The Moonbound Bride

Chapter 20

LYRA

I opened my eyes with a gasp and sat upright. Zoe let out a sigh, her chest heaving from the anxiety she must have felt while I was unconscious. As I recalled hearing Blade and Zoe talking while I was still out, the first thing I asked her was about Blade.

She told me he had run off to catch the culprit who did this to me. When I glanced at the window, I saw it was true—someone, in their human form, had followed the dark figure. No… that means Blade is in trouble! What can I do to save him?

“Where is he, Zoe? Did you see which direction he ran?” I asked, clutching my aching chest.

“Yes, he ran straight ahead. I think he leaped through the balcony, following the figure.”

Leaped? That means he wasn’t fully in his human form when he followed Viktor. What am I supposed to do now? Where am I supposed to find him? Viktor is extremely cunning in his shadow form, and now that Blade doesn’t have his powers fully, Viktor could strike and injure him with little resistance. Blade might get hurt. I need to go to him.

I tried to get up, but a sharp pain shot through my ribs, making it impossible to move. Zoe quickly helped me sit back on the bed.

“Zoe, please, if you can—go tell Ryder, your brother, what happened and try to save Blade from Viktor. Please—Blade is in grave danger,” I told her urgently.

Watching her expression, I could tell she didn’t fully understand, but she still dashed off to inform Ryder. I can only trust Zoe and Ryder in this house right now. After a while, Ryder came rushing in. One look at my condition, and he immediately shifted into his tiger form and leapt through the broken window in search of Blade.

Meanwhile, Zoe never left my side. She helped me move and gave me medicine for the pain. But my mind couldn’t rest, not for a moment—not until I saw Blade again in front of me. His decision had been rushed, but I understood it. Still, without his powers, how could he fight the mighty Viktor?

Maybe this had been Viktor’s plan all along—not just to hurt me, but to lure Blade into a trap. Or perhaps it was just tonight—because he couldn’t stand the sight of Blade and me sleeping peacefully together.

“Oh heavenly deities, may all forces stay with my Blade. Protect him,” I whispered, praying to the heavens above while lying in bed, still in pain.

The moonlight shone beautifully. Maybe the moon was enjoying all of this. But no—Blade cannot die, not now. Not even be harmed. Our love will keep him strong, and he will return to me—safe and sound.

After a while—over an hour—I was giving up on sleep, or at least trying to. But I was weak. All I could feel at the moment was how badly I had been beaten. The tingling pain hadn’t vanished yet, and I didn’t even try to get up to see if I could. The worry for Blade had left me numb.

A moment of silence settled over the Harlow Mansion, and then, in an instant, a rush of force burst through my bedroom window. It was Ryder, in his human form, holding Blade in his arms. I tried to get up and go to him, but the pain was too sharp—I could only extend my hand toward him. Blade was unconscious.

“What happened to him, Ryder?” I asked.

“I found him lying unconscious in the woods, that’s all. I didn’t see anyone else,” Ryder replied.

“Then why isn’t he waking up?” I began to panic.

“Don’t worry, Lyra. We have a blue medicine called Kuror. It helps us tigers recover from injuries. Blade is wounded here,” he said, pointing to Blade’s lower arm. “Probably from Viktor’s dark, shadowed aura. The Kuror drops will help him heal and wake up.”

He then gestured to Zoe to bring the Kuror from the lab. I watched Blade’s two siblings spring into action, fully focused on helping him. Meanwhile, I was in panic mode—desperate for Blade to recover quickly and return to me.

Zoe returned, running, with the Kuror. Ryder carefully spilled a few drops of the sparkly blue medicine onto Blade’s bleeding arm. We all watched anxiously. Within minutes, the wound began to heal, and Blade slowly regained consciousness.

As soon as Blade opened his eyes, the first word out of his mouth was my name. I called to him and turned to the side. A tear slipped down my cheek as I finally saw him in front of me. I began crying like a child. He came to me, and I hugged him tightly, clinging to him like a lost little girl. While holding him, I sobbed, groggy and overwhelmed. He held me tightly and comforted me, whispering, “Everything's fine. Everything’s okay.”

“What happened to you?” I asked him, still in tears.

“I’m okay, Lyra. It’s just that while I was following that figure—Viktor—it struck me with a force of dark, consuming smoke. I collapsed to the ground, turning nearly to dust. The figure kept watching me. I tried to fight back again, and it ran, dragging me deeper into the woods. I chased it at lightning speed—thanks to what little power I still have. But it wasn’t the shadow that knocked me unconscious. It was the moon. I was struck by its lightning—right here on my arm.”

I scoffed, even as my tears still hadn’t dried. “The moon! Everything revolves around it, doesn’t it?” I asked Blade.

Zoe and Ryder were still there, now calmer than before, and we didn’t mind discussing anything in front of them.

“Yes, everything, Lyra. Everything revolves around him,” Blade said. “And I’ll say this—we need to meet the priest. Tomorrow morning, at the earliest. If we don’t, who knows what more awaits us? This power... this battle—it’s not easy for us anymore.”

He spoke firmly while gently pressing my head against his chest.

Narration

Outside the half-closed door of Lyra’s room, Amelia stood in silence, biting her nails, listening to all the conversations they were having. She have heard it all—Lyra whispering something about them meeting the Priest.

She knew that if he was going to the Priest, it meant trouble, she understood it all as the spiteful witch she is. And if Lyra is involved... then, she thought Grandmother Mildered had to know about this matter.

