Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 12

12 A Crown Made of Ash

Get 5 >

= Menu

James’s POV

The hall roared like celebration, but to me it sounded like war drums disguised as music.

Laughter rose and fell in waves, glasses clinked, wolves cheered, and every smile in the room looked sharpened by politics. They called it a union. They called it a joining. They

called it progress.

I called it a funeral.

Not for the pack, no. The pack would live. The pack would survive.

But something else was being buried tonight, and I was the one holding the shovel.

I stood beside Leah as though I belonged there, as though this was my life, as though I wasn’t watching myself from somewhere outside my own skin. Like I’d stepped into another man’s body and was simply acting out the worst decision he’d ever make.

Leah’s hand kept reaching for mine.

Every few minutes she squeezed, like she was trying to convince herself that the bond between us was real, that if she held tight enough I’d become hers by force of will alone.

Her fingers were warm.

They felt like a mistake.

I stared at the crowd, at the banners, at the faces of the Wolves who had once looked at

Arya and me like we were legend. Like we were proof that rogues could build something

that mattered.

Now those same faces were looking between Leah and Arya, weighing, measuring, adjusting. Wolves were quick to adapt when survival demanded it.

And I hated them for that.

Then I saw Arya.

The dress she wore cut through the room like a blade.

@j11.28

6.49%

< 12 A Crown Made of Ash

Not because it was extravagant. Not because it was loud.

Because it was deliberate.

It covered my mark.

My throat tightened instantly, hard enough that I felt it in my jaw.

Get 5 >

= Menu

She’d worn dresses before. Arya could look like fire when she wanted to. She could make a

room go quiet without saying a word.

But this, this was different.

This was an answer.

A message carved into fabric.

You don’t get to brand me and then replace me.

You don’t get to claim me in blood and then pretend I’m nothing.

My chest burned.

I wanted to reach for her. I wanted to pull her close and hide her from every set of hungry eyes in this hall. I wanted to grip her chin and force her to look at me so I could explain, so I could beg, so I could remind her of the truth.

But the truth was that I had done this.

I had asked her to endure humiliation.

I had silenced her.

I had watched Marcel Rainhorn dismiss her like she was dust, and I had done nothing.

And now she was covering my mark.

As if my claim meant nothing to her anymore.

As if the bond between us was a bruise she was finally tired of touching.

My wolf shifted inside me, restless.

11:28

6.49%

< 12 A Crown Made of Ash

Get 5 >

= Menu

Jasper’s presence was darker than usual, pacing the edges of my skull with bared teeth.

You did this, he snarled.

I tried to swallow the guilt down. Tried to lock it away.

Not now.

Not tonight.

I had to keep my face steady.

I had to keep the Alpha mask on.

If I cracked, Marcel would smell it.

If I faltered, the Union would circle like vultures.

So I stood there, jaw tight, eyes cold.

And watched my mate dance with another man.

The moment Lev took Arya’s hand, something vicious ripped through my chest.

Jealousy, yes.

But more than that, fear.

Because I knew who Lev Nikolaev was.

Everyone with half a brain knew.

Radimir’s nephew.

Union blood.

A man raised in halls where wolves like me were discussed like tools, useful, replaceable, easy to discard.

Lev was the kind of man Marcel Rainhorn feared.

The kind of man I couldn’t challenge without lighting the entire Union on fire.

# 11:28

6.09%

<12 A Crown Made of Ash

And I did not have that kind of power.

Not yet.

Get 5 >

= Menu

Lev leaned down as Arya spoke to him. His expression was controlled, unreadable, the kind

of calm that wasn’t peace but calculation. He listened like a predator wearing patience.

And Arya…

Arya’s posture was too composed.

Too calm.

As if she’d decided she wouldn’t bleed in front of me.

As if she was learning how to live without me, one breath at a time.

My fingers twitched at my side, wanting to crush something.

Leah followed my gaze and her smile tightened.

She leaned into me, voice bright and false. “They look… friendly.”

I didn’t answer.

