Chapter Five: Moonfire
1179 Words
The corridor descended into chaos.
Servants screamed as flames burst across the stone walls, swallowing torchlight in violent silver fire unlike anything the royal guards had ever seen. Heat flooded the hallway instantly, yet strangely, nothing around Selene burned.
The flames obeyed her.
Lucien stared at her in stunned silence.
Moonfire.
An ancient power spoken of only in f*******n records and myths older than the kingdom itself.
Impossible.
No member of the Ravaryn bloodline had awakened moonfire abilities for centuries.
And yet the evidence blazed before him.
Selene stood motionless beside Mira’s body while silver flames curled around her like living creatures. Her glowing eyes remained fixed on the blood staining the floor.
Beautiful.
Terrifying.
Heartbroken.
The pressure radiating from her wolf forced even trained soldiers backward.
Several guards instinctively lowered their heads.
Predatory dominance.
Alpha-level.
Lucien felt it too.
And somehow, that unsettled him more than the fire itself.
“Everyone out,” he ordered sharply.
The guards hesitated only a second before obeying immediately. Servants fled down the corridor in panic while Evelyne retreated several steps, unable to hide the fear spreading across her face.
Selene barely noticed.
All she could see was Mira.
Dead again.
In both lives, Mira died because of her.
Guilt twisted like a knife through her chest.
She had been so focused on revenge, on Lucien, on changing fate itself…
And still failed to protect the first person who ever truly remained loyal to her.
A soft c***k echoed beneath her feet.
The marble floor fractured.
Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
Her emotions were affecting the palace itself.
Dangerous.
No ordinary wolf possessed this level of power.
He stepped toward her carefully. “Selene.”
She did not answer.
The silver flames intensified.
Lucien lowered his voice. “Look at me.”
Slowly, Selene turned toward him.
The sight struck him harder than expected.
Tears streamed silently down her face while moonfire reflected inside glowing silver eyes. Her grief felt raw enough to tear the entire palace apart.
And for one strange moment—
Lucien’s chest hurt.
Not politically.
Not strategically.
Personally.
He had never seen her look so broken before.
“She died because of me,” Selene whispered.
Lucien frowned immediately. “You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
The certainty in her voice chilled him.
Selene closed her eyes briefly, trying desperately to regain control of her wolf. But rage and grief crashed through her body like a storm.
Memories flashed violently inside her mind.
Mira’s first execution.
Orion’s funeral.
Her own death beneath the Blood Moon.
Hatred sharpened inside her chest until breathing itself hurt.
Someone was changing fate alongside her.
Someone moved earlier than before.
Which meant her enemies were becoming aware.
A terrifying possibility settled over her thoughts.
What if she wasn’t the only one who remembered?
The idea sent ice through her veins.
“Lady Selene…”
Evelyne’s trembling voice interrupted carefully from behind Lucien.
Selene opened her eyes slowly.
Evelyne flinched instantly beneath that gaze.
Interesting.
Fear looked good on her.
“You should rest,” Evelyne continued softly. “This must be traumatic for you.”
Selene stared at her silently.
Then smiled.
It was not a pleasant smile.
“You seem nervous, Lady Evelyne.”
The woman stiffened. “I-I’m not.”
“Aren’t you?”
The silver flames brightened around Selene dangerously.
Lucien stepped between them immediately.
Enough.
His instincts screamed that something deeply wrong existed between these two women.
And whatever it was—it was becoming dangerous.
“This is neither the time nor place,” Lucien said coldly.
Selene’s eyes remained fixed on Evelyne.
The future queen remembered another corridor.
Another night.
Evelyne standing beside Orion’s bed pretending concern while poison slowly destroyed his small body from within.
The urge to kill her surged violently through Selene’s wolf.
Right here.
Right now.
One movement.
One command of moonfire.
And Evelyne would become ash.
Selene’s fingers twitched slightly.
Lucien noticed.
His body tensed instantly.
For one terrifying second, he genuinely believed Selene might attack.
Then—
The flames vanished.
Darkness swallowed the corridor once more.
Selene looked away first.
Not because Evelyne deserved mercy.
But because killing her now would ruin everything.
Too soon.
Far too soon.
“I’m tired,” Selene said quietly.
Without waiting for permission, she turned and walked away from the corridor.
Lucien watched her disappear into the shadows.
Something inside him felt deeply unsettled.
Because the woman who just walked away no longer resembled the gentle bride he agreed to marry.
This Selene felt like a storm waiting to destroy kingdoms.
And somehow…
Part of him could not stop watching her.
—
Selene locked the chamber doors behind her.
Silence filled the room instantly.
Then her legs gave out.
She collapsed onto the floor beside the bed, breathing unevenly while trembling hands covered her face.
Mira was dead.
Again.
The grief nearly suffocated her.
For several minutes, she simply sat there surrounded by darkness and memories.
Eventually, her wolf calmed enough for her thoughts to sharpen again.
Think.
What changed?
The poisoning attempt happened early.
The assassination happened early.
Mira died early.
Someone was accelerating events.
Selene slowly lowered her hands.
Moonlight spilled across the chamber through towering windows, illuminating the cracked mirror she shattered earlier that morning.
Her reflection stared back at her from fractured glass.
A queen split into pieces.
Selene rose slowly and approached the mirror.
Then she froze.
Because for a brief second—
The reflection moved differently.
Her own image smiled before she did.
The room turned ice cold.
Selene stepped backward instantly.
The reflection returned to normal.
Silence.
Her heartbeat thundered painfully inside her chest.
No.
She knew that feeling.
Magic.
Ancient magic.
A whisper brushed softly through the room like distant breath.
“The Blood Moon remembers…”
Selene’s blood turned cold.
She spun toward the empty chamber.
No one there.
But she was not imagining it.
The ancient wolves were awakening.
And somehow—
They were watching her.
A knock suddenly echoed against the doors.
Three slow knocks.
Selene’s instincts sharpened immediately.
“Who is it?”
A deep male voice answered from the other side.
“His Majesty requests your presence.”
Lucien.
Of course.
Selene closed her eyes briefly.
She wanted nothing more than to be alone.
But refusing the king tonight would create suspicion she could not afford yet.
Carefully, she straightened her posture.
The frightened woman grieving on the floor disappeared once more behind the mask of a future queen.
When Selene opened the chamber doors, the royal guard waiting outside immediately lowered his gaze.
“My lady.”
Selene nodded once.
As she followed him through the dim palace corridors, thunder rolled across the mountains again.
Far north beyond the kingdom borders, snowstorms consumed the fortress of Black Hollow.
And within the throne room of the northern territories, Kael Dravenmoor stood before a wall of burning silver fire.
The flames whispered only one name.
Selene.
The northern king smiled slowly.
At last—
The queen who returned from death had awakened.
- Writer
