City of Two Moons

Blood and Water

Chapter 3: Blood and Water

POV: Lyra Vale

Every word she said felt like a slap. That was the problem. She wasn’t even trying to be a b***h—she was just being "Selene"—and it still cut.

Daughter of the Virel line. She used the name like a shield. Like she’d actually done something to earn it besides just being born. I watched her standing there in the moonlight, eyes all wide and liquid and "hurt," and I hated her for it. Even now, she looked like a painting. Something people write stupid songs about.

I’ve loved her my whole life. That’s the rot at the center of this. She’s my best friend. She’s the only one who knows the things I whispered in the dark when we were kids. I thought that meant something. I thought it was permanent. But there she was, standing between me and the only thing I ever wanted. Not for the pack. Not for "duty." For me.

Kael wasn't just an Alpha to me. He was the sun. And Selene had him without even trying. She didn’t fight. She didn't scratch. She just... existed. I could feel my wolf clawing at my ribs, that low, ugly pacing that had been there so long I’d started to think it was just part of my heartbeat.

The jealousy wasn't a feeling anymore. it was the shape of my bones.

"You think I don't know you?" My voice cracked. I sounded pathetic. "I know exactly who you are. You’re the girl who gets everything handed to her on a silver tray. The crown. The name. Kael. All of it."

"This isn’t a competition, Lyra!" Her voice was thin, barely carrying over the roar of the water. "I didn't ask for his heart to be cold. I didn't ask for you to look at me like I’m an enemy."

"It's not hate." I stepped into her space, my chest tight. "It's the truth. You’re white-knuckling a man who already let go. You’re calling it love, and we’re all supposed to just bow down to that lie?"

"Stop." She shook her head, her face pale. She stepped back, her heels skidding on the wet moss at the bank’s edge. "You’re not yourself. It’s the moon, Lyra. It’s the pressure. Let’s just go back. Please."

"Don’t." I was screaming now. I couldn’t stop. "Don’t stand there being 'gracious' at me while you hold a crown you're too soft to carry. You don’t deserve him. You never did." I stopped, my jaw so tight it ached. "It should have been me."

Something changed in her then. The softness died. A door slammed shut behind her eyes, leaving something hard and cold in its place.

"I am the Luna." Her voice was low. Steady. It made the hair on my arms stand up. She tilted her chin back and looked at me—and for a second, I saw it. The power she kept buried under all that gentleness. "By blood and by the Mother’s will, I am your Luna. You will respect that."

That word.

Luna.

Something inside me just... snapped.

It didn't matter what I gave this pack. It didn't matter that I matched him, fire for fire, while she just yielded. I was always going to be the one standing in the shadows. Always second. Always wanting, never having.

"You're nothing," I spat.

My hands moved before my brain could catch up.

I hit her shoulders with both palms. Hard. The shock of the impact jolted all the way up to my elbows.

Her eyes went wide. Total, absolute disbelief. For a heartbeat, everything was silent. Then her feet went out from under her on the slick moss. She reached for nothing, her fingers clawing at the empty air, and then she was just—gone.

She made a small, choked sound on the way down.

The river took her. The splash sounded like a building collapsing.

I stood there, hands still out in front of me, shaking. I waited for her to come up. I waited for her to scream my name, to tell me she was okay, to make me live with what I’d just done.

The river started to glow.

Silver light pulsed deep under the surface. Once. Twice. Then the water turned black again. A tight, hungry whirlpool swallowed the reflection of the moon and went still.

"Selene?"

Nothing.

Every pup in the pack knew about the sacred river. It wasn't just water; it was the blood of the ancestors. It had rules. To fall in without a blessing was a death sentence. The currents didn’t give you back.

I dropped to my knees. The stones bit into my skin, but I didn't feel it. I stared into the dark, looking for a scrap of silk, a hand, anything.

The water was still. Not peaceful—just finished.

I knew what I should do. Howl. Scream for the guards. Jump in.

I stayed frozen.

If I called for help, I was a murderer. I’d shoved the future Luna into the river four days before her coronation. There was no version of that story where Kael listened to my side. I could see the executioner's blade as clearly as if it were already at my throat.

So I sat there, and the lies started to form like a reflex. Maybe she’d wash up miles away. Maybe she’d just disappear. I was the last person who saw her. Nobody had to know what my hands had done.

Then the guilt hit. It felt like being buried alive. She was my best friend. She knew everything about me. And I’d just watched the light go out of the water and done nothing.

I’m a traitor. The word felt too small. Too clean.

I forced myself up on legs that felt like jelly and ran. The woods were dead silent. The moon just watched me, cold and judging, remembering every second.

The river was quiet when I left it.

It had taken what it wanted.

And I was the one who fed it.