Royal Blood Revealed-Part 2
592 Words
The smoke rising beyond the trees was darker than storm clouds-almost alive. It coiled against the wind instead of breaking apart, thick with something I could feel more than see: rage, hunger,grief.
Father ordered patrols immediately, but even as the warriors moved, I felt the hum inside me deepen. It wasn’t fear. It was recognition.
“We have to see it,” I said.
“Absolutely not,” Father snapped. “You three stay here.”
Jame’s jaw set. Lilly’s eyes flashed gold. I met his gaze. “Dad, the smoke’s reacting to us.”
He hesitated only a heartbeat before turning to our mother. She nodded once. “Go. But together.”
We reached the tree line within minutes. The air vibrated like the edge of a song only the three of us could hear. When we stepped closer, the world shimmered-the same distortion that had linked us in the kitchen. Light rippled from our hands in three colors: silver, gold, and amethyst. When the lights touched, they wove into one.
“Whoa,” James whispered.
Lilly held out her arm. A faint crescent symbol glowed there-the same mark that lived on my palm, mirrored now on each of us.
“The bond,” I breathed. “It’s… physical.”
Emma’s voice thrummed through me. Triplets of the Moon. Light, heart, and mind. Together you are the Royal Star reborn:
“What happens if we separate?” Lilly asked. Before I could answer, the ground trembled. The column of smoke pulsed-and for a heartbeat, a shape formed inside it.
Carter.
But not as I’d last seen him. His eyes glowed with a dull, burning gold. Black veins crept across his face like cracks in marble. His voice came out as a whisper carried by the wind.
“You can’t from the darkness. It’s in your blood too.”
The smoke surged forward, reaching for us. Instinct took over. I threw up my hands and light flared from my mark. Lilly’s gold joined it, then Jame’s violet. The three colors spiraled together, creating a barrier that hissed and burned where the shadow struck.
Carter’s laughter broke through it, hollow and distant. “You think the Moon can save you? She abandoned me first.”
Then he was gone. The smoke collapsed, leaving only the sound of our ragged breathing.
We stood in silence for a long time. Finally, Lilly said, “If he’s right-if the same blood runs in him-what does that mean for us?”
“It means,” I said slowly, “that our light can be corrupted too. And if we’re not united, it will be.”
James kicked at the ashes. “So, what now? We sit around waiting for the next cryptic prophecy?”
I smiled, though it didn’t reach my eyes. “No. We train. We learn what this power is before it decides what to do with us.”
He grinned at that. “Now you sound like Dad.”
“Maybe that’s not the worst thing,” Lilly said softly .
The three of us turned toward the pack house together. Behind us, the ashes of Carter’s shadow smoldered once, then vanished into the wind.
That’s night, I dreamed again.
The Moon Goddess stood in a sea of stars, her hair a river of silver light.
Royal blood binds you, she said. But remember-blood is both chain and key.
When I woke, the mark on my palm still glowed faintly, pulsing with my heartbeat. The prophecy wasn’t a warning anymore. It was a countdown.
- Writer
