All Chapters of The Substitute Luna’s Revenge: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Jace’s POVI stayed up most of the night with that family tree spread across my desk, tracing the same faded branches over and over until the candle burned down to nothing.Half the names had disappeared entirely, water stains and age eating through the ink until nothing remained but ghosts of letters. Others were legible but meaningless to me, generations I had no way of placing. Only one thing stood clear beyond any doubt.Kenna’s name had been written more recently than every other line on that page, and someone had circled it so many times the ink had nearly torn through the paper.I laid it beside the journal, beside the torn parchment I’d found under the writing desk, and studied all three together until my eyes ached. None of them told the full story. But arranged side by side, they painted the same shape from different angles, someone had gone to enormous lengths, over years, possibly decades, to erase an entire branch of the Moberly bloodline from every record that survived

Jace’s POV“Clear a path,” I shouted, shoving through the crowd surging toward the fallen elder. “Warriors, hold them back. Let the healers through.”The old man convulsed on the ground, foam gathering at the corners of his mouth, and the healer took one look before her expression confirmed what I already suspected.“Poison,” she said, already working, pressing charcoal past his lips, forcing water down his throat despite his choking. “I need more water. Now.”“Seal the gates,” Roland ordered, his voice cutting through the panic even as fear rippled outward through the square. “No one leaves until every guest has been accounted for.”The news spread faster than any of us could contain it. Families scrambled to gather children. Merchants abandoned their stalls mid-transaction. Someone screamed the word assassin loud enough that it rippled through the crowd like a struck bell, and I watched the celebration I’d hoped might finally ease this pack’s fear and collapse into something far mo

Jace’s POVThe council chamber was already loud by the time I arrived, elders arguing over whether Blackthorn’s banner meant war or provocation, whether we should send warriors to tear it down or leave it standing until we understood who’d really placed it there.“I’ll inspect the border myself,” I said, cutting through the noise. “Before anyone decides something we can’t undo.”“Send healing supplies to the border village as well,” Elaine added. “The patrol took injuries last night. Kenna can deliver them.”“Absolutely not.” The words left me faster than I meant them to. “That border isn’t safe right now.”“I’m not hiding inside these walls while warriors bleed because of something that might be aimed at my father.” Kenna’s voice cut through the room, steady despite the tension gripping every face around her. “I’m going.”Neither of us backed down, and Roland finally settled it the only way that made sense. “Jace will escort her personally. You leave before sunrise.”We rode out whil

Jace’s POVSomething was wrong with her at breakfast. I noticed it before anyone else seemed to, the way her spoon stirred the same bowl of porridge without ever quite lifting it, the way her eyes kept drifting toward the windows like she expected the forest itself to answer some question she hadn’t asked out loud.“Kenna.” Elaine’s voice, sharp enough to cut through whatever held her attention. “You’ve been asked twice whether you want more bread.”“Sorry.” She blinked, refocusing. “No, thank you.”I said nothing throughout the rest of the meal, but I didn’t forget it either. Not after the way she’d looked when she woke last night, I had heard it through the wall separating our chambers, a sharp gasp loud enough to carry, though by the time I’d knocked to check on her she’d already composed herself into the careful calm she wore for everyone else.I found her alone in the garden that afternoon, kneeling beside the same flower bed where all of this had started months ago.“Something

Jenna’s POVI kept my expression soft, patient, exactly what a worried sister’s face should look like. “You don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready,” I said, reaching for her hand across the table. “I only want to understand what’s troubling you.”Kenna hesitated, her fingers curling slightly beneath mine. “I already told Jace. I don’t want everyone treating me differently because of a bad dream.”“I’m not everyone.” I kept my voice gentle, unhurried. “We’ve known each other our whole lives, Kenna. I’d rather hear it from you directly than watch you carry it alone and pretend everything’s fine, the way you always do.”That worked, the way it usually did. I watched something in her posture loosen, watched her decide, slowly, to trust me the way she’d trusted me a hundred times before.“It wasn’t like an ordinary nightmare,” she said finally. “The place felt familiar. Ruins, broken towers, somewhere I’ve never actually been, but it didn’t feel unfamiliar at all. It felt like walking b