His Reluctant Luna

Chapter 8: The Secret of Bloodmoon

I didn't sleep that night.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my reflection's lips moving. Heard her voice whispering in the dark.

Find me before the full moon.

Or we both die.

The full moon was in two days.

I needed answers. And there was only one person in this castle who might have them.

I found Elena's diary where Selene had left it — on the library table, as if waiting for me.

I opened it to the first page.

The handwriting was elegant, looping, feminine. The entries started cheerful — descriptions of the keep, of the forest, of a love so bright it seemed to leap off the page.

Damon smiled at me today. A real smile. I think I forgot how to breathe.

He says he's never met anyone like me. I almost told him the truth. But I couldn't. Not yet.

The truth. What truth?

I flipped forward, scanning entries. The tone shifted as the dates progressed. The joy faded. The worry crept in.

The moon is getting stronger. I can feel it pulling at something inside me. Something I've never told anyone.

Not even Damon.

Especially not Damon.

I turned to the final entry — the one Selene had shown us. Read it again.

The person I love most in this world is also the person who will destroy everything I care about.

Who? Who was she talking about?

I turned the page to the blank one — and stopped.

There was writing. Faint, almost invisible, pressed into the paper by a quill that had run out of ink. Indentations, barely catchable by touch.

I held the page up to the candlelight.

If you're reading this, you're the one I've been waiting for.

You're not my replacement.

You're my second chance.

Find the mirror in the east tower. The one that doesn't reflect the moon.

I left you something there.

— E.

The east tower was abandoned.

Dust coated every surface. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling like old curtains. The stairs creaked beneath my feet, and the air smelled of rot and forgotten time.

I found the mirror at the top.

It was tall — floor to ceiling — framed in black iron carved with symbols I didn't recognize. The glass was dark, cloudy, as if it hadn't seen light in centuries.

And it didn't reflect the moon.

I stood before it, my heart pounding.

"Elena," I whispered. "I'm here."

The glass rippled.

My reflection appeared — but it wasn't my reflection. It was a woman with my face, but her hair was longer, her eyes older, her lips curved in a sad smile.

Elena.

"Hello, Aurora." Her voice came from inside my head, soft and warm. "I'm sorry it took so long for you to find me."

"You're... alive?"

I'm not alive. I'm not dead. I'm trapped. Between worlds. Between moons. Waiting for the one who could free me.

"Free you? How?"

The same way I was trapped. Her eyes held mine. Aurora, I am your mother.

The world tilted.

I was a human once. Like you. I married Damon believing I was ordinary. But on the night of our binding ceremony, my true nature awakened. I am a Moon-touched — a human born with the power of the ancient wolves. The same power that runs in your blood.

"That's why the moon answers me."

Yes. The southern packs knew what I was. They feared what I could become. So they trapped me — bound my spirit to this mirror, locked my body in an unmarked grave. They thought killing me would end my line.

"But it didn't."

No. Her smile was sad. Because I had already given birth to you. I hid you with the Blackwood family, erased my own memory from their minds. I knew they would come for you if they knew you existed. I sacrificed everything to keep you safe.

Tears were streaming down my face. I didn't remember crying.

"I grew up thinking I was worthless."

I know. And I'm sorry. But you were never worthless, Aurora. You were my greatest gift. My second chance.

The mirror flickered.

The full moon is two days away. When it rises, I will have enough power to speak freely. But so will my enemies. You must come to the grave — the one in the courtyard — and break the seal that holds me.

"How?"

Use the moon. It has always answered you. It always will.

Her image began to fade.

Elena — wait. I don't know how—

You do. You've always known. Trust yourself, Aurora. And trust Damon.

He loved me. But he will love you differently.

Because you are not my replacement.

You are my legacy.

The mirror went dark.

I stood in the empty tower, alone, shaking, my entire world rebuilt in a single conversation.

My mother was alive.

And she was counting on me.

I found Damon in the war room, still poring over maps.

He looked up when I entered. His expression shifted immediately.

"What happened?"

I walked to the table. Sat down across from him.

"I need to tell you something," I said. "And you're not going to believe it."

"Try me."

I took a breath.

"Elena is my mother."

The silence that followed was deafening.

Damon stared at me. His face was perfectly still — the stillness of a man who has been hit so hard he doesn't know how to react.

"That's impossible."

"Read the diary. The indentations on the last page. She left me a message." I pushed the book across the table. "She's been trapped in a mirror in the east tower for 300 years. And I'm the only one who can free her."

He didn't touch the book. He just kept staring at me.

"Elena never had a child."

"She did. She hid me. To protect me from the people who killed her."

"Why didn't she tell me?"

"She was afraid." I held his gaze. "Afraid of what would happen if you knew the truth. Afraid of what would happen to me."

The fire crackled. The silence stretched.

Then, slowly, Damon reached for the diary.

"I'm going to read every word of this," he said. "And then we're going to talk."

"Good."

He paused at the door. "Aurora."

"Yes?"

"Whatever happens next..." He stopped. Shook his head. "I'm glad it's you."

He left before I could answer.