When The Luna Broke Her Chains novel Chapter 62

Chapter 62 In My Arms

[KNOX]

This time, she doesn’t fall into my chest.

I’m too far away and stunned to move.

91

For one stupid, impossible second, I only watch as her body goes slack and crumples toward the ground. Teo is roaring inside my skull, trying to surge forward again, but I force him back.

Enough.

The fur bristling along my arms recedes as I wrench myself back into human form, breath tearing out of me as control snaps into place. I stumble forward just as the brown wolf snarls wildly, panicked–before recognition flickers through her and she begins to shift ba

I scoop Xena up before the other woman’s bones have finished realigning, before her fur has fully vanished. Xena’s head lolls against my shoulder.

The scent of blood hits me.

I inhale sharply. “No.”

It isn’t just blood. There’s something else threaded through it.

I drop to my knees and lower her carefully to the ground. The other woman stumbles closer, hands shaking, tears spilling freely.

“What the fuck just happened here?” the question growls out of my mouth before I can make any sane attempt to hold myself back. “And who are you?”

The shadow attacked her? It managed to wound Xena before she could pull the dagger against it… and channel power to cut through it.

“Y–your Highness,” she gasps. “I–I’m her healer, Astrid. And I—I don’t know. I just… I just left her a minute ago to run. Was that–was that a shadow?”

My hands are already pushing her cloak aside, fingers fumbling with the lapels until I see it. Just below her shoulder blade, the fabric is soaked through–black blood wells when I pull it away.

My jaw locks so hard my teeth ache.

“She’s bleeding,” Astrid whispers, horrified.

“I can see that,” I snap–and then regret the sharpness immediately. My anger has nowhere to

1/4

9:48 Thu, Apr 9

Chapter 62 in My Arms

go, and it turns inward, vicious and useless.

Xena shouldn’t be hurt.

$1.

+5 Pearls

There shouldn’t be a single cut on her body. Not here. Not anywhere. I think of her by the lake, pale and still, of how close she came to dying there too. How she asked me to save her.

I was never going to let her die. Not then. Not now.

“Hold her head,” I tell Astrid, already reaching for the dagger Xena dropped. My hands are steady even as my heart isn’t. I slice cleanly through the sleeve of her dress, exposing the wound.

Astrid gasps. “Your Highness-”

“I’m healing her.”

I¡

ss my palm over the bleeding gash.

For a heartbeat, nothing happens. Then heat floods my arm, fierce and immediate, racing from my shoulder down into my hand. The air around us warms, crackling faintly, and I feel the power respond the way it always does.

“Come on,” I mutter. “Come on.”

The black blood slows. The wound begins to close beneath my touch.

Astrid lets out a broken sob of relief as the flesh knits itself together–but I freeze.

It doesn’t seal smoothly.

When I lift my hand, the skin is closed, yes–but a jagged black line scars the place, ugly and uneven, like the wound has refused to forget itself.

“What-“I grunt, confused. “That’s not-”

It should have healed cleanly. Like last time. Her skin should be flawless and smooth, not jagged.

Xena doesn’t stir.

“Why isn’t she waking up?” Astrid whispers.

I don’t answer because I don’t have one.

I shift closer, pulling Xena into my arms again, holding her against my chest as if proximity alone might anchor her here. I cup her face, brushing hair back from her face.

2/4

9:48 Thu, Apr 9

Chapter 62 In My Arms

“Xena?” I say, softer now. “Open your eyes.”

Nothing.

:.

My throat tightens painfully. I shake her gently. “Xena. Please.”

91

+5 Pearls

Astrid breaks down beside us, covering her mouth, tears spilling unchecked. I glance at her, and something heavy sinks into my gut.

What kind of cruelty is this? What game is the Goddess playing?

This morning, I found Xena in a place, she shouldn’t be. It made me restless, like she’d invaded something private, so I dismissed her only to feel bad later. I wasn’t sure what I had in mind when I asked her to have breakfast with me.

Bi he surprised me later by smiling at me. he frowned too. Then I made her laugh. I noticed how she listened attentively as Aria and I playfully argued. All her little sighs and the way she placed her chin between her fingers.

I don’t even know her yet. I don’t know why she makes me feel like this.

I just know she can’t die.

“Xena,” I whisper, my voice breaking despite myself.

Thunder cracks overhead.

The sky opens without warning, rain pouring down in sheets. The dry ground hisses as water strikes dirt and leaves, steam rising around us. Rain drips from my lashes, streaking down onto Xena’s face.

I think, absurdly, of the bread I once tossed carelessly onto the ground.

Her lip trembles.

I freeze. “Did you see that?”

Astrid lunges closer, eyes wide. “Yes. Yes, I-”

Xena inhales sharply.

I lift her higher, pulling her close as if I can shield her from the storm, from the world, from whatever nearly took her.

“Knox,” she breathes out my name, making my heart stop momentarily.

9:48 Thu, Apr 9 a

Chapter 62 in My Arms

91

+5 Pearls

I sag with relief so fierce it hurts. “You’re alive,” I breathe, closing my eyes for half a second. When I open them, rain blurs my vision, but I don’t care.

I pull her tighter against my chest.

Astrid sobs, laughing through it, rain and tears mingling on her face.

Xena whimpers weakly against my neck, her fingers curling faintly into

“That’s it,” I murmur, brushing my cheek against her hair. “I’ve got you.”

my

tunic.

I sheathe the dagger at my side, and scoop her up carefully before rising to my feet.

“Astrid,” I say, turning to the healer. “Shift into your wolf again and run back to the palace. I’ll meet you in her chamber.”

She nods immediately, wiping her face. “Yes. Ves, Your Highness.”

“Whatever that thing was-” I add, meeting her gaze. “Staying here is dangerous.”

合

88