THE LUNA HE THREW AWAY

The Sovereign’s Choice

The world was ending, and it smelled like burning roots and broken oaths.

The Hollow was a battlefield now. Slayers and mages clashed with Exiles and packless, silver clanging on bone, magic screaming in the air. Somewhere behind me, Jax shouted for help. Cass cursed, her knife flashing. Fen was a shadow, bleeding and relentless. Kael was at my side, every inch the Alpha he’d been raised to be, every inch mine.

But the centre held. The pool, the King, the Elder with his blade.

I charged, not a Sovereign, not a Luna, just Lira, angry and tired and out of second chances.

Garrow smiled when he saw me. “You’re too late.”

He plunged the blade into the Exile King’s chest. The King didn’t scream, didn’t even flinch. He just looked at me, sad and proud and finished.

The runes burned brighter. The ground cracked. The Hollow shuddered.

Kael tackled Garrow, teeth bared, claws raking. Cass dragged Jax to safety. Marek crawled to the King’s side, his hands shaking.

I dropped to my knees and pressed the black stone to the King’s wound. Bright silver blood spilled over my hands.

“Don’t you dare,” I whispered. “Don’t you leave me.”

The King smiled, a real one this time. "You have to choose, Sovereign. Save me, or save the Hollow. You can’t do both."

His hand, shaky and bloodied, found mine. For a moment, I wasn't a Sovereign, and he wasn't a King, just two people holding onto the same hope. In the quiet between screams, I remembered the night after Fen's first shifting, when the King had pressed a little silver knife into my hand and whispered, You’re more than this place, Lira. If it comes to it, promise me you will save them, even if it means losing me. "We built this together," he said, his voice soft, as if it belonged to another life. "Promise me you will finish it, no matter what."

If I used my power to save the King, the Hollow would break apart. The ancient protections holding our land together would collapse, letting the council's darkness sweep through the roots and destroy everything we fought to protect. Our people would scatter, the old magics would run wild, and any hope we had would vanish with the forest's fall. If I saved the Hollow, the King would die, and his Exiles would lose their anchor, the last link to their own history. Marek and the others would become ghosts in the only home they ever knew. The stories would end with him. Each choice promised ruin, but in a different way: either the world I fought to build would die, or those who helped me build it would be broken by loss.

Kael was at my side now, blood on his hands, gold in his eyes. “Lira. Decide.”

Fen limped over, face pale. “You save him, the Hollow falls. You save the Hollow, you become what the council always feared. The new order. Alone.”

Cass’s voice was raw. “No one saves you if you don’t save yourself.”

I looked at the King. I looked at the Hollow. I looked at Kael.

And I made my choice.

I pressed the black stone to the ground, poured everything I had into the roots, the pool, the ancient bonds. The magic took it all- my anger, my hope, my grief, my love. For a heartbeat, I thought I was dying.

Then I felt Kael’s hand on my shoulder, steady as a vow.

I opened my eyes. The Hollow was whole. The King was gone, just ash and memory, Marek sobbing at his side. The council’s mages fled, their runes unravelling. The Slayers dissolved, their silver burning to nothing.

I was still here. Alive. Empty. Sovereign.

Kael knelt in front of me, his face streaked with blood and tears. “You saved them,” he said. “You saved us.”

I shook my head. “I lost something. I lost too much.”

He touched my cheek. “You’re still here. That’s enough.”

Fen stood apart, shadows crawling over his skin. Cass hugged Jax, both of them weeping.

The Hollow was quiet again. But it was a different kind of quiet, one born of loss, sacrifice, and the price you pay to be the one who changes things.

I stood, legs shaking, and looked at my people.

“We’re not done,” I said. “Not until we make them see us.”

Jax wiped his eyes. “What now?”

I looked at Kael, at Fen, at the Hollow that had nearly broken me and the people who’d put me back together.

“Now?” I said, voice steady. “We go to the Council. We demand a new law. No more exiles. No more cages. No more kings.”

And this time, when I walked, they followed.

A chill threaded through the roots, as if something old had awakened behind the voice. There was the faintest rasp, like claws dragged through soil, and a half-remembered lilt that teased the edge of memory. Some part of me sensed hunger, patience, an ancient promise coiled beneath the earth, waiting for this moment. The voice sounded almost familiar, echoing the old tales of traitors who vanished into darkness, never found again. I was certain now: this was no council magic. Whoever or whatever lingered in the shadows had been watching long before tonight, and I was the reason it would rise.