Ancient Moonlight

The Betrayal

“You have my eyes.” The words come out far more breathless than I would have hoped, but I’m in shock. Maybe in awe.

The small smirk is back on his face, and he leans toward me. “Indeed I do, Aurelia. That is not all we share, but we will have to discuss that at a later time.” He looked away from me, and back toward Theron. “The ceremony was never even initiated, is that correct?”

“No, we eliminated my father before the ceremony could commence, I’ve kept my word.”

Eliminated? The word rattles around my mind before I’m struck with the meaning. I take in a sharp inhale, “You killed Cassian? Your own father? Your Alpha!?” By the final word I am screaming. “How could you Theron!? He was always so kind. He cared so much for the pack, every last one of us. Everything he ever did was for you or for us! Why?”

“He was weak.” The words come out calm, like a declaration. “He knew the Royals wanted you, and yet he was unwilling to part with his idealized story of where you came from. You were never one of us, and yet he was willing to anger the Royal pack for what? A freak from the edge of the forest?” Theron always towered over me, but now he is leaning so close from above it is menacing. “The deal was you in exchange for Royal favor. No one in this village will have to go without, no one in MY PACK will struggle! And all we lost was you…it was an easy trade.”

“That is enough, Theron. I requested Aurelia, and you have upheld your end of our deal, but if you speak one more word to her in that tone, I will take her and leave you with nothing. No favor, no longer even the protection all packs are entitled to. You will be entirely on your own.”

“You can’t-”

“Not. Another. Word.” With that the King grabbed my elbow and steered me away from Theron. His grip was tight, and I tried to squirm away which seemed to catch his attention. “My apologies,” he murmured as he loosened his hold just slightly. He continued dragging me through the clearing, to the opposite side I had arrived. With every step away from Theron, away from the village I could feel my breathing getting heavier.

“Stop! Wait, please,” I looked up into his eyes, and though he still looked angry, I could have sworn I saw them soften. “I… this is my home. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye. I didn’t know this would be the last time…the last time I would…I mean, will I ever come back?” Tears are streaming down my face by the end, the words a mere whisper in the dark. I know I have no choice, that I will have to go with this stranger, the King, to the capital. I wish I had been told. To be able to take one last walk around the village, to see the sights and the people who have been my constant companions through every memory I have lived so far to make. Its not even the people I want to say goodbye to, it’s the place.

A thought strikes me so suddenly, I stumble, causing the King to tighten his grip on my elbow once more. “Nyssa! I have to say goodbye to Nyssa!”

The words come out louder than expected, and even though we have walked several paces away from Theron, it is his voice who responds. “Nyssa knows Relia, she helped me plan this. She will be Luna in your place. As she should have been if you hadn’t arrived.”

Any and all resolve is sucked from me. Nyssa has been my best friend, my sister in all but blood. I grew up in her family, they took me in from a baby and raised me alongside her. We shared meals, a room, even our clothes. To think that she traded me to be Luna. Theron at least can stand behind the idea of doing what was best for his pack. Nyssa doesn’t have that luxury. The betrayal is so sharp and so sudden, I collapse under the weight of it. My knees buckle, and even despite the grip on my elbow, I find myself on the grass. I don’t know how to move, how to breathe. I don’t know how to live in the reality that I have been traded by the two people who were supposed to love me best. That the only person who was willing to fight to keep me was killed for it. The knowledge that I am, in a word, expendable. I meant nothing to them. They meant everything to me. I cannot marry the two ideas in my mind, that the girl who used to stay up with me and giggle into the night while we talked about our futures and braided each others hair was willing to be complicit in murder to be rid of me. It hurts more than losing Theron, losing Nyssa. Losing not just her physical presence of her, but the idea of her as well. Now when I think of her, it will always be layered with suspicion.

The King crouches next to me, and once again tilts my head toward his own. I try to avoid his eyes, right now they are simply a reminder of my own, and my eyes have always marked me as an outsider. Its almost more than I can bear, but he seeks mine out. “I am sorry, I never meant for this to hurt you. I had wanted to go about this in a different way, but I could not get here in time. Cassian moved up the date of the bonding ceremony, Theron did what he thought he had to do to keep the alliance. If I had known this would cause you pain, I would have found a way to have prevented it. I am sorry, but we must go.”

I don’t respond. I don’t think I can. Words are a distant thing, even my thoughts are muddled as I try to wrap my head around everything that has happened in the last half hour since I was brought to the forests edge and the servant began telling me things that have turned my entire life upside down.

After a few moments of silence, the King reaches out, almost hesitantly, and wraps his arms around me. One arm around my back and the other reaching lower to fit under my legs, just beneath my knees. In one swift movement, he is standing and I am in his arms. Unlike before, he is no longer looking at me. He doesn’t look back toward Theron either, walking at a steady pace into the forest. Every step takes me further from the only home I’ve ever known, but also away from the betrayal that lays so thick in my mind. I shudder once, and begin to cry.