BLESSED LUNA RISING

blessed Luna chapter 10

# Blessed Luna Rising

**By Melisa Warui**

## Chapter 10: Come as You Wish to Be Seen

The Chancellor's hall glittered like the inside of a jewel.

Luna paused at the top of the marble stair and let the room take her measure. A thousand candles burned in crystal chandeliers. Masked nobles swirled across a floor of polished black stone, silks flashing amber, emerald, rose. Somewhere a quartet played a slow waltz, and the air smelled of wine and orange blossom and expensive secrets.

She wore a gown the color of deep midnight water, cut close at the waist and low at the back, with a slit that rose to the knee. The seamstresses had outdone themselves. Silver thread traced the bodice like constellations. Her mask was a half-crescent of white lace, delicate as frost, leaving her mouth and chin bare. The keys stayed at her hip, because she would not walk into Voren's house without them.

Beside her, Kael stood in black, a dark mask over his eyes, his hair tied back. He looked like a story whispered after midnight.

"You're staring," Luna said, without turning.

"I'm making sure no one else is." His voice was low and warm against her ear. "Luna, you will be the death of every man in this room."

"Only if they're foolish."

"They are men. We're all foolish." He offered his arm. "Shall we?"

---

They descended together into the crowd.

Heads turned. Luna felt the attention, the curious eyes behind painted masks, the whispers that followed them like a train of silk. She carried it as she always did, head high, spine straight. But tonight there was something different about the weight. It no longer felt like armor. It felt like choice.

"The Chancellor is by the east fireplace," Kael murmured. "Grey, naturally."

"Naturally." She did not look. "We greet him politely and listen more than we speak. Whatever he offers, we do not answer until we've spoken in private."

"Agreed."

Voren received them like a host who had no enemies. He wore a grey silk mask edged with silver, and he bowed over Luna's hand with perfect grace.

"Keeper Averin. You honor my house. And Master Varenthal. I am glad you chose to see my face before my writ."

"Your writ was burned," Kael said evenly.

"A pity. It was well drafted." Voren's smile was pleasant. "Come. The music is excellent, and I should like a few words in a quieter room."

---

The library adjoining the ballroom was warm with firelight and heavy with the scent of leather. Voren dismissed his servants with a flick of two fingers, closed the door, and poured three glasses of pale wine, which none of them touched.

"I will be plain," he said. "I am a practical man. I do not enjoy conflict. I admire the Keeper's intelligence, and I think the Regent's son is a gifted fool." He sipped. "The three of us want the same thing. The blessing awake, and the realm secure."

"You want it controlled," Luna said.

"I want it *safe.* In the hands of one old Queen, a young Keeper, and a fugitive, it is a lamp in a windstorm." He spread his hands. "Under the Council's protection, it would be a lighthouse."

"Under *your* protection."

"Is there a distinction?" He smiled gently. "Here is my offer. Luna, give me the half-key you wear at your throat. I know Halric left it to you. Kael, I will cancel your debt in full and release the grain contracts to your coast with no further obligation. Ten ships, free and clear, and the Council's accusations against you quietly withdrawn."

The fire crackled. Kael's hand tightened around the stem of his glass.

"And the third key?" Luna asked. "You claimed to know where it lay."

"I do." Voren's eyes glinted through the mask. "Where the first light lands on the last stone. Halric's phrase, I believe. I have people who read very old handwriting." He tilted his head. "I know where it is, Luna. I only lack the other two. You hold one. The Queen has been careless with her seal."

*The seal he stole,* Luna thought. *He admits nothing, but he has it.*

"You would take everything," she said slowly, "and call it mercy."

"I would take only what was never truly yours." A flicker of impatience crossed his face and vanished. "The palace belongs to the crown. The crown belongs to the realm. And the realm, I assure you, is better served by order than by sentiment."

Kael set his glass down with a sharp click. "No."

Voren raised one eyebrow. "You haven't heard the full terms."

"I don't need to. My people's lives are not currency." His voice was quiet and absolutely steady. "I will repay you, Chancellor, in coin and grain, honestly earned. I will not buy my freedom with her trust."

Luna felt something warm and fierce unfurl in her chest. She had expected hesitation. She had been prepared, if she was honest, for it. Instead Kael had chosen without being asked, and without any calculation but his own heart.

"Nor will I," she said. "The half-key stays with me. And you will return the Queen's seal to her by dawn, or answer to her in daylight."

For a long moment, the Chancellor said nothing. The firelight shifted across the grey silk of his mask.

Then he laughed, softly. "Splendid. I do admire a performance."

"This is not a performance."

"No." He set down his glass. "That is what makes it so interesting." He rose, smoothing his sleeves. "Very well. I will not insult you with threats. I will only remind you of one thing, Kael."

"What?"

"Your debt matures at moonrise on the night before the full moon. Four nights from now. If you have not repaid it by then, the contracts forfeit. The ships turn back. And the Council's writ is renewed, this time with my full witness." His eyes were pale and patient. "I do not enjoy cruelty. But I do enjoy being right."

---

They escaped to the terrace, where the night air was cool and full of the sound of the distant sea.

Luna leaned on the balustrade and let out a long, shaking breath. Kael stood beside her, his mask pushed up onto his forehead. For a moment neither of them spoke.

"Four nights," he said hoarsely.

"We'll find a way."

"I don't have the grain. I don't have the coin. I have only one honest thing to offer." He turned toward her. "And I'm not certain it's enough."

"What is it?"

"You," Kael said simply. "I mean, I would never ask. But you are the only reason I'm not afraid."

Luna's throat closed. She reached up, slowly, and lifted her own mask away. The air touched her bare face, and he looked at her with an expression so open and naked that she could not look away.

"Dance with me," she said.

He blinked. "Here?"

"The waltz carries out to the terrace. No one is watching." She held out her hand. "I would like one honest dance tonight, before everything else."

He took her hand and drew her into his arms, and they moved slowly together in the silver dark. His palm rested at the bare small of her back, warm through the thin silk, and she felt every breath he took. The music wove around them, a distant melody of harp and low strings. He did not speak. He simply held her as though she were something precious that might vanish.

"Luna," he whispered at last. "Whatever happens at the full moon..."

"Don't."

"I need to say it."

"Then say it when it's over." She laid her head against his shoulder. "Say it when we both know what we're worth."

He pressed a kiss to her hair, and they danced on, two figures beneath the stars.

Neither saw the grey-robed shape that stood in the shadows at the end of the terrace, watching.

When the waltz ended, the figure was gone. But on the balustrade where Luna had rested her hand, a single white feather lay on the stone, and tied around its quill was a thin black thread.

---

*End of Chapter 10*