Episode 9
1177 Words
The moonlight poured through the broken tower windows, casting silver patterns across the stone floor. Kael stood by the edge, tense, quiet, arms folded across his chest.
He hadn’t said a word since we got back.
Neither had I.
I leaned against the cool wall, arms hugging my body. Ryker was asleep on the floor nearby, his breathing slow and steady. I’d checked his wounds—he’d be okay.
But Kael?
I didn’t know if he would be.
“Do you believe him?” I finally asked.
Kael didn’t look at me. “He’s alive. That’s all I know.”
Silence again. The air was tight, like it was holding its breath.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.
“For what?”
“For being here. For dragging you into this. For making your brother show his face after all these years.”
His jaw clenched. “This isn’t your fault.”
“Isn’t it?”
Kael turned toward me, eyes hard. “Elara. You didn’t start this war. You didn’t make him betray his blood.”
“I still feel like a curse.” My voice cracked. “Everything I touch falls apart.”
He stared at me for a long time. Then he walked closer. Slowly. Like the storm inside him had eased just enough to let him move.
“You think you’re a curse?” he said, standing inches away. “You saved Ryker. You’re the reason I’m still breathing. You’re stronger than half the warriors I’ve trained.”
I didn’t speak.
Kael lifted his hand, hesitated, then brushed my hair back. His touch was careful, almost unsure.
“But that’s not why I can’t stop thinking about you,” he said.
My breath caught.
I looked up at him, and the wall I’d been holding finally cracked. “Then why?”
His voice was low. “Because even when I should’ve hated you, I couldn’t.”
He leaned closer.
And kissed me.
Not rough. Not wild.
But slow—like he needed to be sure I wouldn’t break.
I didn’t.
I kissed him back.
Something sharp and aching opened in my chest. It wasn’t just need. It was something deeper. Older.
Something that had been waiting in the silence all this time.
When he finally pulled back, his forehead rested against mine.
“I should’ve done that a long time ago,” he whispered.
I smiled. “Then do it again.”
He did.
****
We stayed close after that.
His hand found mine when he sat beside me. It wasn’t possessive. It was grounding.
It made me feel like I wasn’t floating through this nightmare alone.
“I don’t think he’s done,” I said softly. “Jace. He knew too much. He didn’t come to warn us. He came to deliver a message.”
Kael nodded. “They’re circling.”
“Blackveil?”
“Maybe. Or something worse. They don’t need armies to win. They plant fear. Doubt. Distrust.”
I thought about the way Jace had looked at me. Calm. Controlled.
Like he already knew the ending.
“They want me,” I whispered. “Why?”
Kael’s grip tightened around my hand. “Because they’re afraid of what you could become.”
“I’m no one.”
“You’re not,” he said. “You’re the only Luna who survived a blood culling and came back with fire in her eyes.”
I looked down at our hands. “And you? Are you afraid of me?”
“No,” he said. “I’m afraid of losing you.”
The words sat heavy between us.
Not rushed. Not dramatic.
Just true.
****
Later, while Ryker slept, I walked the tower halls, trying to make sense of everything. The wind whispered through the stone corridors, and the night held its breath.
I found Kael upstairs, in the war room. Maps scattered across the table. Ink smudged across his fingers.
He was always like this when he was thinking—quiet, sharp, focused.
“You should rest,” I said gently.
He didn’t look up. “We don’t have time.”
I walked closer, eyes scanning the map. Circles drawn in red ink. Border lines. Paths through the woods.
“Do you think Jace is leading them?” I asked.
Kael nodded slowly. “He’s not just a pawn. They’ve made him a symbol.”
“To break you?”
“To break everything I stand for.”
He finally looked up.
“Elara,” he said. “If they use him to get to Nightfang… if they twist his story, make people believe he was the real heir…”
He didn’t finish the thought.
Because I already understood.
“You’ll lose your claim.”
“And my people will lose their faith.”
I stepped closer, reaching out to touch his shoulder. “Then we don’t let that happen.”
He stared at me, something unreadable in his eyes.
“You always talk like you’re alone,” I whispered. “But you’re not.”
He pulled me into his arms like he couldn’t help it anymore. Like he needed me to be the anchor he’d never let himself ask for.
And I held him.
Because I needed it too.
****
We slept side by side that night. Nothing happened—not like that. But the warmth of his body near mine felt safer than any armor.
For the first time in a long time, I didn’t dream of blood or fire.
I dreamed of him.
And maybe, just maybe, of what it would feel like to stay.
****
The next morning broke with smoke on the wind.
Ryker was already up, pacing near the tower window. “Something’s wrong.”
Kael was beside me in an instant. “What is it?”
Ryker pointed to the tree line. “That’s not natural fog.”
We all ran to the top floor.
The view made my heart stop.
The forest was cloaked in black mist, curling over the trees like fingers. Birds flew from it—fast, frantic, wrong.
Kael’s voice was sharp. “They’re coming.”
Then, from the center of the mist… a howl.
Low. Long.
Not like a wolf.
Something deeper.
Older.
The hairs on my neck rose.
Ryker backed away from the window. “That’s not from this realm.”
Kael grabbed his sword. “Prepare everything. They’re forcing our hand.”
I stared out the window, heart racing. “Who would they send through shadow this thick?”
Kael looked at me.
And for the first time since I’d met him, his voice shook.
“There’s only one who walks in mist,” he said.
“Who?” I whispered.
But I already knew.
Because I’d seen the symbol once, carved into an old bloodstone pendant—
The Moon Reaper.
Leader of the Blackveil.
Kael said it aloud, and the words sent cold down my spine.
“Elara,” he said quietly. “They didn’t send a scout this time. They sent a god.”
- Writer