Without a second thought, she ran to Mildered’s room and barged in without knocking.

“They're going to see the Priest,” She told her, breathless. “Blade and Lyra.”

Mildered who was still planning and plotting a bigger plan, flinched upon the sudden action and her lips curled upward in that cold smile saying, “Is that so?”

"Yes, what are we supposed to do now grandma?" Amelia asked in a tensed tone.

"Well, I suspected they would do something like this and your darling brother and my sweetheart grandson would take that mere human's side. I was aware somewhere. Don't worry, I have a plan." Mildered said, brushing the dirt on a nervous Amelia's shoulder, confidently.

The moment Amelia confirmed what Mildered had suspected, she reached for the phone and dialed Viktor.

“They’re going,” she said simply. “Follow them. Don’t interfere yet—just follow.”

She hung up and sat on her chair thinking hard.

She wouldn’t admit it, but by hearing the news that Blade and Lyra were a force again now, has shaken a fear in her. Also she knew Lyra had awakened something in Blade and the history of their love is repeating. And if they sought out the Priest, the old truths would rise again—truths too dangerous to be known. And the another alternative will be revealed which she certainly don't want to happen.

★★★

Viktor was leaned back in his chair, watching shadows coil like smoke beneath the windowsill. His secrets weren’t ready to die yet.

He stayed in the shadows, following them as instructed. He saw Blade and Lyra arrive at the priests place at night and he, in his shadowy figure still lurked, hearing them close.

The Priest lived in a shrine nestled near a small island, where tiger spirits once slept. Viktor watched from afar as Blade and Lyra approached him, the old man unfazed by their presence. When Blade spoke of the curse and asked for guidance, the Priest only opened a leather-bound tome—the Primordial Book. The book which Viktor was unaware of, but now that it's with the preist, he thought of killing him so that this book of secrets and devotion would be his.

Then he realised, no, the book wasn't with the priest, it was with Blade and Lyra instead. What is happening? He thought. That means, they have this book and it's hard to reach through them, as they both have powers. His plan seems to fail.

“The curse tied to Lyra’s soul cannot be undone by time or love,” the Priest whispered, “but by blood. If the one she loves most dies at her hand, her spirit will be released. But if she is freed by another’s hand—”

He paused, looking Blade straight in the eye.

“—then the killer inherits the Tiger King’s dormant power. That's what the alternative is.”

Viktors's heart skipped a beat.

He saw Blade and Lyra asking for another solution.

The conversation went like;

"I knew you both would come here. You are the past and the present lovers. But can you be the future ones?" The priest looked at both of them, his eyes mapping.

"What can be done?" Blade asked.

"I don't want to kill Blade. Never!" She cried. "I'll happily sacrifice myself instead."

"Hmm...it's difficult, but not impossible. With your family, Blade! Your grandmother's hinderance and everything that's going on with the moon, it seems your love is challenging the heavens. But for now, there's no other solution then praying to the deities." The priest said being straightforward.

Viktor could see Lyra and Blade's upset faces. But he was overjoyed hearing the conversation.

So that was it. Kill Blade, and he'll gain the Tiger King's strength, he was thinking. Lyra is freed. Everything he ever wanted is within his reach. Lyra can come back to him and there will be no other obstacles and also he'll gain the power. This is called kill two birds with one arrow stratergy. "Perfect!" He said to himself.

As the truth settled in, he looked up. The moon hung heavy, like it had been listening the entire time.

Blade. The boy he once called brother. The one he envied. The one Mildered tried to keep leashed. Viktor thought, he was supposed to be her blade in the dark. Her heir by manipulation. And now?

He clenched his fists.

He could kill him.

Blade was already weakened. Cursed. Distracted by love.

One clean strike and there it is—a spill of blood.

And he would rise with the power of a king.

He stepped forward into the moonlight—and froze.

The moment the silver glow touched his skin, it burned.

Not like fire.

Like the truth.

The moon—it knew as it saw him hesitate. It saw the crack in his resolve. The part of him that still remembered the day how Blade, Lyra and he was the best of the best friends.

But what did he get in return? Death? A brutal one? By Blade? "No, no, no, no! This time the goal is in my hand and I shall make it successful." He thought.

He screamed;

Damn them.

Damn myself—for caring.

Damn everyone.

His phone vibrated again.

A buzzing sound like a bee, but this time he was too elated to even consider it. It was Mildered again. Maybe she wanted to know about what happened here. "Cunning old woman." He said while taking a look at his phone.

He had decided that he will now only play by his rules.

“Well? What happened? Are you still there?” she asked.

He didn’t tell her anything.

How could he? That the key to everything she wanted—for herself, for the kingdom—meant Blade’s death?

No.

Not yet.

They might need Blade, but not Viktor. Viktor just needed power and Lyra. So he replied, "I couldn't hear anything because there was a lot of commotion around, also there were cameras here. So I'm really sorry!"

He lied. And then hung up.

Like mad he began to dance in the woods of the island, like he's already won the war and the world. He had lost it.

As soon as he hung up, cunning Mildered got to know that something is fishy with Viktor too and that she can't trust him on this mission anymore. Afterall, she is a cunning fox not a tiger, that's what she should have been.

But now, both Viktor and Mildered have different plans for the Blood moon's arrival, while Blade and Lyra were constantly facing challenges and trouble from every side of the world.