CHAPTER - 7
1073 Words
The night was too quiet.
Even the wind that usually hummed through the Nightbane fortress seemed to hold its breath.
When dawn came, it bled pale and cold through the mist, a silence before a storm that hadn’t yet chosen its side.
Selena sat by the fire, her thoughts tangled like smoke. The silver mark on her wrist pulsed softly, a reminder of everything she couldn’t escape. She didn’t know what it meant to be chosen by the Moon, only that her sister’s jealousy had turned it into a curse.
A faint knock came.
“Come in,” she said.
Ronan Vale, the Lucienne's personal bodyguard came in, his expression carefully unreadable. “The Alpha requests your presence in the council hall.”
Her stomach tightened. “Is something wrong?”
He hesitated. “You’ll see.”
The walk through the fortress was heavy with whispers.... servants pretending not to stare, guards keeping their eyes averted. Selena felt their judgment like thorns under her skin.
When she reached the hall, she froze.
Seraphine was on her knees before Alpha Lucienne, her face streaked with tears.
“Please,” Seraphine begged, voice trembling. “Don’t send me back to SilverMist. Mother will destroy me. I was only following her orders.”
Lucienne stood over her, his expression carved from ice. His silence was more dangerous than any threat.
Near the steps sat Rheya Draxon, Lucienne’s younger sister — delicate, almost ethereal, a faint glow clinging to her like dawn’s last whisper. Her pale hair framed eyes too knowing for her age.
She spoke softly, her voice like silk drawn over glass. “Lies don’t sound different, Seraphine. But truth... truth carries weight. Yours doesn’t.”
Seraphine looked up, shaking. “You don’t understand..”
“I understand more than you think,” Rheya murmured. “I dreamt of your face long before you came here. You stood beside a river of moonlight… with a knife in your hand.”
Lucienne’s gaze snapped toward her. “Rheya.”
But she didn’t stop. Her eyes had turned distant, pupils unfocused. “The Goddess whispered your name that night. She said one twin would love, and the other would destroy.”
The hall went still.
Selena’s heart clenched.
Seraphine flinched back, her voice breaking. “I’m not the destroyer!”
Rheya’s lashes lowered. “Then stop trying to prove you are.”
Lucienne stepped closer, his tone low, commanding. “Enough. This isn’t a trial.”
Rheya blinked, the vision fading, and pressed a trembling hand to her temple. “The dreams are getting louder, Lucienne. Something’s coming.”
His jaw tightened. “I know.”
Seraphine, still kneeling, reached toward him. “Alpha, please. Let me stay. I’ll serve, I’ll learn. I don’t want to be cast out.”
He looked down at her..... no pity, no warmth, just that dangerous calm that made even alphas bow.
“You’ll stay,” he said finally, “but not as a member of this pack. You’ll remain under supervision until we confirm what the bond truly means. You won’t leave the fortress.”
Seraphine’s lips parted in relief. “Thank you, Alpha...”
Lucienne cut in coldly, “But if I sense one more deceit from you, I’ll deliver you to your mother myself.”
Seraphine bowed her head, whispering, “I understand.”
Rheya’s eyes fluttered shut, her voice barely a whisper. “No, you don’t.”
Lucienne turned to Selena. “You’ll move to the west wing. Away from her.”
Selena nodded, her throat too tight for words.
Ronan stepped forward. “Should I arrange guards for the boundary, Alpha?”
Lucienne’s answer was clipped. “Do it.”
When Seraphine was escorted out, she threw one last glance over her shoulder, a glance that lingered on Selena, filled with quiet fury wrapped in false sweetness.
As the doors closed behind her, the silence that followed was almost holy.
Lucienne exhaled and looked toward his sister. “Rheya. The visions..... what did you see exactly?”
Rheya hesitated, her eyes distant again. “The Moon wept last night. I saw blood in her tears. Two shadows stood beneath her light.... one cloaked in mercy, the other in fire.”
Selena’s pulse quickened. “What does that mean?”
Rheya’s gaze shifted toward her, soft yet haunting. “It means the Goddess hasn’t decided which twin she’ll save.”
A chill ran through Selena’s veins. “You think I’ll destroy something?”
“No,” Rheya said gently. “I think you’ll be forced to choose who to destroy.”
Lucienne’s expression darkened. “Enough, Rheya.”
But she only smiled faintly, sadness flickering across her face. “You can’t silence the Moon, brother. Her will finds a way to speak.”
Lucienne’s voice dropped, quieter now, carrying the edge of desperation he rarely showed. “And if her will costs you your life?”
Rheya touched his arm softly. “Then I’ll know I was born for a reason.”
The air seemed to crackle, power humming faintly through the stones beneath their feet.
A guard burst through the door then, breaking the spell. “Alpha! Scouts report riders approaching from the southern ridge, cloaked in black, bearing the Shadow Court’s seal.”
Lucienne’s eyes turned to steel. “Prepare the gates. No one enters without my order.”
The guard bowed and ran.
Rheya’s voice trembled. “They’re coming, Lucienne. The ones I saw in my dreams.”
He reached for his sword. “Let them. I’ve been waiting.”
Rheya’s hand caught his. “Don’t fight them blind. The Moon showed me one more thing.”
“What?”
She looked between him and Selena, her voice dropping to a whisper. “If the wrong twin bleeds under the full moon… the bond will shatter. And so will the world.”
Lucienne’s gaze locked on Selena, unreadable.... a storm behind still waters.
Selena whispered, “What does that mean?”
Rheya’s eyes filled with tears. “It means not all love is meant to survive.”
Before anyone could speak, a distant horn echoed through the valley... deep, ancient, and full of menace.
Lucienne drew his blade. “To the gates.”
Selena’s mark pulsed, burning beneath her skin.
And in that instant, she realized her sister’s plea had only been a beginning, the real danger had always been written in their blood.
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