The Crown Of Midnight Novels & Stories

“Everyone, in your positions. At exact midnight, we will strike.” The royal soldiers scampered away from their original positions and went in different directions as if to surround the camp of their enemies. That night was rather bright with the full moon shining up in the cloudless sky. It was an advantage for Emery’s team but it was also a risk since some of the enemies were also on the lookout for possible attacks.

“The first king cannot return without a body.” Shigure looked at me. “A body carrying royal tide blood and wolf memory.” Cael gave a bitter laugh. “So everyone chose the same girl.” The book opened again. This page showed the blood moon. Three crowns circled beneath it. The Tide Crown. The Stormcrest Crown. A third crown made from black bone. Words burned across the glass. WHEN THE THREE CROWNS MEET, THE FIRST KING MAY RISE. THE LAST QUEEN MUST BE EMPTIED.

Otsana clutched my arm with one hand, her covered gold mark burning bright enough to smoke through the cloth around her wrist. Conri lifted his sword toward the altar, though no blade could cut a threat spoken by the moon itself. Bardolph remained near Niall, one hand on the child’s shoulder, but his eyes were on the crown splitting between my palms. The crown did not fall apart. That frightened me more. It stayed whole while cracking, as if it wanted me to see every wound before choosing which wound deserved survival. The children’s chains loosened slightly when I rejected the moon’s oldest mate road, then tightened again when the crown began to break.

Still kneeling from the combat, her composure entirely rebuilt in the twenty minutes since she went down. "You have the crown," she says. "Congratulations. You fought well." Her eyes hold mine without blinking. "But the ritual is tonight. The host has been ready for weeks. The red moon rises tomorrow." She tilts her head. "Nothing you did in that room stops what is already moving." She looks away. Like I am already something that happened in the past.

A shawl, a ring and blood. What was he using these items for? Aemond was involved in dark magic. One way or another, I could see this. That's why he was often so evil. I heard footsteps coming down the hallway and I picked myself up from the chair, hiding the scarf and ring box under my shirt and then putting the vial in my pocket. The door opened before I could get to it. It was a guard. “Miss Mia, it's you. What are you doing here?”

Something about a bridge being nearby is the only thing I can remember. Suddenly, the world swirls and I’m standing on that bridge with Kendric. “I fell off the cliff and then ended up here. This was our third life, for sure.” Kendric looks over at me with a confused expression. “Are you seeing this too?” A ticking clock sounds from somewhere nearby and I look around to see where it’s coming from. “Do you hear that?” A voice comes out of nowhere from somewhere above us. “Midnight is coming. Run while you can.”

His voice was so hoarse that it made my ears sting, "I wondered why that thing didn't scoop out your heart. Turns out, your blood was the best shield..." …… I woke up drenched in sweat, back in my bed. It was a week before the Haunts world descended. The gold bar from last night's burial was still heavy in my pocket.

I just blinked my eyelids at the Beta and he understood the task well. He went over to Cassidy's side and lured her into coming over. " You cannot escape from my threshold," I whispered telepathically into her mind. "Sit down" I ordered. "Make me." “I said sit…DOWN!” She grunted. Murmured and grumbled to herself but still she sat down. I unveiled the item before everyone which lay on the stool. It was a golden crown that was made of emerald stones sparkling like diamonds. "I have decided to crown Cassidy Hart as the Luna of Blood Moon pack," I announced to the crowd.

I stand barefoot, watching her, arms folded before me, the night air thick with incense and pine. Shawn is right beside me, his shoulder almost brushing mine, the flames dancing in his silver eyes as he watches them too. Alice flanks my other side, arms crossed, her stance, solid as always, but her jaw is tight. She keeps glancing at me when she thinks I'm not watching, but I feel it. Ophelia lifts a bowl of moonwater, tilts it until a single drop falls onto the black stone at the center of the circle. The drop hisses, steam rising in the shape of a wolf’s jaw.

At the center stood a structure that made the breath catch in Aria’s throat. A crown. Not a symbol. Not ceremonial. Real. Forged of black metal veined with gold, suspended above a stone pedestal by nothing at all. It hovered, unmoving, humming with restrained power. Damien swore quietly. “That’s not possible,” Serel whispered. “The Crown is above us.” Aria shook her head. “That’s a shadow. An anchor.” She stepped forward before anyone could stop her. The air shifted immediately. The hum deepened. The symbols flared brighter, casting jagged light across the chamber walls. Aria’s skin prickled, every instinct screaming both warning and recognition.