, it would hurt.Kael stood a few steps ahead, scanning the far bank. “It’ll break our trail,” he said. “They’ll lose our scent at the water.”“It’ll also freeze my soul,” I muttered.He glanced back, a quick almost-smile. “You can spare part of it.”“I need all of it,” I said. “For yelling at you.”“Then keep enough for that.” He shrugged off his coat, stuffed it deep in the oiled pack, and cinched the straps tight. “We go fast and steady. No stopping in the middle.”I swallowed. “How wide?”“Wider than I like,” he admitted. “But there’s a slow seam near the big rock. We hit that, then angle downstream.”I stared at the water. The big rock looked like a slick, sleeping animal in the middle of the current. “And if I get dragged?”“You won’t.

You didn't fail

Luna's POV “Look at me,” he said. His eyes were clear, bright, fierce. “You’ve got this.”“I’ve got this,” I echoed, because I needed to hear myself say it.We pushed off together, leaving the rock. The current grabbed us. I kicked hard, arms pulling water, breath in time with his. He kept slightly ahead and to my side, shadowing every stroke like a promise. The far bank felt miles away and then, all at once, it felt possible. Trees leaned over the water as if to pull us in.“Almost,” he said. “Ten more strokes.”I did eleven. My foot touched mud. I kicked again. The water went from shoulder to chest to waist, the current still strong enough to steal my knees. Kael’s hand clamped my elbow, hauling me upright.“Up,” he grunted. “Out.”We staggered onto the bank, dripping and shaking, teeth knocking so hard it hurt. For a few seconds, all we could do was stand there and breathe clouds into the air.“Fire,” he said, voice a scrape. “Now.”We stumbled into the trees, away from direct v

Thirteen nights

Luna's POV The path to the healer’s cabin felt shorter than last time. Maybe because I knew what waited. Maybe because my heart ran ahead of my feet.Wind chimes made of bone and feathers clacked softly as we stepped from the trees. Smoke lifted from the crooked chimney. Kael’s hand brushed mine once, a small warning and a quiet comfort in one.“She’ll tell us the truth,” he said.“I’m not sure I want it,” I admitted.“You do,” he said gently. “You always do.”The door opened before we could knock. The healer stood there with her braid over one shoulder and winter in her eyes.“You took your time,” she said.“We didn’t die,” Kael replied.“Not yet,” she said, and stepped back to let us in.The cabin was warm and close, the air thick with herbs and something bitter. Dried plants hung from the rafters. A single table sat under the window, cluttered with bowls and stones, a knife laid lengthwise like a boundary marker.“Sit,” the healer said, waving at a bench. “Let me look at you.”S

Make each one count

Luna's POV The river crossed my mind, cold and sure. The alley, his body around mine. The cave, his hand at my jaw. All the small ways he’d taught me how to stay when running was easier. Choices lay in those moments like stones. I could step on them, one by one, to the other side.“I can,” I said, too soft. I cleared my throat and said it again. “I can.”The healer nodded once, and the approval in that small movement made my eyes sting again. She turned back to the table. “You’ll also need breath.”“We have that,” Kael said dryly.“Not like this.” She took down a small jar of dark powder and tapped three pinches into her palm. “When you speak the vow, you breathe for each other. Not a kiss. Deeper. A trading. His breath in your lungs, yours in his, until the world knows it belongs in both.” She closed the jar. “The old magic likes proof.”Heat rose up my neck so fast it made me dizzy. Kael went still beside me. The room held its breath with us.“And if something goes wrong?” I asked

The confession

Luna's POV We camped beneath the broken spine of an old wall, the stones warm from the day and still holding the last gold light. The road to the fallen tower waited beyond the ridge, quiet and dark, like a mouth we were choosing to walk into. Tomorrow we would start for it. Tonight was our last night before the climb.Kael built a small fire, careful as always - just enough heat, just enough light. He moved with that steady competence that made me feel safe even when nothing else did. I watched his hands. I always did.When the flame caught, he sat across from me with his knees drawn up, forearms resting there, looking more tired than he would admit. The orange glow cut shadows under his cheekbones. His eyes kept returning to me like a tide.“Hungry?” he asked.“A little,” I said, though my stomach was a tight fist. He passed me a strip of meat and half an apple. I took a bite and tasted nothing.He noticed. “We can wait a day,” he said. “Reach the tower after the moon turns, pick

How bad?

Luna's POV The air inside the cave felt different tonight. Colder. Still.Kael was sleeping by the entrance, his arm tucked under his head, chest rising and falling in slow rhythm. The soft glow of the crystals painted him in blues and silvers - like a prince carved from moonlight.But I couldn’t sleep.Something in the back of my mind was pulling me - deeper into the cave, past the glowing symbols we hadn’t touched, past the place we’d stopped exploring yesterday.I stepped barefoot across the stone floor, the silence humming under my skin.And then, everything changed.The glow from the walls brightened. The air shifted, and a soft voice echoed through the chamber, wrapping around me like wind.“Scarlett…”I froze. “Who’s there?”The air shimmered - and suddenly, she stood before me.A woman made of light and mist, her silver hair falling in waves down her back. Her eyes glowed pale blue, just like mine had during the eclipse. She wore armor laced with silver and crystal, and her

We're close

Luna's POV The morning air was cold enough to bite through my cloak. I pulled the hood lower over my head, the weight of my pack tugging on my shoulders as Kael and I followed the narrow dirt path out of the hills.The ritual site was still a full day’s journey away. One day, if nothing slowed us down. But the mark under my skin was already burning - hot, sharp, random.I pressed a palm against my ribs, right over where the faint, silvery glow sometimes leaked through. “It’s worse today,” I murmured.Kael slowed, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. “How bad?”“Like… someone’s pressing a hot iron into me. Then letting go. Then pressing again.”His jaw tightened. “Tell me the second it gets unbearable. Don’t try to be brave.”I frowned at him. “You think I’m trying to be brave?”“I think you like to pretend you’re fine when you’re not.” His voice was low, matter-of-fact. “I’d rather you tell me than pass out in the middle of nowhere.”I rolled my eyes, though my heart squeezed a

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