When The Luna Broke Her Chains novel Chapter 28

Chapter 28 The Shadow

A week later

[XENA]

Sleep won’t come.

I lie still, eyes open, staring into the dark. My body is tired, but my mind refuses to quiet. There’s a tightness in the pit of my stomach I can’t explain. A wrongness. A brooding quiet before the storm.

Something is about to happen.

I sit up slowly, careful not to wake Vera, who has slept on the bed with me tonight. I pull a cloak around my shoulders and pour myself a cup of water, drinking it down in small, steady gulps that don’t help at all.

Oriel’s taunts echo in my head. Lady Mara’s sneers, too. They’ve been relentless this past week, ever since Davina left–hovering, sneering, needling me like they’re waiting for something to snap. And Davina… Morrin’s words come back to me unbidden: A petition. The Guild will know.

I haven’t seen Morrin since that morning.

Part of me has been afraid to. Afraid of what I might find–of what she might say–or what she might have already done. And beneath that fear, shame, and guilt burn. Because there is a part of me that wants Cassian punished. That wants Davina exposed. I want to see them fall.

But I hate myself for that, so I push it away.

A low sound cuts through the silence. A growl.

I freeze and turn.

Vera is on her feet.

I blink, surprised. She has never growled like that. She’s usually quiet, observant, and watchful in a way that feels older than her small body. But now her fur bristles, a soft rumble vibrating through her chest as I lay my hand on her.

Her eyes remain fixed on the door.

“Vera?” I whisper. “What is it?”

She doesn’t look at me. The growl deepens–and before I can move, the latch on my door clicks

The door opens on its own.

“No-“I gasp.

Vera bolts.

She’s faster than she has any right to be, paws skidding on stone as she disappears into the corridor. Panic slams into me. It’s the middle of the night, but guards are always lurking, always watching. If they see her

10:56 am PpXX.

Chapter 28 The Shadow

-even though they’re aware of her presence, I’m afraid of what they might do.

I run.

“Vera!” I hiss, clutching my cloak as I chase her down the hall.

Finished

She doesn’t slow. Guards glance up as we pass, eyes tracking me–but they don’t stop us. They don’t question why I’m running barefoot through the keep at this hour, chasing a wolf pup that shouldn’t be here because it’s considered cursed.

It’s as if they don’t truly see her.

My breath burns as I follow Vera through a turn, then another, until the familiar stonework shifts. The healer’s wing. The air here smells of herbs, metal, and smoke.

Vera slows, growling again, leading me straight toward the heart of the quarters.

“What are you doing?” I whisper urgently. “What are you trying to show me?”

She pauses before a door I know too well: Morrin’s workspace.

The alchemical chamber where healers experiment, where reagents simmer, and sigils glow faintly on the walls. The door is slightly ajar. Light spills through the crack.

My chest tightens. I scoop Vera into my arms before she can rush inside. She trembles against me, the growl turning into a distressed whine.

“Easy,” I murmur, though my own hands shake. “What’s going on?”

I lean forward and peer through the opening.

Morrin stands inside, her back to the door, sleeves rolled up, hair bound tightly. Glass vials line the table before her. Something glows faintly green in a shallow dish. She looks tired but focused. And she’s alone.

Why did Vera bring me here? Does she think I should talk to Morrin?

Suddenly, the light in the room shifts.

A shadow blooms behind her–wrong, thick, moving against the direction of the lamplight. My breath. catches. The shadow stretches, lengthening like smoke, learning how to be solid.

“Morrin-” I try to say her name, but no sound comes out

The shadow forms arms–black and smooth before they thrust forward.

Morrin screams as something pierces straight through her chest.

The sound that tears out of her isn’t human. It’s shock and pain, and disbelief all at once. I stumble forward, horror freezing my limbs as the shadow collapses in on itself and vanishes like it was never there.

“Morrin!” I gasp, finally finding my voice.

She falls.

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10:56 am

Chapter 28 The Shadow

Finished

I rush inside, knees hitting the stone as I catch her before she fully collapses. Black blood pours from the wound in her chest, thick and wrong, staining my hands. More spills from her mouth as she coughs, eyes unfocused.

“What–what was that?” I whisper, shaking. “Morrin, Goddess–what was that?”

Her

gaze clears just enough to find me. “The Guild…” she rasps. “They must know-”

Her body spasms violently.

‘Morrin!” I cry. “Stay with me. I’ll get help. I—”

I clutch Vera to my chest and scramble to my feet, turning toward the door.

That’s when it happens.

A thunderous boom rips through the room.

The force hits my back like a giant hand. I’m thrown forward, crashing into the corridor wall as heat explodes behind me. The world spins. My ears ring. I taste blood.

Fire roars behind me.

twist, vision blurring, and see Morrin’s chamber engulfed in flame. The doorway collapses inward, fire acing across stone and wood and glass. Shelves shatter. Reagents ignite. The blast is too sudden, too violent to be an accident.

‘Morrin!” I scream, my voice breaking.

No answer comes back.

Smoke fills the hall, choking and thick. Vera howls in my arms. I crawl backward, dragging myself away as guards finally shout, boots pounding toward us.

Someone grabs my shoulder. Someone else yells for water. For healers. For the Alpha.

The flames climb higher.

As my vision dims, the last thing I see is Morrin’s quarters burning, consuming everything she knew

And I understand, with a clarity that hurts more than the fall Cassian and Davina failed to silence her. So they burned the truth instead.

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