The Second Chance Of The Rejected Moon (Celine and Bastian) novel Chapter 169

Chapter 169

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Tanner takes a step back. The color drains from his face as he looks at the prince he believed would never wake up again.

“It’s impossible. You….”

“Yes. I’m awake from my nap, and you people have made a mess of my kingdom.”

The silence becomes heavy. No one seems willing to breathe as Bastian continues walking among his own soldiers. His gaze moves over the kneeling alphas, the abandoned weapons, and the bodies that are still scattered across the mud.

Alpha Nick drops his weapon and steps forward.

“The real person responsible for all of this is still in the forest, running away from his responsibility.”

Bastian clicks his tongue and tilts his head slightly. His expression does not change, but his eyes harden.

“You are just as responsible for this as Alpha Miller. Why? Aren’t you puppets, or are you?”

Nick lowers his gaze.

“But we made a mistake, and we are here to ask for mercy.”

Bastian watches them for several seconds. He does not seem to hear an apology. He only sees the men who spent more than a year helping turn Lemuria into a battlefield, the same men who attacked his walls, destroyed homes, and forced his kingdom to live under constant war.

“Kill them all, except him.”

He points at Tanner.

Before Tanner can react, one of the vampires lunges at him, grabs him by the hair, and pulls him so hard that he is forced to his knees. Tanner tries to resist, but another warrior grabs him by the arms and begins dragging him toward the castle gates.

“Let me go!”

The other alphas raise their heads when they hear his voice, but no one can do anything. The formation of vampires closes around them, and within seconds, the surrender becomes an execution.

The massacre is brutal.

The vampires sent by King Ciro move with a speed the wolves cannot follow. One body falls onto the stones, and blood begins spreading between the cracks in the ground. Another warrior tries to transform, but a vampire is already behind him before he can complete the change. Screams mix with growls and the sound of breaking bones as Ciro’s soldiers move among them without stopping.

The men who arrived expecting mercy realize too late that kneeling does not mean they will be spared.

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The Second Chance Of The Rejected Moon

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Within minutes, hundreds of bodies are scattered in front of the castle gates. Blood stains the stones and mixes with the water left behind by the storm, forming small dark rivers that run down the slope.

It did them no good to have rebelled against Darius. It does them no good to have dropped their weapons. It does them no good to have knelt and begged for mercy. Bastian does not know forgiveness when it comes to those who destroyed his kingdom, and to him, those men chose their fate long before they reached those

gates.

“Search the forest for Darius and Cassius Miller and bring them to me.”

Alaric and Thomas run toward the forest without wasting any time. Several dozen vampires follow them, disappearing among the trees with a speed impossible for any ordinary wolf. The hunt has just begun, and this time, the target is not the soldiers who followed the wrong orders.

It is the man who started it all.

Bastian returns to the castle followed by his men and the visitors who have come to Lemuria to help them. The smell of rain, blood, and smoke still clings to his clothes, and every step he takes through the corridors seems to remind him that while he remained unconscious, his kingdom became a battlefield.

The guards step aside when they see him pass. Some lower their heads respectfully, while others watch him in silence, still trying to get used to the idea that their prince has awakened after more than a year and, within minutes, has taken charge of the kingdom again.

Magnus, Silas, Vladimir, and his brother Johan are waiting for him in the study.

The king remains standing beside the desk, one hand resting on the wood as he reviews some documents someone left there during the war. Exhaustion is written across his face, and his shoulders seem heavier than usual, but he maintains his firm posture. Silas sits in an armchair near the fireplace, studying the cracks running through one of the walls as a result of the attacks. Every so often, he looks up at the ceiling, as if calculating how long it will take before the entire castle needs repairs.

Vladimir, on the other hand, calmly drinks a glass of wine beside the window, while Johan remains leaning against the frame, looking outside.

From there, Ciro and Christian’s hybrids can be seen spread throughout the castle grounds. Some remain beside the walls, others help remove bodies and debris, while groups of warriors inspect the areas that were damaged during the battle. The presence of thousands of soldiers should be unsettling, but after everything that has happened, none of those present seems to have the energy to be surprised by anything.

Vladimir swirls the wine inside his glass and watches the dark liquid move before taking another sip.

“It seems our presence here was not that necessary after all,” Vlad says, breaking the silence. “They only had to wait for each other to kill themselves. Celine refused to return to Avalon, and we have work to do in the human world.”

Magnus slowly shakes his head and rubs both hands over his cheeks. When he lowers them again, his eyes show the exhaustion of someone who has spent far too long holding together a kingdom that refuses to stop falling apart around him.

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16:04 Tue, Aug 18

The Second Chance Of The Rejected Moon

76

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