chapter 43
682 Words
Chapter 43 – Bloodlines and Broken Bonds
The moon hovered like an eye of judgment over the blood-soaked clearing. All was quiet—eerily so. The only sound was Seraphine’s heart, pounding like war drums in her chest as she stared down the rogue who dared whisper her mother’s name like a prayer.
The battle had not gone in vain, but it had torn through more than bodies. It had pierced her peace.
"Where did you hear that name?" she whispered, the power in her voice causing the trees to tremble. She wasn't the frightened girl who had once been claimed. She was the Luna now. Luna of the Three. And the blood in her veins burned with truths long buried.
The rogue coughed, blood slipping from his mouth as he tried to laugh. “You think you’re the only one born under prophecy?”
She knelt beside him, not with pity but purpose. “Tell me what you know of Sienna of the Midnight Vale.”
He blinked at her, surprised. “So it’s true. You do carry her scent.”
Seraphine’s grip tightened on his collar. “Answer me.”
But the rogue smiled with cracked teeth. “You’ll find your answers where the three rivers meet… if you survive the betrayal that’s coming.”
Before she could press further, a sharp whistle echoed through the woods. A signal. The rogue’s eyes rolled back—and his heart stopped. Poison. Someone had silenced him.
Behind her, Amir arrived with Elias, both bloodied but standing tall. "You're hurt," Elias said, brushing Seraphine’s arm. She didn’t flinch, but the look in her eyes said more than words.
“No. I’m angry.”
Amir knelt to examine the rogue. “Someone got to him. We have a traitor in our ranks.”
“Or worse,” Seraphine said. “Someone close is hiding their lineage.”
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Back at the temporary base, tensions frayed. The three Alphas stood around a shattered war table. Maps lay stained with blood, claw marks scored into the wood from earlier outbursts.
“This is getting out of hand,” Elias growled. “A rogue speaks of prophecy and is silenced before we can get more—”
“—and now Seraphine’s mother is being dragged into this mess,” Lucien added, eyes hardening. “We need to know what Sienna was running from.”
Seraphine stood between them, her aura calm but thrumming with a deeper rage. “We can’t win this war blindly. Someone in this pack is feeding information. The moment I heard that name, he died. That’s not a coincidence.”
Amir exchanged a glance with Lucien. “And the rogue said something about betrayal…”
“Where the three rivers meet,” Seraphine repeated, more to herself than the room. “I’ve seen it before—in the vision I had during the blood moon. There’s a cave beneath the rivers.”
Lucien’s voice dropped to a whisper. “The Crypt of the Vale.”
The room fell into silence.
Elias frowned. “That place hasn’t been spoken of in centuries. It’s where the original Blood Council hid the scrolls.”
Amir stiffened. “And the scrolls contain prophecy.”
Seraphine’s voice was steel. “Then that’s where we go next.”
Lucien crossed his arms. “It’s guarded by specters and death magic. We need a guide.”
Seraphine’s lips curved slightly, but it wasn’t a smile. “Then we find the witch who disappeared two years ago. The one who once swore loyalty to the Moon Alphas before vanishing.”
Amir narrowed his eyes. “You mean Isolde?”
“She owes my mother a life-debt,” Seraphine said. “If she’s still alive, she’ll come.”
And as they all looked to her—their Luna, no longer the girl they claimed but the force that held their war together—they knew the path ahead was soaked in old blood, old secrets, and the kind of betrayal that could shatter more than packs.
It could shatter fated bonds.
- Writer
