When The Luna Broke Her Chains novel Chapter 35

Chapter 35 Welcome To Aurelune

[XENA]

Finished

The wolf inside me–no, that makes no sense. How can something that doesn’t exist anymore answer anyone?

And yet… something stirs. Something deep, instinctive, reaching outward before I can stop it. A certain pull.

And as if he senses it too, he turns and looks straight at me.

His shoulders lock, his breath stalling as his mouth parts slightly–like he just realized something he wasn’t meant to. Shock flickers across his face. Recognition, too?

Our eyes meet–only for a heartbeat. Then he looks away and strides off, disappearing from the balcony as if he was never there at all.

The space he occupied is suddenly empty.

He might as well have been a hallucination–something my fractured, desperate mind conjured from memory and want. Or perhaps it truly wasn’t him. Maybe I only wanted it to be the stranger from the temple–the one who saved me from a hydralith and the one who haunts my dreams.

But the ache in my chest doesn’t fade–even as a tall woman in blood–red robes steps forward to greet us.

“I am Arch–Luminist Seraphel,” she says smoothly, her voice carrying authority without warmth. “The Moon Guild’s official palace representative. Welcome to Aurelune, Alpha Cassian, and Luna…?”

“Xena,” Cassian answers for me.

His fingers close around my arm, tightening as he draws me closer to his side. The smile he offers her is practiced and flawless before he bows. I follow a breath too late, mirroring the motion.

Seraphel’s expression doesn’t change. If she feels disdain, she doesn’t show it. When she straightens, she inclines her head just enough to acknowledge us.

“It has been many years since I last visited Frostfang,” she says, her gaze lifting to the banner fluttering from our carriage. Something glints in her eyes. “My condolences on the passing of Chief Healer Morrin She was… a gem.”

Cassian stiffens. His grip on me tightens, fingers digging into my skin without intention–or perhap

too much of it.

“She was irreplaceable,” he says, clearing his throat.

dub

Seraphel doesn’t pause. “And yet, I hear she was replaced on the day of her funeral. Before she was even laid to rest.” Her tone remains neutral, almost conversational. “Such decisions are typically handled by the Guild, Alpha. But we’ve chosen to overlook it.

“Varek is… adequate,” she continues. “If necessary, the matter will be reviewed. Though at present, the Guild’s attention is occupied with the Lycan Prince’s ascension and the Luna Choosing.”

Chapter 35 Welcome To Aurelune

Finished

Before Cassian can respond, she turns sharply on her heel.

“Please,” she says, already moving. “Follow me.”

We pass beneath a high archway into a long tunnel, its walls painted with what I assume is the kingdom’s history–crowns, wars, oaths, moons rising and falling. Torches line the stone, their flames throwing shifting shadows across the murals, illuminating some moments while casting others into darkness.

Cassian doesn’t look at any of it. His jaw is tight, his posture rigid. The Arch–Luminist’s words have rattled him more than he’d ever admit.

The tunnel opens into a vast courtyard beyond–tents sprawled across it in every shape and color imaginable. Temporary structures. Workers‘ quarters. Performers. Preparations for spectacle.

We climb a set of stairs and enter a corridor lined with identical doors.

Seraphel stops at one and gestures. “You will be staying here.”

Cassian’s disappointment flashes across his face before he masks it. He nods once.

The quarters they assign us are small–the narrow doorway, the low ceiling, the way sound seems to fold in on itself. It’s not a slight anyone will acknowledge out loud, but it is one all the same.

Seraphel doesn’t linger long enough for it to matter. The moment she turns and leaves, her red robes vanishing around the corner, the silence snaps.

Lady Mara scoffs first, coming up from behind me and pushing me aside. “This is it?”

Oriel clicks her tongue, displeased. “We’re an Alpha’s party. This is barely fit for attendants.”

Cassian’s already irritated, and irritation makes him careless. He waves a dismissive hand. “It’s temporary. Once they see the wolf, we’ll have their attention, and we’ll get a better place.”

My heart stutters at the mention of Vera, and I force myself to calm down by closing my fists until my nails draw blood from my palms.

Oriel’s chests are dragged forward then–three of them, lacquered wood reinforced with iron, servants straining as they haul them inside.

I look past her. Past Mara and Cassian. Past Astrid, who stands slightly apart.

My gaze stops at the back of the procession.

The bell–shaped object–large and covered in blue satin that pools at its base like spilled water.

I know what’s inside: Vera–in a cage.

The knowledge hits hard enough that I have to stop myself from reacting. I know that cage I felt i spelled silver, etched and reinforced. Containment magic.

She whimpers because it burns her skin. I know how it dampens her presence, dulls her thoughts until she feels far away.

10:43 am PD

Chapter 35 Welcome To Aurelune

Has she been fed? Is she injured?

Finished

Please, I think. It’s the first prayer I’ve offered to the Goddess in what feels like years. Keep her safe.

There’s too much happening. Too many eyes. If I let myself feel all of it, I will shatter.

I follow when they motion me forward.

My room is the smallest one. Just enough space for a cot, a narrow desk, a cupboard, and a small table that looks like it might collapse if leaned on too hard. No window.

I tell myself it’s only until the ascension–if Vera somehow escapes. That afterward, when the court settles and the Luna Choosing begins, things might shift. Better quarters. More space.

Astrid steps inside. “The Alpha ordered that we share quarters,” she says. “There isn’t enough space elsewhere.”

I close my eyes briefly, then nod. “Alright.”

What else can I say? I don’t know how I feel about her.

It wasn’t long ago that I threatened to expose her—to tell Morrin about the herbs she’d been misusing to poison me, to revoke her sponsorship and ruin her chance of ever entering the Guild. I meant it then.

Now Morrin is dead. And Astrid and I stand on the same side of something neither of us named out loud.

Reluctant allies, maybe.

I miss Kasumi fiercely as I start arranging the room. Astrid drags in a sewn mattress of her own and sets it down opposite the cot, followed by a small chest–plain, well–kept.

We meet eyes. Then both look away.

I unpack my clothes, folding them neatly into the cupboard. At the bottom, beneath the last layer of fabric, my fingers brush something familiar.

Books. Two of them. The Severance text. And the other–the one filled with undecoded glyphs, symbols that refuse to make sense no matter how long I stare at them.

Suddenly, I remember what I learned: the Lycan King may dissolve any marital bond with a single word

The Lycan King. Not a ritual that would kill me. Not a Severance I’d never survive.

Something foolish stirs in my chest: hope.

I have a year, I think numbly. A year to survive. A year to… what? Charm a prince? Convince a future king to care about a wolfless Luna with no cloak, no power, no standing?

It’s ridiculous. Baseless. Almost laughable.

But without my wolf fully returned, without my true ceremonial cloak, it might be the only path left to

1. me.

10:43 am PD&D

When The Luna Broke Her Chains