All Chapters of Forbidden Under the Blood Moon: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

Point of view: Wren"Someone in this room already knows more than they are saying."Ronan's words dropped into the courtyard like a stone into still water, and none of us moved to deny it. I watched everyone in that courtyard and realized I no longer knew who I was allowed to trust, and the thought terrified me more than any wolf, any war, any cave beneath the cliffs ever could.Kade's hand never left mine as Magnus's guards led the horses away, but I felt him still shaking, the journal pressed hard against his chest like it might slip through his fingers if he loosened his grip for even a second. Nobody spoke for a long moment. The fire in the courtyard torches cracked and hissed, sending thin curls of smoke up into a sky already gone the color of old bruises, and somewhere beyond the walls the sea kept moving the way it always did, indifferent to everything we had just learned."We should move inside," Voss finally said. "Words like these do not belong out where any ear might catch

Point of view: Wren"I need to show you something."Ivy found me folding spare cloaks into a pack meant for tomorrow night, and the look on her face told me instantly she was carrying something she'd been afraid to say out loud.She closed the door behind her, her hands twisting together in a way I hadn't seen since we were girls waiting for our father's temper to pass.She pulled a folded letter from inside her sleeve, edges worn soft from handling, and pressed it into my hands before she could talk herself out of it. "I found this among Mother's things years ago," she said. "Before she died. I never showed anyone. I didn't understand what it meant until last night."I unfolded it carefully, the paper thin and fragile beneath my fingers. The handwriting matched the journal Magnus had carried across half the territory, unmistakably Kade's mother's hand, though the letter was addressed to someone whose name had been carefully scratched out, the ink smudged in a way that felt deliberate

Point of view: Wren"I know where I've seen this mark before."Selene found me at dawn, breathless and pale, clutching the broken circle letter so tightly her knuckles had gone white around the edges, her hair still loose from sleep she clearly hadn't gotten enough of."It wasn't in my grandmother's stories," she said, before I could even ask what was wrong. "It was somewhere much closer.""Where?" I asked, pulling her inside before anyone else could overhear, the early light still grey and thin through the narrow window."Branded into the collar of one of Magnus's personal guards," she said. "The one who rode in with him two nights ago. I saw it last night while he stood watch outside the chamber, and I convinced myself I was imagining things until I compared it against this letter just now."My stomach dropped. "You're certain?""As certain as I can be without confronting him directly," Selene said. "Which is exactly the problem. If he notices anyone watching him too closely, and if

Point of view: Wren"Something's wrong here."The feeling of being watched settled over me the moment we reached the base of the cliffs, prickling cold and certain across every inch of my skin despite seeing nothing but empty rock and darkening sky above us. I said the words again, quieter this time, mostly to myself.Ronan scanned the terrain carefully, blade already drawn despite the apparent emptiness surrounding us, his eyes moving methodically from ridge to ridge. "If someone's watching, they're better hidden than anyone we've dealt with so far."We made camp just below the cliff line, close enough to the cave entrance that Fenn had described before his disappearance, far enough back to avoid the incoming tide still hours from its lowest point. Draven sat bound near the fire, watching us with an expression I couldn't quite decipher, somewhere between guilt and genuine fear, his eyes flicking toward the darkness beyond our small circle of light more than once."Tell me more about

Point of view: Wren"That's not him."Draven's whisper cut through the dark, urgent and afraid, his eyes wide in the dim firelight we'd risked relighting just long enough to see each other's faces. The voice from within the cave had sent ice sliding down my spine only seconds earlier, though his confusion beside me was somehow worse."Then who is it?" Ronan demanded quietly.Before anyone could answer, the voice called out again, closer now, carrying an edge of amusement that made my skin crawl. "Come inside," it said. "Or don't. Either way, the tide won't wait for your courage to catch up."We retreated a short distance from the entrance, regrouping quickly in the shadow of the cliffs, our voices dropping instinctively low even though the wind likely carried them nowhere useful. "We can't go in blind," Kade said. "Not without knowing exactly what's waiting.""We don't have another option," Selene said. "Low tide won't last. If we wait too long, the cave floods again and we lose our o