The Luna He Should Have Killed

Chapter Three

The laughter died instantly, and every commander stared.

For one horrifying second, I could only look at the mess coating his expensive leather and wonder if this was how I died.

My stomach continued twisting violently.

I pressed a trembling hand over my mouth.

Please don't do it again.

Please.

Silence swallowed the corridor and nobody breathed. My father stood frozen, his face completely drained of color.

Then, a low, vibrating sound broke the quiet. And to my horror, it was Magnus laughing in utter amusement as if I had performed a trick for him.

"Well," he said. "At least she has spirit."

A few nervous chuckles followed from the commanders, but they died quickly when nobody else joined them.

My father's face had gone completely white.

"Alpha Rune, I sincerely apologize. As you can see, Alessia has suffered a head injury and isn't herself."

Magnus wiped a gloved finger across one of his boots and studied it with mild interest.

"I should hope not. If this is her at her best, you have cheated me."

More laughter.

This time my father didn't join it.

With a heavy thud of his boots, Magnus turned and walked away.

***

I barely remember how I returned to my room.

The servants avoided looking directly at me. One maid brought fresh water and helped me clean the front of my nightgown but neither attempted conversation.

News traveled quickly through the estate, and by now everyone undoubtedly knew what had happened.

The Alpha's future bride had vomited on him.

The thought made me want to disappear.

I spent most of the evening sitting beside the window, staring out at the darkening grounds below. Sleep refused to come.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Magnus Rune standing in the corridor. Eventually, I convinced myself that he would leave in the morning.

His soldiers were still making their way toward our territory. He had likely ridden ahead to secure the alliance before returning to oversee their arrival.

Men like Magnus Rune didn't linger where they weren't needed.

The thought should have comforted me.

It didn't.

Gone or not, ten days remained ten days.

Sometime before dawn, exhaustion finally dragged me into an uneasy sleep.

I don't know how long I was unconscious.

I only know that screaming woke me. Not the raised voices of servants or another argument between commanders, but genuine screams of terror. The kind that tears itself raw.

I jerked upright so quickly that pain exploded through my skull.

For a moment, I couldn't understand what I was hearing. Then another scream echoed through the estate, followed by the unmistakable sound of steel crashing against steel.

Men were running through the corridors.

Doors were slamming open.

Somewhere below, someone shouted an order before a terrified voice rang through the estate

"The King's army is inside the walls!"

For a second, I couldn't move.

Our Estate had never been attacked.

Not once.

Not in thirteen years.

I threw myself out of bed, my head splitting open from the previous day's concussion, my vision swimming. I had to find my family. I slipped into the burning hallway, coughing violently as I pushed through the smoke.

The path to the war room was a nightmare. Guards I had known since childhood lay sprawled across the floor. One still had his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword. Another stared sightlessly at the ceiling, blood pooling beneath his armor.

I stumbled past them, weeping, clutching my nightgown tight against my throat.

When I finally reached the heavy double doors, they were blown open. Inside, a haze of ash hung in the air. I expected to find my father and brother drawing swords, preparing to make a final, glorious stand for our people.

Instead, they were packing.

Gold.

Documents.

Jewelry.

Travel sacks lay open across the war table.

For a moment, my mind refused to understand what I was seeing.

Then it did.

They were running away!

"Father! Leo!" I choked out, leaning heavily against the splintered doorframe. I could barely stand.

None of them stopped. Toby threw a heavy pack over his shoulder, his eyes wild with terror. My mother didn't even cast a glance in my direction as she shoved jewelry into a leather satchel.

"Father."

This time, they looked up.

Not one of them appeared relieved to see me.

"What are you doing here?" my mother demanded.

"The estate is under attack."

"Obviously."

The irritation in her voice stunned me.

As though I had interrupted something important and I was the problem.

I stared at the open passage behind them.

"You were leaving."

My father returned his attention to the satchel in his hands.

"We don't have time for this."

The words struck harder than the slap from the previous day.

A cold knot formed in my stomach.

"What about me?"

Nobody answered.

My gaze moved from my father to my mother.

Then to Leo.

"What about me?"

My father finally looked up.

For the first time, he looked his age.

His eyes were bloodshot and his clothes hung in disarray. The rebel leader I had spent my life fearing was gone, replaced by a man watching everything he had built collapse around him.

"Look at yourself, Alessia."

I looked down.

My hands were shaking.

I was struggling just to stay upright.

The concussion still made the room sway whenever I moved too quickly.

"The passage runs beneath the mountain," my mother said. "It takes hours to cross."

"I can do it."

Even I heard how weak I sounded.

My mother stared at me.

"No, you can't." she retorted.

"I can try."

"And when you collapse?" she demanded. "When Blackthorn's soldiers catch us because we stopped every few minutes to carry you?"

I turned to Leo.

Desperation made my voice smaller than I intended.

"You know I can make it."

My brother's jaw tightened.

For one terrible moment, I thought he was going to argue for my sake.

Instead, he looked away.

"The soldiers are already inside the estate," Toby said. "If we don't leave now, none of us are getting out."

"Take me with you, please."

My voice cracked on the last word.

My father closed the satchel.

"You've already been promised to Magnus Rune. If Blackthorn's men find you, they'll likely leave you for him."

Desperate and shaking, I dragged my feet across the room, ignoring the sharp spike of pain in my head. I reached out a trembling hand toward my brother, Leo.

He was my twin, the last piece of my heart.

He wouldn't leave me behind to die.

"Leo," I whispered, the sound barely audible over the distant roar of flames.

Without a word, he turned his back on me and stepped into the hidden passage after the others.

The door began sliding shut.

"Leo, please."

My voice broke.

He stopped, but only for a second.

Just long enough to destroy my last bits of hope.

Then he disappeared into the darkness, and the passage door sealed shut.