When The Luna Broke Her Chains novel Chapter 55

When The Luna Broke Her Chains

Finished

Chapter 55 The Stranger, The Prince

[XENA]

The question hangs between us, fragile as spun glass.

What happened to your wolf?

I shift in my seat, fingers knotting together in my lap. My gaze drops to them, to the faint tremor I can’t still. If I tell him the truth–if I tell him everything–what would he do with it? If he knew what Davina did, not just to me, but to Morrin… would that careless ease he carries vanish? Would whatever faint curiosity he has for her sour into something else?

But then what if… what if this is a test? What if she thinks I already know what she did that night, and she’s trying to get Knox to coax it out of me? And then when I do, she can label me a lunatic, adding that to all the other insults I hear daily.

Because what do I know of the nature of their relationship? Knox has only told me that he must marry her, and that she is now participating in the Luna Choosing.

Knox watches the hesitation bloom across my face. I feel it when his posture eases. “It’s alright,” he says quietly. “If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to. I won’t hold it against you.”

I let out a soft breath, something close to a laugh scraping out of me. “Because friends don’t do that?”

His brow quirks up.

A smirk tugs at my mouth before I can stop it.

Knox tilts his head, intrigued. “That look,” he says. “That usually comes before a lie.”

I consider it. I really do. If I assume this isn’t a test, I could give him anything–an embellished tale, a half- ruth polished smooth enough to pass. It occurs to me, suddenly and uncomfortably, that maybe he’s only asking because he thinks knowing me will somehow help him reach Davina. That I’m just another path oward her.

That he’s not asking because he’s curious, forget about being caring.

‘It was a rogue attack,” I say instead, telling him the truth I believed for years. “I was eighteen. I nearly lost my life that night.”

“But you survived,” he murmurs.

I lift my gaze and meet his eyes. “I did. Thanks to my husband. Cassian.”

Something tightens in Knox’s expression. He looks away, clasping his hands together, crossing one leg over the other as if arranging himself around an inconvenient truth.

“Is that why you married him?” he asks. “Because he saved you?”

He pauses, then adds, softer, “He’s not your mate, is he?”

2:36 pm

Chapter 55 The Stranger, The Prince

I feel it then–the opening. Small, but real.

“No,” I say, carefully. “He’s Davina’s mate.”

Knox frowns. “Davina’s mate.”

“Yes.”

Finished

“Hm.” He studies the table for a moment, then looks back up. “That must’ve caused a rift between you and your sister. This won’t compare to the rift between her and your sister–in–law, because I’m just a stranger, even though I’m a prince. But he is her mate.”

‘No,” I say quickly. “Nothing like that. I’m the last person who can affect Davina like that. Everything that I nave, she has it more than me, in a more meaningful way,” I say the words, letting their implication linger.

His brows lift, and he leans forward, forearms resting on the table. The distance between us shrinks, the air warming with it.

“Tell me,” he says. “You’re not happy with him, are you?”

My breath stutters. The closeness, the quiet intensity of his voice–it presses against something in me.

‘If I said I wasn’t, Your Highness,” I ask, my voice lower than I intend, “what would you do about it?”

For a heartbeat, he doesn’t answer.

The moment snaps apart at the sound of quick footsteps and a boy’s voice echoing down the corridor.

‘Uncle Knox!”

turn just as Dion barrels into the room, laughing, arms flinging around Knox’s middle. Knox straightens nstinctively, one hand coming down to steady the boy, his mouth tugging into a frown that doesn’t quite mask the fondness beneath it.

Right behind him is Aria.

I rise at once and bow. “Your Highness.”

Aria doesn’t look surprised to see me. She offers a polite smile. “Xena,” she says simply. Then, turning to Knox, she lifts a brow and murmurs, “Forgive us for the intrusion. Dion–behave yourself.”

Dion laughs, unabashed. “What? You told me to barge in and hug Uncle Knox!”

Aria’s face flushes a vivid red. I piece it together in a flash–the interruption, the timing, the very

deliberate chaos.

She shushes Dion and nudges him away. “I did not,” she insists, mortified.

Knox scoffs. “Of course not, sister.” He glances at me. “You don’t have to worry. I was just talking to Luna Xena.” A pause. “She’s Davina’s sister.”

Understanding dawns across Aria’s face. Her lips part in a silent oh.

2:36 pm

Chapter 55 The Stranger, The Prince

I feel a sharp flicker of irritation. Even she knows Davina. Does everyone?

Finished

A chair scrapes. Aria drags it out herself and sits, folding her hands. “Forgive me,” she says to me. “I simply don’t trust my brother.”

Heat creeps up my neck as the implication lands. Me and Knox. Alone. In a room.

Knox exhales. “Stop that. Don’t make me sound like some womanizer.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know?” Aria shoots back. “Father is one conversation away from labeling you as someone interested in married women.”

My mouth falls open.

Aria notices immediately and reaches out, touching my hand. “Oh–no. Please, don’t-”

‘Aria,” Knox cuts in flatly. “You’re making this worse.”

He looks at me. “You know Xena saved Dion. And she saved the pup. Anything I do for her is hardly mproper.”

Aria nods. “You’re right. Then we should offer her an estate. A manor, perhaps?” She brightens. “Of your choosing, Xena.”

My head shakes on instinct. “No, no. That’s really not needed.”

‘I insist,” Aria says, unyielding.

open my mouth, then close it again, unsure how to refuse without offending her outright.

Knox sighs. “This is exactly what I meant.”

The rest of breakfast dissolves into bickering–sharp remarks, half–serious accusations, old grievances urfacing between the siblings. But somewhere in the noise, I learn small things: how Knox refuses gifts he didn’t earn, how Aria once set fire to an entire council chamber in protest, how neither of them quite fits he roles the world insists on pressing onto them.

And I find myself watching him.

Not just a prince. Not just a royal figure looming large over my life now. Something more human, more dangerous for it. Like that stranger I offered bread to in the temple.

For that alone, I’m grateful when Davina’s name doesn’t come up again.

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