CHAPTER - 11
1469 Words
The storm began long before the first raindrop fell.
It started in the wind, the way it howled through the towers of Nightbane sounded like a warning the world refused to hear.
Lucienne stood at the highest balcony, hands gripping the black iron rail as his warriors searched the forest below. The scent of fear had already reached him.
Seraphine was gone.
“She slipped past the guards at dawn,” Ronan said behind him, his tone tight with frustration. “No tracks. No scent trail. It’s as if she vanished into the mist.”
Lucienne’s jaw flexed. “She didn’t vanish. She was taken.”
Rheya, standing beside him, shivered. “No… she walked away. I saw her in my dreams. The Moon tried to call her back, but she turned away.”
Lucienne turned sharply. “You saw this?”
Rheya nodded, eyes glistening with something between guilt and terror. “She wasn’t alone. The man beside her wore shadows like armor. His name…” She hesitated. “Darius.”
The name dropped like a blade.
Ronan cursed under his breath. “The Alpha of the Shadow Court.”
Lucienne’s voice was low. “So he finally moves.”
Rheya swallowed. “Brother… he touched her hand. And when he did, the Moon went dark.”
Lucienne’s knuckles whitened against the railing. “Get the horses ready.”
“Lucienne….” Rheya’s voice broke, fragile as glass. “If you chase her now, you’ll play into his hands.”
He turned, eyes burning with controlled fury. “And if I don’t, we lose more than a runaway wolf. We lose balance.”
Before Rheya could answer, a horn echoed in the distance, the same hollow tone from the previous night, only now closer, heavier.
Ronan’s sword flashed free. “They’re testing our borders.”
Lucienne gave one short nod. “Let them. I’ll meet them myself.”
Rheya caught his arm. “Lucienne, please. The vision, it doesn’t end with her capture. It ends with…” She stopped, trembling.
“With what?” he demanded.
Her voice came out barely above a whisper. “Blood. Yours and hers.”
The wind howled through the tower, scattering papers and candlelight. Lucienne looked at her for a long, hard moment before he spoke.
“Then pray your dreams lie.”
He strode from the room, cloak snapping behind him like a living shadow.
---
Selena woke gasping.
Her heart raced, her skin slick with sweat, the mark on her wrist pulsing so violently it felt alive. The chamber was dim, moonlight slanted through the curtains, turning the floor silver.
She pressed her hand over her mark. “Stop,” she whispered. “Please stop.”
But the bond pulsed again, not in pain this time, but in echo.
Something inside her was calling.
Or someone.
She closed her eyes, and the world fell away.
---
The dream was made of fire and mirrors.
She stood in a field of white ash, the Moon above her cracked in half. On one side, silver light spilled over her skin. On the other, darkness gathered like smoke, curling into a shape she knew too well.
Seraphine.
Her twin stood across from her, eyes no longer soft, but glowing red like coals beneath frost. Her once-golden aura shimmered black, thick and alive with power that didn’t belong to the Goddess.
“Seraphine?” Selena’s voice trembled. “What happened to you?”
Her sister smiled… a slow, sorrowful smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “You always get what I want, don’t you?”
“I never wanted…”
“You wanted him.” Seraphine’s tone cut through her like a blade. “You wanted his eyes on you, his hands on you, his bond burning beneath your skin.”
Selena shook her head, tears stinging her eyes. “It wasn’t my choice!”
“Then why does it hurt when he says my name?” Seraphine whispered. “Why do you flinch every time he looks at you like you belong to him?”
The ash around them stirred, carried by an unseen wind.
Darius appeared behind Seraphine… tall, shadow-wreathed, his presence bending the dream. His hand slid over her shoulder, and the darkness deepened.
“Stay away from her,” Selena said, her voice breaking into something raw.
Darius tilted his head, studying her. “The Moon chose poorly,” he murmured. “But fate is kind enough to correct her mistakes.”
