His Reluctant Luna

Chapter 14: The Crack in the Mask

Something was wrong with Selene.

I noticed it three days after the blood bond with Elena. My new awareness of the keep's energies made it impossible to ignore — a darkness clinging to the edges of my perception, like smoke from a fire I couldn't see.

I found her in the library, alone, reading by candlelight.

"Selene."

She looked up, her smile perfectly pleasant. "Aurora. You've been avoiding me."

"I've been busy."

"Training with your mother. Yes, I heard." She closed her book. "It must be wonderful. Finding out your mother is some kind of moon goddess. Being chosen. Special."

"You sound bitter."

"Do I?" Her smile didn't waver. "I'm happy for you, sister. Truly."

I walked closer. The darkness pulsed. "What are you hiding?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"The blood bond with my mother lets me feel things I couldn't feel before. And I can feel you, Selene. Something dark. Something secret."

Her smile finally flickered.

"You always were too perceptive," she said. "It's what made you so easy to hate."

"Answer the question."

She stood. For a moment, I saw something raw and ugly flash across her face.

"You want to know what I'm hiding?" she said. "Fine. I'm hiding the fact that I'm not here to help you. I'm here to survive."

"Survive what?"

"Viktor wasn't working alone. He had allies. Powerful ones. And when he died, they turned their attention to the one person who delivered the information that led to his death."

"Father's manor," I said slowly. "You got the letter from Kael's contact. You brought it here."

"Viktor's allies think I betrayed them. They think I switched sides." Her voice cracked. "I didn't. I just wanted to stay alive. And the only way to do that was to make myself useful to you."

"You used us."

"I used everyone." Her eyes were wet now. "It's the only thing I'm good at."

I stared at my sister — the golden child, the perfect daughter, the one who had everything. And for the first time, I saw what lay beneath the mask.

Not malice.

Fear.

"Who are these allies?" I asked.

"I don't know their names. But they're not wolves. They're something older. Something that's been waiting for the Moon-touched to reappear."

The hair on my arms rose.

"How do you know?"

"Because they found me. The night before I came here." She pulled up her sleeve. Her forearm was marked with a symbol — a crescent moon, etched into her skin, black and angry.

"Viktor's allies marked me. So they can always find me. So I can never hide." She laughed bitterly. "I came here to warn you. But also to save myself. Because if I stayed, they would have killed me."

I looked at the mark. It pulsed with the same darkness I'd felt.

"It's OK," I said.

Selene blinked. "What?"

"It's OK to be scared. It's OK to want to survive." I met her eyes. "You're still my sister. Even if you're a terrible one."

She stared at me.

Then, slowly, she laughed — a real laugh, cracked and surprised.

"You're impossible."

"So I've been told."

I took Selene to Elena.

My mother studied the mark with cold precision, her fingers tracing the symbol without touching it.

"This is old magic," she said. "Pre-dates the packs. Pre-dates the wolves entirely."

"What does it do?"

"It binds the marked to the one who made it. She can be tracked. She can be controlled. And if her masters want her dead..." Elena looked at Selene. "They can kill her with a word."

Selene's face went pale. "Is there a way to break it?"

"One." Elena's eyes met mine. "A Moon-touched can sever any bond that involves the moon's power. But it requires trust. Complete trust."

Selene looked at me. "After everything I've done—"

"Do you trust me?" I asked.

She was silent for a long moment.

Then: "I don't trust anyone. But I want to."

"That's enough."

That night, I sat with Selene in the courtyard, the moon overhead, the mark on her arm pulsing darkly.

Elena had told me what to do. Draw the moon's power through my blood. Let it flow into Selene. Find the thread of the binding and cut it.

But there was a catch.

If you fail, Elena had said, the mark will turn on both of you.

I looked at Selene. "If this goes wrong—"

"I know."

"You might die."

"I know."

"Are you sure?"

Selene met my eyes. For the first time since I'd known her, there was no mask. No performance. Just a girl who had spent her whole life running.

"I've never been sure of anything," she said. "But I'm sure I don't want to run anymore."

I took a breath. Raised my hand to the moonlight.