The seven circles opened beneath Luna.
They did not pull her downward.
They opened outward.
Each golden ring became a doorway into a different place.
One revealed a garden beneath silver trees.
Another showed a battlefield covered in abandoned crowns.
A third opened onto an ocean under two moons.
The remaining doorways held a library, a burning village, an empty throne room, and a quiet bedroom where two people slept with their hands joined between them.
Luna stared at the final image.
It looked ordinary.
That made it feel more intimate than all the others.
Darius stepped closer.
The golden circles reacted to him.
Six remained steady.
The seventh—the doorway holding the sleeping couple—brightened.
Isolde slowly raised her head.
“Devotion recognizes him.”
Darius looked down
