The Abandoned Luna's Journey to Power (by Emily Reed) novel Chapter 210

Chapter 210 The Truth Laid Bare

Cindy’s POV:

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By the time I had steadied myself, washed my face, and returned to the main hall, Astra had already been carried by Roger into the innermost warm chamber.

That room belonged to Maya.

Maya Kazek, Roger’s grandmother, was already 300 years old this year. For a werewolf without Ryken blood, she was a living fossil.

The warm chamber was quiet, broken only by the occasionál crackle of burning coals.

Astra knelt before Maya’s couch.

Maya’s eyesight was nearly gone. Her deeply wrinkled hands reached out unsteadily, feeling her way across Astra’s body.

She touched his sharp, bony shoulder, then his wrist, thin to the point of shock. Finally, her hand slid down his spine and stopped at his right leg, the one that was clearly twisted out of shape.

Maya’s hand froze.

Astra flinched and instinctively tried to draw his leg back. He didn’t want his great-grandmother to feel what was broken.

But Maya gripped that leg tightly.

“The bone… it’s crooked…”

Her voice sounded like air dragged through bellows, dry and hoarse, yet filled with a piercing clarity. “It healed wrong

forced to grow this way … my poor grandson … how did you endure this…”

…

Astra lifted his head, tears sliding down in silence. He opened his mouth, but no sound came. All he could do was press his face into Maya’s palm, a hand that smelled of medicine and age spots.

Maya didn’t wail like the maternal grandmother had.

She simply cried.

Clouded old tears traced the deep grooves of her face and dripped into Astra’s hair.

She cradled his head, stroking it again and again, murmuring an ancient melody I couldn’t understand. It was a wolf clan lullaby, used to soothe wounded cubs.

She cried for more than half an hour.

Only when Maya’s breathing finally steadied did Roger dare to step forward and speak softly.

“Grandmother, take care of yourself. Astra is back. We will have all the time in the world to love him.”

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09:55 Wed, Jan 28 GM

Chapter 210 The Truth Laid Bare

97

+30 Free Coins

Maya nodded. Though her eyes could no longer see clearly, she turned precisely in my direction.

“Cindy, child.”

“Maya, I’m here,” I answered at once, moving forward and kneeling on the other side.

“Tell me,” Maya said, a trace of authority returning to her voice, “how this child survived back then and how he ended up like this.”

Every Kazek in the hall held their breath.

I took a deep breath and began to tell the cruel truth.

“The night the massacre happened…” I glanced at Astra. When I saw no resistance from him, I continued. “Astra missed me too much. He crawled out through the dog hole and ran away, trying to find me.

“It was that moment of childish defiance that spared him from the slaughter.”

Relief flickered through the room, quickly followed by dread.

“But not long after he left the territory, he was targeted by traffickers who specialize in capturing high- ranking wolf cubs.”

My voice grew cold as I recounted the past two years, the abduction, the forced drugs, the broken leg, the beatings and coerced begging, the sale to Liberty City, and finally how Prince Adam found him.

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When I reached the parts about drugging him to destroy his voice and crushing his leg bones underfoot, Roger slammed his fist into the marble wall beside him. The stone shattered. Blood streamed down his knuckles, yet he didn’t seem to feel it.

“Bastards!” he roared. “I’ll kill them! I’ll tear them apart and feed them to the dogs!”

The men in the room were flushed with rage, hatred burning in their eyes.

“There is news about the ringleader,” I added coldly. “Prince Adam is handling it. He will pay a price far worse than death.”

The looks they gave me then held not only grief but also deep gratitude.

“Cindy…” Fiona wiped his tears. “If not for you, if you hadn’t refused to give up, if you hadn’t kept searching even after hearing he was dead… this child truly would have been lost.”

Roger drew a long breath, forcing his fury down, and asked the most important question. “His injuries. And that cursed poison. Can they be treated?”

“They can,” I said, repeating Rupert’s diagnosis.

“Detoxification will take time. He needs daily medicinal broths and surgery. Rupert says the addiction is currently under control. As long as he is cared for properly and kept away from the source, it will take about a year to fully recover. By then, he should be able to speak again.

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