Blood Moon

A Spark In The Palace

I see him and I forget every other thing, Nathaniel, the son of the Priestess, he is nothing like his mother, calm and untainted, his eyes as white as the brightest lunar moon, it makes me remember his unique name, Luna, he watches calmly as his mother makes incantations and pray, his lips pucker every now and then and he tilts his head in a very funny way whenever he`s confused, I laugh and he gazes at me.

At once, I am sucked into an endless abyss and for some weird reason, I see his past flashing through me I don`t know if this is his ability, his magic or charm or something else is happening, I can`t say, but it`s pulling me in, in a very comfortable way and I don`t want it to stop. He tilts her head revealing his jade skin and I can see the torrents of anger brewing in his gaze and with this, I am sure he has definitely seen my past and maybe my future, we stare at each other, lost in the other`s gaze until Father clears his throat rather awkwardly breaking our gaze, I look up to see they`ve all been observing us and Imelia does not seem happy.

I shrug it off and pretend nothing ever happened, Nathaniel's cheeks are tainted a deep shade of pink and he looks down at the floor, wriggling his toes and searching for what I know not.

This time around, Father breaks the silence, “Imelia,” he nods

“Your highness,” she acknowledges his nod and bows politely.

He turns to me,

“Lead them to the royal stable, would you?" And again he has that cold look on his face.

I know he`s doing this to get to me, make me fall in love with Nathaniel, use him as a leverage against me and taunt Imelia to do his biddings. I know him very well and I will not allow the innocent to suffer his grievance. I close my eyes and smile a sad smile.

“My lady, gentleman,” I curtsey, hooking my arms with Imelia whilst maintaining a passive face. We stride along the walls of the dungeon, no one greets me, not even the guards, it`s a life I am used to.

“I`m sorry, my lady, their behaviors are a bit rusty”, I bow my head in shame, a sad smile on my face.

“Oh not to worry, Mother puts a barrier on these guards, she doesn`t fancy their attention and impassive behaviors, they can`t hear or see us” I have to refrain myself from turning to stare at him.

.

I raise my chin up, square my shoulders, align my spine and look down on him, my voice turning cold

“Thank you”, I spare him a short simple glance and turn to face my direction.

“Do you know your destiny, Selena?”

I am shocked by this question, nobody ever asks me this question, it takes me a moment to regain myself from my shocked state.

“No, I do not, I have never been asked or reasoned with in matters that concern my future, my father says I`m useless, a female can't rule the kingdom, a stubborn female, and considers it a waste to discuss my future, mother had tried to teach me the activities of the lower council herself when I was just nine, unfortunately Dad saw the files and was strongly against it, he locked mom in a dungeon” my voice croaks at the end, I clear my throat, waiting for the next remark from Imelia.

“Your mom was very brave and intelligent, the whole village misses her, she was the only one that could calm your father, she had a very beautiful smile, every day after the blood moon sets in the morning, she`d go around donating foodstuffs, helping the neighborhoods, put a smile on their faces, the village was a lot calmer than it is now, you got your heart and softness from her, you know?”

And for once, I feel at peace, someone had finally said something good about my mother and I was beginning to like Imelia a whole lot, our discussion had brought us to the royal stable and I was sad that they could not stay any longer, I bowed my head in acknowledgement, she smiles at me.

“May the moon goddess be with you.” She mounts her horse

“And may the goddess be with you, my lady.”

I depart to help Nathaniel with his horse, I put my tiny frail hands into his rough calous hands that are rougher than the stones laying idly at the palace, he kisses my knuckles and wish her goodbye, he replies goodbye in his throat and if I wasn`t a Lycan, I wouldn`t have heard. I laugh wondering the last time a male was shy. I watch him leave promising myself to steer clear of him, these feelings that was brewing needed to be cut short as I knew fully well it would bring nothing but troubles and pain.