Seraphine leaned into his touch, eyes burning with something fierce and unrecognizable. “She’s not the only one with power now, sister.”
Selena stepped back. “Whatever he’s promised you, it’s poison.”
Seraphine’s laugh was soft, cold. “Then I’ll drink it gladly.”
Darius’s hand tightened around Seraphine’s wrist. The ground trembled; the broken Moon above them began to bleed light, each drop burning into the ash like molten silver.
“Soon,” he said, his gaze flicking toward Selena. “The bond between you will break. And when it does, only one twin will survive.”
Selena’s mark flared painfully. “No…”
But the dream shattered before she could scream.
---
She woke to Lucienne shaking her shoulder.
“Selena.” His voice was rough, urgent. “Wake up.”
Her breath hitched as she blinked up at him. “Lucienne, she’s gone. Seraphine’s gone.”
His expression darkened. “I know.”
“She’s with him,” Selena whispered, clutching his arm. “The one from the shadows. He touched her and the Moon, it cracked. I saw it.”
Lucienne froze, his eyes locking with hers. For a heartbeat, something ancient passed between them… recognition, dread, and the shared pulse of destiny.
“How long ago?” he asked.
“I don’t know. It felt like now.”
Rheya burst through the door then, her pale hair damp with rain. “The council demands you prepare for battle, brother. Darius’s scouts have been spotted near the western ridge.”
Lucienne stood, already strapping on his sword. “Tell the council to stand ready. I ride in ten minutes.”
Selena pushed herself to her feet. “I’m coming.”
“No,” he said sharply. “You’ll stay here where it’s safe.”
She met his gaze. “There’s no ‘safe’ anymore. You said it yourself, if the wrong twin bleeds, the world breaks. You need me there.”
Rheya nodded faintly. “She’s right.”
Lucienne exhaled, a growl low in his throat. “Fine. But you do not leave my side.”
He turned to leave, but Selena caught his hand. “Lucienne,” she whispered, voice trembling. “If she’s truly chosen darkness… will you still spare her?”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
The silence was answer enough.
---
By the time they reached the ridge, the air was thick with magic.
The forest was unnaturally quiet…. no wind, no birds, only the crackle of power waiting to erupt.
Ronan signaled from ahead. “They’re here.”
Across the clearing, figures emerged from the mist… cloaked wolves, their eyes glowing faintly blue. And at their head stood Darius Nightfall, serene and terrible, with Seraphine at his side.
Lucienne’s grip tightened on his sword. “So the shadows have learned to walk in daylight.”
Darius smiled. “And the light has learned to bleed.”
Seraphine stepped forward, the mark on her wrist gleaming black. “Lucienne,” she called. “You should thank me. I’ve freed you from the wrong bond.”
Selena flinched. “Seraphine, stop this!”
Her twin’s eyes flicked to her, gleaming with something like grief. “I can’t. The Moon doesn’t command me anymore. She betrayed me first.”
Lucienne’s voice was cold steel. “Then you’ve betrayed more than the Moon.”
Darius’s tone cut through the rising tension. “Enough talk. This isn’t about loyalty, it’s about balance.”
He turned his gaze on Selena. “The Moon’s bond belongs to whoever survives the eclipse.”
Lucienne took a step forward. “Over my dead body.”
Darius’s smile was faint. “That’s the idea.”
Lightning flashed, splitting the sky in half.
The first growl echoed…. low, rumbling, and ancient. Wolves from both sides bristled, claws sinking into the soil.
Selena’s mark seared, blinding her with pain. She gasped and stumbled, her knees hitting the ground.
Lucienne caught her, his voice raw. “Stay with me!”
But when she looked up through the blur of tears, she saw Seraphine staring back… eyes wet, face trembling.
For one fleeting heartbeat, the sisters’ bond flickered again… not in hate, not in rage, but in something that still remembered love.
Then Seraphine whispered, “Forgive me.”
- Writer
