Semua Bab THE LUNA THEY NEVER WANTED: Bab 41 - Bab 50

CHAPTER 42 SOMETHING ORDINARY ELENA’S POV We didn’t talk about the sister on the ride back. Not because we’d decided not to.. it’s just that there was simply nothing left to say that hadn’t already been said yet, and some things need silence more than words. Xander rode beside me for two days with his mouth slightly open and his eyes somewhere far off,so I let him have it, the same way he’d let me have my own grief the night we buried Marta. Gerafil’s gates came into view on the third evening, warm light spilling from every window. Home. It still surprised me how easily that word made me feel now. Marcus met us at the stables. Talia had not yet resurfaced. Dorian remained under quiet watch, though nothing more happened in our absence. The camp went back to its usual activities, wary but steady. “What about this?,” he said, holding out a folded parchment sealed in gold wax, “arrived yesterday. From the High Priestess.” Xander broke the seal, scanning it quickly before hand

CHAPTER 44 MORNING WITHOUT ALARM ELENA’S POVI woke before he did, sunlight slipping soft through a gap in the curtains, painting a thin gold line across his shoulder.I just watched him sleep. I’d never once seen him like this, unguarded, mouth opened instead of closed, none of the weight he carried every waking hour pressing down on his face. He looked younger and much cuter. He looked like the boy who used to steal kisses under an oak tree, before Trent and Corvin. Neither of us understood how much the world could take from two people who only wanted each other.His eyes opened slowly, staring at me watching him, and a smile crept across his face in a slow manner.“You’re staring,” he said, voice cracked a bit with sleep.“I’m allowed.”He pulled me back down against his chest, and I let him, tracing ticklish circles over his heart while the estate slowly woke around us, birds finally returning to the trees outside, the distant sound of the kitchen staff starting their morning

CHAPTER 46 THE GIRL WHO LOOKED LIKE MY MOTHER XANDER’S POV Her eyes locked into mine, and my heart instantly slipped a beat. I just stood there. My whole body refused to move. Twenty-three years of silence from my mother, every time I asked about my father, every time she changed the subject or walked out of the room. Now this woman stood in front of me wearing his eyes as she stole them straight from his face. “Say that again,” I managed. “Xander.” Wren’s voice shook. “I’ve waited twenty-three years for someone to find me.” “Oh really?” Elena’s hand found the small of my back. I felt her beside me, watching my reaction the way she watched everything, everything about me in case I fell apart in front of these guards. “What do you mean, wait?” Elena asked her, gentle but sharp beneath the surface. Wren wrapped her arms around herself. “I was taken when I was very young—raised far from here. Nobody told me where I came from. Only that the woman who raised me served the Silv

CHAPTER 48 WHAT WREN REALLY IS CALEB’S POV “Say that again,” I said, though I’d heard her perfectly the first time. “Wren.” Talia’s voice shook so badly the name barely held together. “She’s not a captive who escaped. She’s exactly where he wants her. She’s been playing us since the moment Talia, my own daughter, brought her through your gates.” I stared at her, my mind refusing to accept the shape of what she was telling me. “Your daughter said this to you,” I said slowly. “The one Corvin’s people raised for eleven years. The one who called you a stranger.” “Yes.” Talia pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes, like she could push the memory back out through them if she tried hard enough. “She recited it like a lesson. She didn’t even understand what she was saying. I guess she just knew she had to say it, the moment someone from Gerafil finally found her.” “Why would he plant a message with her instead of just telling Wren directly?” I asked. “ Wren doesn’t know,” T

CHAPTER 50 THE SECOND HEARTBEAT XANDER’S POV Caleb let out a laugh, “Great. Fantastic. Love that for us.” “Not helpful,” Elena said, though her hand were on mine without her looking away from Wren. Here’s a thing about my sister I’d learned in less than twenty four hours: she flinched at loud noises, apologized too much for things that weren’t her fault, and had absolutely no idea how brave she actually was. She was sitting up now, pale, sweating, one hand pressed flat against her own chest like she could feel the second pulse from the inside. “It’s warm,” she said quietly. “Not painful. Just, warm. Like something settling in instead of forcing its way through.” “Settling in for what?” I asked. Wren looked up at me, and ever since she’d walked through our gates, I saw something in her face that wasn’t grief or fear or desperate hope. It was recognition. “I think I know where I need to go,” she said. “No,” I said immediately. “Xander.” “No. We just decided we’re not walkin