Silver Eyes

The Invitation

I didn't wear the red gown the next day.

I hid it.

I folded it carefully, tissue paper and all, and shoved the black box to the very back of my closet, behind my winter furs and my old training armor that no longer fits. I covered it with a blanket. Like if I couldn't see it, I could stop thinking about it.

It didn't work.

All through morning training, while I was sparring with Kael in the courtyard, I could feel the silk against my skin. While I was helping the omegas carry water from the well, I could smell that faint trace of winter and old books. While I was sitting in the library trying to read about the history of the Blood Moon, all I could see was that plunging V and the slit that went up to sin.

And all through it, the pull in my chest throbbed like a second heartbeat. Quiet now, not sharp like last night by the river, but constant. A reminder. He is there. He is waiting. He felt your jealousy.

Good. Let him wait.

"Your form is sloppy, Veronica!"

Kael's wooden staff hit my ribs, hard enough to bruise even through my leathers. I stumbled back, gasping.

We were in the training ring, a circle of packed dirt surrounded by watching warriors. My father liked to watch the young wolves train after war council. He was standing on the balcony above us now, arms crossed, amber eyes unreadable.

Kael never hits me that hard.

I looked up at him, my silver eyes flashing with irritation. Sweat stuck his sandy hair to his forehead. He looked angry. Not his usual playful angry when we spar. Really angry.

"What is wrong with you?" he hissed under his breath so only I could hear.

"Nothing is wrong with me! You are the one fighting like a rogue!"

"You have been acting weird for three days! Since the attack! You smell weird, you won't talk to me, you shoved me yesterday, and now you can't even block a simple strike that a pup could block!"

He swung again. I blocked this time, wood cracking against wood, the vibration shooting up my arms.

"I said nothing is wrong!" I snarled, and I put all my frustration, all my confusion about red gowns and witch mates and vampire kings, into my next swing. I moved faster than I should have. Faster than I ever have before. My body was still buzzing with that crimson-veined power from his blood.

My staff hit Kael's chest and sent him flying out of the ring. He landed hard on his back in the dirt, the air knocked out of him.

The watching warriors went silent.

I stood in the middle of the ring, panting, my white hair coming loose from my braid, my eyes glowing silver so bright they cast light on the dirt.

On the balcony, my father's expression didn't change, but I felt his Alpha power pulse, just slightly, in warning. Control yourself.

Kael sat up slowly, holding his chest, staring at me like he didn't know me.

"Veronica..." he said, and his voice was hurt. "What was that? You were never that fast."

I felt sick. That wasn't my speed. That was... his. The King's blood inside me was making me faster, stronger. Changing me.

"I... I'm sorry," I whispered, dropping my staff. "I didn't mean..."

Luna Selene appeared then, as if she had been summoned by my distress. She walked gracefully into the ring, her white dress untouched by the dirt, and helped Kael up while glaring at me.

"That's enough training for today," she said, her voice carrying across the courtyard. "Veronica, come with me. Now."

I followed her out of the ring, my head down, feeling every eye on my back. I could feel my father's amber gaze burning between my shoulder blades, right where the crimson veins still hid.

Luna didn't speak until we were inside her private chambers, a beautiful room filled with plants and soft light that always smells like lavender.

She closed the door and turned to me, her ruby eyes no longer soft.

"Sit."

I sat on the edge of her bed like a chastised pup.

"What was that in the ring?" she asked, crossing her arms. "That was not your speed, Veronica. And don't tell me nothing is wrong. I am your mother. I felt your heartbreak by the river last night. I have felt you tossing and turning for three nights. I have watched you hide a very expensive, very dangerous-looking red gown in your closet that smells like Brixhes palace."

My blood ran cold.

"You... you went through my closet?"

"I am Luna. This is my Pack House. Nothing is hidden from me. Especially not vampire silk." She sat down next to me and took my hands in hers. Her hands were warm. Mine were ice cold. "Veronica, my love, my brave, stubborn girl... are you in danger? Is someone threatening you? Is that why you went to the river?"

Tears burned my eyes. I wanted so badly to tell her. To tell someone.

"Luna... what if... what if the Moon Goddess made a mistake?"

Her ruby eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"What if she chose someone for me who... who is not a wolf? What if she chose someone we are supposed to hate? Would... would you still love me? Would Alpha still love me?"

Silence fell in the lavender-scented room. Outside, I could hear pups playing.

Luna's grip on my hands tightened.

"Veronica Althea, look at me."

I forced my silver eyes up to meet her ruby ones.

"The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes," she said, her voice fierce, absolute. "Never. If she chose someone for you, even if that someone was our greatest enemy, even if that someone was a human, a vampire, a demon from the old stories... it is because you are strong enough to bear it. And because that love is meant to change the world. Do you understand?"

I stared at her, my tears spilling over now.

"But what if... what if he already has someone else? What if he doesn't want me?"

Luna's expression softened. She wiped my tears with her thumb, the way she did when I was little.

"Then he is a fool who doesn't deserve my daughter. And you will make him regret it for the rest of his immortal life." She smiled, a sharp, Luna smile that showed just a hint of fang. "Is this about the owner of the red gown?"

I couldn't answer. I just nodded, my shoulders shaking.

Luna pulled me into a hug and held me while I cried silently for the mate I had kissed once and who was supposed to belong to another woman.

"Wear it," she whispered into my white hair.

I pulled back, shocked. "What?"

"Wear the red gown, Veronica. Next week. To the Blood Moon Ball."

"But Alpha said -"

"Your father said you will not set foot in Brixhes as a scout," Luna interrupted, her ruby eyes glittering with mischief and something that looked like pride. "He did not say you cannot go as my daughter, as the future Luna of Aigupta, as part of the official truce delegation. Because I have decided that I will go. And I need my daughter beside me."

I stared at her. "You... you will go to Brixhes? To the vampire palace?"

"King Sandro invited all packs for truce talks. If he truly wants peace, someone must be brave enough to show up. And if he is setting a trap..." She stood up, and for a second she didn't look like my soft, gentle mother. She looked like the Luna who had fought beside Alpha Magnus in the last Great War, who had killed a vampire general with her bare hands. "Then he will learn why they call me the White Death as well."

She walked to her closet and pulled out her own gown bag. Inside was a gown of pure moonlight silver, just as revealing, just as powerful as my red one.

"Every King, even a Vampire King, needs to be reminded what he is dealing with. Let him see what Aigupta's females look like when they dress for war."

I laughed then, a real laugh for the first time in three days, wet with tears.

"So... I can wear it?"

"You will wear it," Luna said, tucking a strand of my white hair behind my ear. "And you will hold your head high, and you will look that boy who broke your heart in the eye, and you will make him forget any other woman's name. Understood, Princess?"

I nodded, wiping my face, feeling a new kind of fire light up inside me. Not the King's blood. My own. Alpha blood.

"Yes, Luna."

"Good. Now go wash your face. You look like a raccoon. And go apologize to Kael. You nearly broke his ribs. He still likes you, you know, even if you are being a terrible friend."

The pull in my chest gave a small, approving thrum, as if he liked hearing that I would wear his color.

I left Luna's chambers feeling lighter, but as soon as I closed the door, the lightness vanished.