Chapter 5: Echoes Beneath the Blood Moon
1163 Words
Aria Vale’s POV
“Are you sure this is the place?” I asked, staring at the broken archway carved into the cliffside.
Mira nodded, her cloak fluttering in the wind. “The Moon Temple lies beneath. Hidden since the first war.”
The Blood Moon loomed high above us, casting a red sheen over the jagged stone. The air buzzed with something ancient. My pulse stuttered the moment my foot crossed the threshold.
Lucien stood behind me, quiet. Too quiet.
“You feel it too,” I said.
His voice was rough. “It’s like the walls are breathing.”
Mira turned, her silver eyes sharp. “Once we enter, the Temple will test you. Both of you. There’s no turning back.”
I met Lucien’s gaze. “I need to know who I am.”
“And I need to know if I can survive this curse,” he said.
I offered him my hand. “Then we go together.”
He took it without hesitation.
---
The descent was steep and cold. Runes flickered as we passed, glowing faintly under the Blood Moon’s reflection. The air was thick with forgotten power. I could feel it crawling up my skin like a memory.
We reached a wide chamber where twin statues of wolves and bats towered over us. Between them, a circular pool of silver water shimmered like a mirror.
“This is it,” Mira whispered. “The pool remembers.”
Lucien squeezed my hand. “What do you have to do?”
“Step into it,” she said. “Alone.”
I hesitated. “And if I drown in my memories?”
Mira looked away. “Then they were never yours to reclaim.”
I nodded and let go of Lucien’s hand. He held my gaze as I stepped into the pool.
The silver liquid swallowed my feet, then my legs. A cold so sharp it bit into my bones, but I kept going until it covered my chest.
Then the temple pulsed.
---
Images burst into my mind—flashes like lightning. A coronation chamber, my sister standing behind me with a blade. A whisper. A drop of blood. A shattering scream.
Then… Lucien.
Not as he is now, but younger. Eyes wild. Fangs are not yet formed. A golden tattoo on his chest.
He was a wolf.
I stumbled back in shock. The water pushed me deeper. More visions tore through me. A forbidden kiss under moonlight. A betrayal at the temple gates. My sister’s hand pressed against my skull, glowing with red light.
“You will forget him,” she hissed in the vision. “You will forget yourself.”
I gasped, breaking the surface of the pool with a cry.
Lucien was there, arms catching me.
“What did you see?” he asked, steadying me.
“I saw the night it happened,” I breathed. “Sable didn’t just erase my memory.”
His brow furrowed. “What else?”
“She… she used my blood. She used me to transform you.”
He froze. “What are you saying?”
“You were cursed. But the final ritual, the one that made you fully vampire—it used my blood. She fed it to you during the eclipse.”
His jaw clenched. “That’s not possible. My transformation—”
“Was bound to me,” I whispered. “And you weren’t supposed to survive it.”
Lucien turned from me. “She cursed both of us.”
Mira stepped closer. “The bond between you wasn’t just fate. It was created. Twisted by blood magic.”
I reached for him. “Lucien…”
He looked at me, pain etched deep into every line of his face. “You’re the reason I survived. But you’re also the reason I became this.”
My chest tightened. “I didn’t know. I would never—”
“I know,” he said quickly. “But now we understand why the curse reacts to you. Why being near you keeps me alive.”
“And why being apart might kill us both.”
---
We stayed near the temple walls that night, letting the wind cool our skin and the silence settle.
Lucien sat beside me, watching the moon.
“Do you regret it?” I asked softly.
“Regret what?”
“Being tied to me.”
He didn’t answer right away. Then, “I regret we were forced. But I don’t regret you.”
I leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder. “I still don’t have everything back. But I remember how it felt. When we were young. Before the war. I remember loving you.”
He turned slightly, lips brushing against my hair. “Then let me protect you now.”
“I don’t want protection,” I said. “I want a promise.”
He tilted my chin toward him. “Then I promise this. I won’t lose you again.”
Our lips met in a kiss that wasn’t rushed or desperate. It was slow, certain, full of things we hadn’t said. A spark caught fire in my chest, stronger than any spell. The Moon Temple pulsed with energy around us.
We had been cursed, broken, betrayed.
But right now, we were whole.
---
The next morning, we left the temple grounds. Mira walked ahead, silent as always.
Lucien kept close. We hadn’t spoken much since the kiss, but something between us had shifted.
I caught the scent of the wind. Metallic. Cold.
“Stop,” I whispered.
Lucien froze beside me.
A figure stood at the edge of the forest path, shadows clinging to his frame like a cloak.
Riven Thorn.
His hair was silver, his eyes black as ink. His armor bore the mark of the Regency Council. The blade at his side pulsed with dark energy.
Lucien stepped in front of me instinctively.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he growled.
Riven tilted his head. “And yet I am. On council orders.”
Mira drew her dagger, but Riven raised a hand. “I come alone. For now.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
He looked at me. “You.”
My fingers twitched toward my weapon.
Riven smiled, slow and cruel. “The council has seen the signs. The Blood Moon. The bond. The betrayal. You and the prince have crossed every line.”
“They started this war,” I said. “We’re just trying to end it.”
He shook his head. “You are the war, Aria. And now… your time is over.”
The air crackled around him.
Lucien pulled me back. “We’re not running.”
“No,” I said, lifting my chin. “We’re fighting.”
Riven’s blade shimmered with violet flame as he stepped forward. “The council will decide your fate.”
I drew my dagger. “Let them try.”
- Writer
