When The Luna Broke Her Chains novel Chapter 46

Chapter 46 By The Goddess’s Witness

[KNOX]

The moment the rite ends, I leave.

Finished

I don’t wait for applause or approval, or whatever it is my father expects people to offer after that spectacle. I walk straight back to my chambers, blood drying on my skin, iron thick in the back of my throat, the image of the stag’s wide, startled eyes still lodged behind my own.

I need it off me.

I need the blood gone.

‘It was an ordinary stag, Teo echoes as I push through the doors. ‘At least this time. You did nothing wrong.”

“Stop,” I mutter.

Servants rush in with basins, oils, and cloths, women stepping forward, already reaching for me, their hands eager, their voices soft.

“Leave,” I say.

They hesitate.

“Leave,” I repeat, sharper.

They scatter.

I strip without care and lower myself into the circular bath, the water already steaming, scented faintly with herbs meant to calm the nerves. I sink down until the water closes over my head, until sound dulls and light fractures and everything blurs.

I stay there longer than I should.

I want the quiet. I want the nothing.

‘You know this won’t kill you,‘ Teo says calmly.

I break the surface with a gasp, water streaming down my face as I brace my hands on the stone edge chest heaving.

Behind my eyes, the changeling laughs.

Ca

Touch her, and she dies. Bind yourself, and she breaks. Mate, and you will bury another body. That is my curse. That is how you will pay for what you’ve taken from me. A lover for a lover.

I suck in air like it’s the first breath I’ve taken in

years.

“Enough,” I growl, slapping my hand into the water so hard it splashes up into my face. “Get out of my

head.”

6:31 pm

P

Chapter 46 By The Goddess’s Witness

Finished

“That isn’t how this works, Teo replies. ‘And you know it. It’s a dying changeling’s curse. It stays with you until the end.‘

I rake my hands through my hair, sending water everywhere.

Once I ascend, I think again. The thought won’t leave me. Once I take the throne, no one will have power over me. I won’t have to listen. I won’t have to choose a Luna. Not until I find a cure. Not until I know I won’t kill her.

I won’t let another woman die because of me.

And no one will know about this. Not my father. Not the council. Not even–I stop.

I close my eyes.

Xena.

She stands there again in my mind, pale and shaken, eyes wide as she ties the Mooncord with hands that never stop trembling. She didn’t smile. She didn’t preen. She didn’t ask why.

There is no rule on who to choose. Tradition favors noblewomen, royals, and sometimes a woman the prince openly desires.

I knew the moment Seraphel placed the cord in my hands who it would be.

I don’t have an explanation for that. Not one I’m willing to examine.

Now, in hindsight, I see it. How it must have looked.

Wolfless. Married. The last woman anyone expected.

I made her visible. I made her a target.

And yet–how could she possibly be competition to the others when she’s already bound to another man?

The thought doesn’t comfort me.

I close my eyes again, and the need rises unbidden, sharp and unsettling.

I want to see her. I want to talk to her. The want feels like hunger.

“What is this?” I ask Teo quietly. “What’s happening to me?”

He huffs. ‘You tell me. I’m not the one pretending this has nothing to do with the pup.

Vera. That’s what she named her.

I scrub the water from my face and rise, dry myself, dress mechanically. When the summons comes for the family meal, I go.

I barely make it three steps inside before my father’s voice cuts through the room.

6:31 pm

P

Chapter 46 By The Goddess’s Witness

Finished

“You wanted to make a spectacle of it?” Zephyr demands. “You chose the last person you should have, and you knelt?”

“You didn’t have to kneel, Knox,” he continues sharply. “Do you understand how that looked?”

My grandmother reaches for his arm. “Zephyr, calm yourself-”

“This is because of his research,” my father snaps, shrugging her off. “I won’t be surprised if I learn my son is fraternizing with changelings or vampires next. Or using forbidden blood magic. Your curiosity, and your obsession with those mutts, is costing me my reputation!”

Aria stiffens beside me.

“You picked her because she saved that pup,” Zephyr presses. “Didn’t you?”

Seeing as I’m finally given the opportunity, I speak calmly. “Yes. Was it wrong of me to do?”

Zephyr slams his hands on the table. “You could have chosen anyone. Your grandmother. Your sister. Why a married woman? A wolfless woman?”

I meet his gaze evenly. “Let it go, Father.”

His laugh is sharp. “That’s all I’ve ever done. Let it go. Excuse you. And now you think you can dance on my head.”

He leans forward. “You will have the throne. You will have power. But only after you choose a Luna. A respectable one. Reputable. Decent. Not wolfless. Not weak. That is my command, by the Goddess’s witness and the authority she granted me.”

“Father,” Aria breathes. “No.”

“You can’t,” my grandmother says firmly. “You can’t force the ascension forward-”

I’ve had enough.

I slam my hands down on the table.

“If that is your decision, Your Grace,” I say calmly, “then hear mine.”

The room holds its breath.

“As the Goddess is my witness,” I continue, “I swear to marry the first woman who enters through those doors. Be she Omega or noble, married or unclaimed, wolfless or weak–or even a crone.”

Shock ripples through the room.

I have just enough time to breathe once before the doors ceremoniously open.

The Goddess is mocking me.

For a heartbeat, I let myself hope.

But then I look up, and it isn’t her.

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