Luna Kiara Book 2 CH2 - CH5
1055 Words
*LUNA KIARA: BOOK 2 - CHAPTER 2*
_Title: The Basement That Shouldn't Exist_
The moment _Luna_ took the boy’s hand, the gold hum went silent.
Then it _screamed_.
The ground under their feet lit up. Gold lines shot through the dirt, through the roots, all the way back to the palace walls.
The boy’s black eyes widened. “Okay. Didn’t think it would be that dramatic.”
_Luna_ yanked her hand back. Her wrist burned. The crown birthmark was glowing.
“Explain. Now.”
He looked toward the palace. The second bell rang.
“We don’t have time. Your parents are waking up. My name is _Cael_.”
“Cael what?”
“Just Cael.” He grinned, sharp. “And that basement your great-grandma mapped? It’s not a room. It’s a prison.”
_Luna_ frowned. “For who?”
“The last thing left of the curse that killed your family 200 years ago.” He pointed at her wrist. “The gold hands. They don’t heal. They bind. Queen Alina trapped it here, and she used her own bloodline as the lock.”
He looked right at her. “You.”
The third bell. Closer.
Torches in the distance. Guards.
_Luna_’s heart was pounding but her voice was calm. “Then why are you here?”
“Because the lock is breaking.” Cael held up his wrist. His crown birthmark was cracked, bleeding black. “And I’m the key. Or what’s left of it. If we don’t go down there tonight, the curse gets out. And it starts with you.”
_Luna_ looked at the castle. At her sleeping parents. At the forest.
She was 16. A princess. She wasn’t supposed to do this.
She started running.
“Then show me the way, Cael.”
They reached the old fountain behind the stables. Cael pressed his black-marked hand to the stone.
It sank.
Stairs. Down. Into darkness.
The air smelled like iron and old magic.
At the bottom, a door. No handle. Just a carving:
_A crown. Split in two. One gold, one black._
Cael turned to her. “Once we open this, there’s no going back to boring throne room speeches.”
_Luna_ put her glowing gold hand on the gold half.
He put his bleeding black hand on the black half.
The door opened.
Inside was not a monster.
Inside was a *mirror*.
And in the mirror stood a girl with Luna’s face.
But her eyes were gold. And her smile wasn’t hers.
The girl in the mirror spoke first:
*"Welcome home, little lock."*
_To be continued..._
---
*LUNA KIARA: BOOK 2 - CHAPTER 3*
_Title: The Queen’s Lie_
The mirror-girl smiled with _Luna_’s face.
*"Welcome home, little lock."*
_Luna_ stepped back. “That’s not me.”
“Isn’t it?” Mirror-Luna tilted her head. “I’m what happens when a Kiara gets too much gold.”
Cael moved in front of _Luna_. “Don’t listen to her. She’s the curse.”
Before _Luna_ could answer, the stairs exploded with light.
*“KIARA!”*
_Queen Mara_ stood at the top, crown crooked, sword in hand. Behind her, _King Damien_.
Mom looked at the mirror. Then at _Luna_. Then at Cael.
Her face broke. “You found him.”
_Luna_’s stomach dropped. “You knew?”
“I was supposed to tell you on your 18th birthday.” Mara’s voice shook. “Not like this.”
She pointed at Cael. “He’s not the key. He’s the _bait_. 200 years ago Queen Alina didn’t trap the curse. She split it. Half went into a boy’s bloodline. Half went into ours.”
Mara looked at _Luna_’s glowing wrist. “Gold hands bind. Black hands break. You two were never supposed to meet.”
The mirror laughed. *"Too late."*
_To be continued..._
---
*LUNA KIARA: BOOK 2 - CHAPTER 4*
_Title: Black and Gold_
The mirror cracked.
Black mist poured out and wrapped around Cael’s throat. He choked, eyes going fully black.
“CAEL!” _Luna_ grabbed his hand. Gold met black.
Pain.
Memories that weren’t hers flooded in: A girl in a crown crying. A boy with black eyes screaming. Alina Kiara stabbing them both with a dagger made of light.
_“One to hold it. One to end it.”_ Alina’s voice. _“When they touch, it ends.”_
Cael collapsed into _Luna_’s arms. The mist retreated back into the mirror.
The mirror-girl was gone.
King Damien pulled them both up. “We have to seal it. Now.”
“How?” _Luna_ asked, breathing hard.
Mara looked at Cael, unconscious. “The old way. A Kiara has to give up her gold. Forever.”
_Luna_ looked at her hands. The gold was fading.
She looked at Cael. His black mark was gone too.
“If I do this, what happens to him?”
“He lives,” Mara said. “But you won’t be magical anymore. No more humming stones. No more healing.”
The bells stopped. Silence.
_Luna_ wiped blood from Cael’s lip. “Then do it.”
_To be continued..._
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*LUNA KIARA: BOOK 2 - CHAPTER 5*
_Title: The Girl With No Magic_
Morning.
The palace was normal. Boring again.
No gold hum. No whispering stones.
_Luna_ sat at the breakfast table. Her wrist was bare. No crown birthmark.
Just skin.
Cael sat across from her. Awake. No black eyes. Just brown. Normal.
He kept staring at her like he’d forgotten her face.
“Do you remember?” she asked quietly.
“Bits,” he said. “You yelled at me a lot.”
She almost smiled.
Queen Mara walked in and hugged her so hard it hurt. “It’s done. The curse is gone.”
King Damien squeezed her shoulder. “Proud of you, kid.”
But that night, _Luna_ couldn’t sleep.
She went to her window. The stones were quiet.
She missed the hum.
A pebble hit the glass.
Cael was in the garden. He held up a piece of paper.
On it, drawn in shaky ink: The same map. With a new X.
Under the palace. Deeper than the basement.
He mouthed: *“It moved.”*
_Luna_ felt nothing in her wrist.
But her heart did.
She opened the window.
_To be continued..._
- Writer
