When The Luna Broke Her Chains novel Chapter 33

Chapter 33 What Survived The Fire

The stone melts.

Astrid watches it happen in real time–the Moon Guild glyphs warping, silver lines blurring like wax held too close to flame. Varek jerks back with a cry, the slab clattering to the floor, half–liquefied, hissing.

Across the chamber, Xena drops. First to her knees. Then forward, face hitting stone with a dull sound that makes Astrid’s stomach lurch. Blood spills from Xena’s nose in a thin, vivid line.

“No-” Astrid breathes, already moving.

Cassian is faster.

He strides forward, rage and shock tangled on his face, and scoops Xena up like she weighs nothing. Voices erupt behind them–panic, shouting, disbelief–but Astrid barely hears it. Her eyes stay locked on Xena’s limp body, on the way her head lolls against Cassian’s shoulder..

“Clear the hall,” Cassian snaps. “Now.”

Varek calls out Astrid’s name, but she ignores him and follows as Cassian storms out, carrying Xena toward the healer’s quarters.

***

Two hours pass like a blur.

Varek heals himself first. Alpha blood mends quickly when paired with herbs. His hand is red, but whole again by the time Astrid sees him leave the chamber with his jaw clenched, eyes refusing to meet hers.

Lady Mara and Oriel look worse than injured. Mara wrings her hands, pacing. Oriel sits stiff–backed, pale, whispering to herself. Fear has finally crept under their skin–and Astrid knows why.

Because something went wrong. Something they didn’t plan for. Something no one truly understands enough to provide an explanation.

The wolf pup is gone, confined on Cassian’s orders. “For now,” he’d said. As if that makes it better.

Astrid stands at Xena’s bedside, watching her chest rise and fall.

“What in the Goddess’s name happened?” she whispers to no one.

She knows that stone. It wasn’t an inspection tool. It was a confession stone–used on criminals of the Wolf Court. On blood mages. On oathbreakers. It forces the truth out by pain, by unraveling lunar channels until the subject breaks.

On a creature incapable of speech? It would’ve been plain and horrendous torture.

Astrid swallows, thinking of how, when the pup whimpered… Xena screamed.

The pain had mirrored perfectly.

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Chapter 33 What Survived The Fire

Astrid presses her lips together, heart hammering.

If Xena feels what the wolf feels–that’s not just rare. That’s dangerous.

Finished

The doors slam open. Astrid jolts as Alpha Cassian strides in, boots echoing sharply against stone. His presence makes the room feel oppressive. Varek follows a step behind, already composed and distant.

Cassian stops at Xena’s bedside. “Report,” he snaps.

Varek inclines his head. “Her lunar energy is stable.”

Astrid freezes, not having expected this to happen or to witness it first–hand.

The Alpha knows now. He knows the truth.

Cassian’s head snaps toward him. “What?”

“Stable,” Varek repeats. “No fluctuation. No collapse. No bleed–through.”

Astrid’s mouth opens before she can stop herself. “You- you drew her blood?”

Cassian’s glare slices into her. “Watch your tone, healer.”

But he’s too late. Varek’s eyes flick between them.

“No blood draw was necessary,” he says calmly. “The reading was clear.”

Cassian stares at Xena like she’s betrayed him personally. “Are you certain?”

“Yes.”

“Leave us,” Cassian orders.

Varek hesitates, then bows and exits.

The door shuts, stretching the silence that settles between them.

Cassian turns on Astrid. He grabs her arm and shakes her hard enough to make her teeth click. “How,” he snarls, “is her lunar energy stable?”

Astrid winces. “A–Alpha-”

“Hasn’t she been taking the tea?” His grip tightens. “The knotgrass. Every day.”

Pain flares up her arm. Astrid forces her eyes to soften, to glisten. “Yes, Alpha,” she lies quickly. “I deliver it daily.”

“Then why didn’t it work?” he demands. “I felt it. When that wolf cried-“His jaw clenches. “I felt a woll in

her mind.”

Astrid’s pulse spikes.

“If her wolf is returning,” Cassian mutters darkly, “Davina won’t-” He cuts himself off

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Chapter 33 What Survived The Fire

Finished

Astrid scrambles. “It could be the pup,” she blurts. “Some cursed creatures affect lunar channels. The Guild has records-”

Records of what?”

Black–furred pups. Golden eyes,” she says carefully. “They’re rare. Unnamed breeds. The Guild hasn’t lassified them fully.”

Cassian stares at her, breathing hard. Slowly, he exhales, his gaze resting on Xena. “So we don’t kill it.”

Astrid’s shoulders sag in relief she hides quickly.

Not yet,” he continues. “If something strange is happening, I want answers.” His lips curl. “And the palace has more answers than Frostfang.” He straightens. “The wolf travels with us.”

Astrid blinks. “Alpha?”

The Moonborne Gathering is soon,” he says. “Let whatever this is unfold under the Lycan King’s roof. Not nine.”

He turns back to her. “And you–you’re coming.”

Her stomach drops.

‘I need eyes on her,” he says flatly. “Make sure she keeps taking the poison. Fix the ledgers. Varek won’t ask questions. Morrin’s death made that… easier.”

The name hits Astrid like a blade.

Morrin.

Her chest tightens as memory surges–how she stormed into Morrin’s chamber, shaking with rage, spilling everything. Cassian. Davina. The oath. The lies.

Morrin had assured her that the Moon Guild would hear of it. But before she could go through with that, she was ended. Mercilessly.

Astrid had prepared the reagents that night herself. Checked them twice. Nothing was wrong. Nothing should’ve exploded.

But it had because it wasn’t the test that failed. It was the truth.

Cassian releases her arm. “Prepare whatever you need,” he orders. “Carry more herb than we might need. We leave soon.”

Astrid bows automatically. As he turns back to Xena’s bed, Astrid steps away, her hands trembling at her sides.

She wanted justice. She wanted the Guild to know.

Instead, Morrin is dead. Xena is breaking. And the Alpha who ruined them both walks free–toward the palace.

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Chapter 33 What Survived The Fire

Astrid clenches her fists. Not for long.

***

Finished

Astrid doesn’t go back to her cot.

Instead, she returns to the healer’s quarters long after the corridors have emptied, long after what happened in the council chamber has thinned into memory. She kneels by the narrow desk where Morrin once gave her lessons and presses her palm to the underside.

There.

The hidden latch gives easily.

Astrid’s breath shakes as she pulls out the folded parchment. Morrin’s seal rests unbroken at the bottom- ink still dark, glyphs precise. Morrin’s handwriting fills the page, sharp and beautiful.

A petition that wasn’t sent.

Astrid closes her eyes, pressing the parchment to her chest. Morrin hadn’t trusted messengers. She hadn’t trusted time. She had realized it, but unknowingly, she had trusted Astrid.

I’ll know when it’s safe, Morrin had said to her.

Astrid exhales slowly.

The Alpha thinks the truth died in fire.

He has no idea it’ll be traveling with him–to the palace, to the Moonborne Gathering, to the Lycan King’s court, where the Moon Guild will be present.

And this time, it will be delivered.

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