Leah laughed lightly, too loudly. “It’s a dance, James. Don’t look like you’re about to kill

someone.”

Her attempt at teasing made something sour rise in my throat.

She wanted me to play the part. To smile at her, to touch her waist, to lean in like a groom.

As if I hadn’t just torn my own life apart.

As if I hadn’t watched Arya cover my mark like it disgusted her.

Leah slid closer, pressing her arm against mine. “The pack is watching,” she murmured.

“You need to act like you want this.”

I turned my head slightly, eyes narrowing.

The mask nearly cracked.

11:28

A

6.26%

< 12 A Crown Made of Ash

My voice came out low. “Don’t.”

Leah blinked, her smile trembling. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t ask me to pretend,” I said, each word clipped. “Not tonight.”

Her lips parted.

Get 5 >

= Menu

A flicker of irritation crossed her face before she smoothed it away, quick as a trained courtier. “Fine,” she whispered. “But at least hold my hand.”

I stared at her, and for a moment I saw exactly what she was.

Not a bride.

A political weapon wrapped in silk.

A girl raised to believe she could take anything if she smiled sweetly enough.

And I had agreed to it.

Jasper growled again.

We’re losing her, he spat. Our mate. You’re letting her slip through your fingers while

stand here beside this, this,

Stop, I snapped internally, the word cracking like thunder inside my skull.

Jasper didn’t stop.

His voice turned sharper, more brutal.

you

She covered your mark, James. She’s rejecting you in front of the entire pack. And you

deserve it. You deserve to watch her walk away.

My stomach churned.

The music swelled,

The hall spun.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

#1128

6.33%

<12 A Crown Made of Ash

Get 5>

Menu

Leah’s hand touched my arm again, and something in me recoiled so violently I had to

clench my fists to stop myself from shaking her off.

I turned slightly, scanning the crowd for an escape.

Arya’s laugh, soft, restrained, reached me over the music. It wasn’t happy. It was controlled.

It was the kind of laugh a woman used when she refused to let the room see her breaking.

It made my throat burn.

Then Arya excused herself.

I saw it clearly, her polite nod, the smooth steps away from the dance floor, the calm expression that didn’t match the tension in her shoulders.

Lev watched her go.

His gaze followed her with quiet possession.

And my control snapped.

I didn’t think.

I didn’t care who saw.

I turned and walked out of the hall.

The air outside hit me like a slap, cold, damp, sharp with the scent of rain-soaked earth. The noise of the celebration muffled behind the doors, distant now, like it belonged to another world.

My boots crunched against gravel as I stepped into the courtyard and lifted my face to the sky.

The moon hung above the treeline, pale and indifferent.

It had watched me build this pack.

It had watched me swear my vows to Arya.

It had watched me mark her, claim her, promise her that no power on earth would come between us.

# 11:28

6.4%

< 12 A Crown Made of Ash

Get 5 >

Menu

And now it watched me stand here like a coward who had traded his mate’s dignity for a

seat at a table full of monsters.

I swallowed hard, my breath fogging in front of me.

Why did it have to be this?

Why did my life have to be carved into choices that tasted like blood?

I stared at the moon and wished, God help me, I wished my life could have been simple.

Single.

No mate to destroy. No bond to betray. No woman with eyes like storms to look at me like I

was a stranger.

For a moment, I let the guilt come.

And it nearly crushed me.

Arya’s face flashed in my mind, the moment I told her to get rid of the baby.

My stomach lurched.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

How could I have said that?

How could those words have come out of my mouth?

I hadn’t even recognised myself in that moment. It was like something dark had surged up and spoken for me, something desperate and vicious and terrified.

But I knew what it really was.

Fear.

Fear that Marcel would use the child as leverage.

Fear that the Union would target Arya once they knew.

Fear that I would fail to protect them.

11:28

6.48%

<12 A Crown Made of Ash

So I’d tried to cut the risk out of our lives like a diseased limb.

And I’d done it by cutting Arya.

Chapter Comment (1)

11.28

Get 5 >

= Menu

6.49%

< Luna Forsaken