All Chapters of The Hollow Moon Awakens: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Wren's Pov"We've found the third."The whisper dies, and the dark office is silent, and for three long heartbeats, neither of us moves.Then the Headmistress strikes a match. Her hands are shaking so badly it takes her two tries to relight the candle, and when the flame finally catches, I see her face, and I wish I hadn't. Headmistress Corvane, who is famous for never being surprised, looks like a woman standing at the edge of a very long fall."You heard it," I whisper. "Tell me you heard it too.""I heard it." Her voice comes out flat "The voice came from the broken seal, in a dead language, and right here in my own office." She looks at me across the candle. "Except I understood it, Wren, and I have never studied the old tongue in my life. It put the meaning straight into my head."The third. Found. I wrap my arms around myself, but the cold I feel isn't the kind a fire can fix."The third what?" I ask.The Headmistress doesn't answer. She's staring at the opened letter on the des

Nadia's PovI don't sleep after Seraphine says goodnight. I lie awake in the dark, my window locked, listening to my murderer's footsteps fade back toward the east room, and I make myself a new promise to add to my three rules:I am done being watched and surrounded.Wolves circle their prey, and if everyone in this house wants to test me, fine, but now it's my turn to test them.So the next morning, when Dorian Kane asks my father, with perfect courtesy, whether his bride might show him the valley before it gets dark, I don't wait for Papa's answer."I'd be delighted," I say.Dorian's looks at me; he had expected the shy bride to hesitate. But I had learned a lesson in my past life. In a fight, you can only understand how skilled or dangerous your opponent is by forcing them to react.We ride out the south road an hour later, just the two of us and a groom trailing far behind for decency. Gold leaves drift across the path. The morning is bright and cold and beautiful, and beside me r

Lyra's Pov“Found you.” The voice passes through the frozen glass and sinks into my bones.The pendant starts to burn in my hand. Outside, in the snow, the creature with the hollow ring for a face takes its first step toward the washhouse.The black circle of dead snow spreads with it.“Stay behind me.” Cassian's voice is quiet and strange now. It is not the prince's voice or the cruel voice he used during the Choosing.“When it comes through the wall, and it will come through the wall, you run to the main hall and ring the alarm bell.” He looks at me.“And whatever you hear happening to me, do not look back. Do you understand?”"What is it?" I ask“Dead,” he says simply. “It is someone who died before they could finish something. And they are very, very hard to stop.”It comes through the wall as if the wall isn't even there.In one breath, the whole washhouse turns white with frost. The tubs freeze solid. The wet clothes become stiff as boards.Then the wraith comes through the ston

Wren's Pov"Then His Majesty can't have her." Alpha Marcus draws his sword, and forty royal guards immediately draw their swords too. I grab his arm in fear; he can’t defeat forty guards alone.I open my mouth to tell him to stop, but another voice cuts across the courtyard.“Put your swords away before someone important trips over one,” Ansel says in a calm and bored voiceHe walks down the steps with his hands in his pockets, smiling at the forty armed men with a dangerous smile.Behind him, Rhys and Kaelen follow, walking slowly and without fear.The three strongest Alphas position themselves between the royal officer and me.They make it clear that anyone who wants to reach me will have to get through them first.The officer's jaw tightens. "This is crown business, my lords. Stand aside."“Crown business, on academy grounds.” Rhys's voice is calm and quiet, but everyone can hear him.“You know the academy's rules. They were written by the first Aurelian king himself. No student c

Nadia’s POVWe leave for the capital in four days, and my father’s house is filled with excitement.There are trunks everywhere. Seamstresses are busy making dresses from beautiful silk. My father walks around with the King’s signed blessing safely tucked inside his coat, like it is the most precious thing he owns. He keeps telling everyone that his daughter will be married in the palace.He has even stopped locking the doors at night. Why should he? The King loves us now.I let my father enjoy his happiness. It may be the last time he gets to feel this way, and at least one of us should be allowed to enjoy these days.Because Dorian and I have spent every moment preparing for what comes next.*************It’s a strange thing, secretly working with your own husband against the rest of the world.We can’t be seen alone too often, so we have created our own secret language. Every evening, we play a game of chess as if we are simply enjoying time together.But the chessboard is really