When The Luna Broke Her Chains novel Chapter 60

r 60 The Shadow That Followed

[XENA]

The path is dry beneath our feet as we leave the palace behind.

Stone gives way to dirt, which crumbles softly when stepped on, pale and overworked by years of passing boots and hooves and paws. I glance back once, watching the towers of the palace shrink, their white edge blurring into the dusk. From here, it almost looks harmless.

Ahead of us, the forest thickens.

Astrid doesn’t say anything, but I can feel her excitement in the way she walks–like the ground itself is calling her forward. The trees crowd closer with every step, their branches tangling overhead, filtering the moonlight into strips and shadows.

I wish I had a wolf.

The thought is sudden as it strikes, but an explanation follows.

I don’t need one for strength or speed. Just for that certainty–someone inside me who knows where to go who understands this place instinctively. Someone who could share my thoughts, guide me when my ow instincts falter.

Instead, I feel… separate. Watching Astrid’s ease makes the absence sharper, not softer.

“Are you alright?” Astrid asks without turning.

“Yes,” I say quickly. “Just thinking.”

Five minutes ago, I felt it for the first time–that faint prickle at the nape of my neck. I tell myself it’s nothing. Forests do this. They make you imagine things. They magnify sounds, stretch shadows, play tricks on the mind.

I’ve walked through worse.

After the rogues, I’ve walked through forests alone. I’ve survived that.

And Astrid is here now.

“She’d save me,” I murmur under my breath.

“What?” Astrid glances back.

“Nothing.”

My fingers drift to my hip. The dagger is still there, solid and reassuring beneath my palm. I found it in the drawer of the new quarters without ceremony. I didn’t question its presence there. I took it.

I may be wolfless, but I’m not helpless.

Father’s pack trained us in human combat as much as wolf form. Wolves can be stunned. Injured.

1/4

Chapter 60 The Shadow That Followed

0:45

Finished

Prevented from shifting. A blade doesn’t care what shape you’re in.

Move fast. Duck. Hit. Pierce.

And if all else fails–run like the ground is on fire.

The feeling returns. Stronger this time.

I slow down.

The wind picks up, carrying the scent of damp earth and old leaves.

Then I hear it.

“Xena.”

It’s faint. Almost gentle. Like my name is being carried on the breeze.

I stop.

Astrid turns at once. “Are you tired?”

blink, startled. “No. I don’t tire easily like humans, even though I don’t have a wolf.”

‘That’s not what I meant,” she says, frowning. She studies me for a moment, then nods. “Alright.”

We keep walking.

A month ago, I wouldn’t have believed this. Walking beside Astrid like this. Trusting her. She was the one lipping poison into my meals. On Cassian’s orders.

And now here we are.

swallow.

Am I too easy on people?

should be guarded. Careful. I should keep my distance, rely only on myself. That’s what survival has aught me. But standing here, with no wolf, no power–could I really withstand something dangerous lone?

The answer is uncomfortable.

Astrid slows and then stops.

We’ve reached a clearing. The trees pull back just enough to let the sky breathe, the ground soft with moss

and fallen needles.

“This always feels strange,” Astrid says, exhaling deeply. “Like stepping into someone else’s memory.” She rubs her arms. “I miss Frostfang.”

The name twists something in my chest. “I miss Morrin,” I say before I can stop myself.

2/4

Chapter 60 The Shadow That Followed

Astrid glances at me, then looks away. “I wonder how much will be different in a year.”

“You’re nervous,” I say quietly. “Or you wouldn’t be thinking about the future or the past right now.”

She straightens, as if caught. “Alright,” she says. “Here goes nothing.”

She closes her eyes.

0:40

Finished

Her fists tighten. Her shoulders roll back, muscles tensing. I remind myself–she’s not being hurt even when her face twists in what looks like pain. It only hurts the first few times. She’s probably my age, around twenty–three. She’s shifted enough for this to be familiar.

Her eyes open.

They’re the same shade of brown–but glowing now, luminous and alive. Her teeth lengthen into sharp canines. Her limbs stretch and realign, bones reshaping beneath skin and fabric.

force myself to stay still.

Moments later, a she–wolf stands before me. Dark brown fur, sleek and powerful. The same doe–like eyes beer back at me, and for a heartbeat, I think of Davina’s gaze when she threatened me earlier.

sigh.

Do not think of her.

Astrid’s voice slips into my mind, warm and amused, ‘Would you like a ride?‘

laugh nervously as I glance at the wolf’s back. “No,” I say aloud, the word coming out sharper than I ntend.

Suit yourself,‘ she replies lightly. ‘I will return soon. I won’t go far.‘

close my eyes as she leaps over the bush and disappears behind wide tree trunks.

picture the Goddess’s stone temple back in Frostfang. The calm of it settles me, just a little.

I wish I had a true friend, I think suddenly.

Knox said he wanted to be my friend.

I’ve never had friends, Davina made sure of that. No one in the pack liked me. And I didn’t help matters–1 corrected everyone, excelled at everything, kept myself apart without realizing it.

Being right is lonely.

I open my eyes and stumble back.

The air in front of me ripples.

Black wisps coil and stretch, thickening into something almost solid, like shadow given breath. It hovers just above the ground, wrong in every way.

3/4

My blood runs cold.

“No.” I whisper.

I know this. I’ve seen it before.

This is what killed Morrin–before the fire ever reached her.

I reach for my dagger.

And the shadow races toward me.

名

88

Li

E