Semua Bab The moon lied- She chose the beast.: Bab 1 - Bab 9

POV: Kang SeraThe cemetery was empty at this hour, which was exactly why Sera came.She knelt in front of the black marble headstone, brushing a few stray leaves off the engraved name. Ten years of marriage had taught her precisely how much space to leave between herself and his memory. Not too close. Never too far."You would have hated the flowers I brought today," she said quietly, setting down a small bundle of white chrysanthemums. "Too plain. You always said plain things were for people with nothing to prove."The wind answered her instead of him. It always did.She didn't cry anymore. She had cried enough in the first two years, back when she still believed grief was something that ended if she was patient with it. Now she simply came, once a month, and said whatever needed saying, and left before the ache in her chest could turn into anything louder.He had never loved her. She had known that on their wedding day, watching him shake hands with men twice his age while she stoo

POV: Kang SeraThe wedding preparations began before Sera had even finished processing that there would be one.By the second morning, her bedroom had been overtaken by fabric swatches and three designers speaking over each other in rapid Italian, French, and Korean, none of them waiting for her opinion before deciding it for her."Ivory suits her skin tone better than white," one of them said, holding a bolt of silk against Sera's shoulder without asking permission."The Council wants white. White photographs as purity.""She's a widow, not a virgin bride. White will look like a costume."Sera stood between them like a mannequin, arms slightly raised, saying nothing. She had learned a long time ago that her opinion was rarely the deciding factor in rooms like this one. She let the fabric fall against her skin and stared past the mirror at nothing in particular."Miss Sera." One of the bodyguards knocked twice before entering. "Security wants to walk the gala route with you this after

POV: Arsen DragunovArsen stared at the photograph on his screen until the image stopped looking like Dora at all and started looking like a puzzle piece he didn't yet understand.He didn't ask himself why she had been there. That question could wait. What mattered more, what made the muscles along his jaw tighten until they ached, was the angle.He zoomed in, studying the perspective of the shot, the slight downward tilt, the distance."Nikolai." His voice came out low, controlled in the way that made people in his organization move faster than shouting ever could.Nikolai appeared in the doorway within seconds. "Sir.""This photograph." Arsen turned the screen toward him. "Where was it taken from."Nikolai leaned in, studying the image with the practiced eye of a man who had spent a decade reading crime scenes for a living. His expression shifted slowly from professional focus to something closer to alarm."That's the rooftop above Aldrich Street." He straightened. "That's inside ou

POV: Arsen DragunovArsen didn't think. He moved.One second he was staring at a laser point steady against Sera's chest, and the next he had already pulled her into him, twisting his body between her and the source of that red light a half breath before the first shot shattered the crystal ceiling above the ballroom.Glass rained down in a glittering storm. Screams tore through the gold and silver crowd as guests scrambled for cover, chairs overturning, champagne glasses shattering against marble."Stay down." Arsen's voice came out low and absolute, his arm locked around Sera's back as he pulled her beneath the shelter of an overturned banquet table."Arse...""Down."She obeyed, pressing herself against him, her whole body trembling in a way she was clearly fighting to control. He could feel her heartbeat hammering through the thin fabric of her gown, could feel his own pulse roaring in his ears, sharper and louder than it had been in years.A second shot cracked against the far wa