His Warrior Luna

2 The Golden Girl

The rest of the morning was uneventful. At lunch, I got with the girls. Wanting some fruit, I walked up to the line. Everyone let me through with more Happy Birthday wishes until I found myself standing behind a greasy-haired boy.

“Excuse me,” I said rudely. Erica was standing to my right and pushed him.

“She said Excuse you,” she growled.

The boy turned around to growl back at us, but when he saw it was me, his future Luna, his face paled. I could feel the whole cafeteria looking at us, or more specifically, him.

“That’s right,” Erica said again sternly. “Move.”

The boy narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything, so I narrowed mine right back.

“I believe my friend told you to move it along, fleabag,” I told him coldly. “And go wash your hair before you come back. Gross.”

The people around us laughed, and I smiled in satisfaction as I watched him put his head down and step out of line. He was embarrassed, but I didn’t care. He asked for it. He shouldn’t have tried to defy me like that.

The nerve,” Erica breathed as he left.

I hated my next class. Combatives. It’s not that I can’t fight, I just don’t see the need to. I have a personal Gamma, and when I get married, my husband, his Gamma, and my Gamma will be more than capable of handling any trouble. Besides, who would dare?

I go through the warmup and motions, though. Barely. Today, I was “sparring” with Angela, ready to drool over the visiting Alphas.

“Your eighteenth birthday is on the day of the Flower Moon Ceremony! Oh my goddess, some people just get all the luck,” she sighed dreamily.

“It’s not luck when it’s your birthright,” I told her, bored with her dramatics. Her mother was the daughter of a Beta, but her father wasn’t even a ranking Delta, just a grunt. Due to her mother’s lineage, though, she was part of my group, just not with a high status among us.

After school, Erica gave me a ride home and helped me get ready for the celebration. After a quick shower, she dried and styled my hair, then set to work on my makeup.

She did a smoky eye with a silver shimmer, and a bold ruby for my lips. My mother had my dress custom-designed for tonight, and refused to let me see it beforehand. It was now hanging on my door in a black bag, so when Erica and I opened it, we gasped in wonder, as if the dress had been woven from moonlight itself.

My mother and I were the only ones allowed to wear all silver tonight, and this dress left no room to mistake who the celebration was for. It caught the light in a way that made it seem to shine with its own luminescence, and was strapless. It closed in the back with snap studs, to allow it to fall effortlessly away for my shift.

The bodice was embroidered with vines, crescent moons, and tiny, intricate lilies and studded with diamonds. The skirt was fitted around my hips, then flowed down like silver water. I had never seen anything so elegant, or so beautiful, and my eyes threatened to tear up.

“b***h, you better not cry and ruin your makeup,” Erica warned me, then giggled, and I joined her.

“I won’t!” I promised. “But damn!”

“Damn is right!” She agreed. “Now let's get you in this thing.”

I ditched my undergarments. Not only would they hinder my shift, but the dress fit so well, they would show. I spun around and let Erica admire our work before I took a look in the mirror. I wore the necklace Joffrey had given me earlier, and it fit beautifully. I wondered if he and my mom coordinated it. In my ears were drop earrings that held a mix of diamonds and moonstones in crescents and circles. Erica looked at me critically.

“It’s beautiful, but still missing something,” she pondered. I looked at her, then at myself in the mirror.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She looked at me with an evil grin on her face and opened the top drawer of my dresser. “I think we might be able to find something…” she rooted around my drawer.

“What are you doing?” I asked. There wasn’t anything of use in there.

She turned around and extended her hands, holding a small navy box outlined in silver. I looked at her with a question in my eyes, but she only grinned. I opened it, revealing a silver tiara with laurels, crescents, diamonds, and moonstones. Also in the box was a note.

Princess - Love you to the moon and back, Daddy.

Erica placed it gently on my head and finished styling my hair around it, then turned me around to look in the mirror. She was right. The tiara completed the look, and I’d never felt more like royalty in my life.