The Alpha King's Hidden Luna

Three months after I buried Mara, I discovered she had hidden the truth about my mother. Byut I still wasn't used to living without her. She had raised me from the age of nine, taught me how to care for the sick, and given me a home when I had nowhere else to go. She was the only family I had. Now I was beginning to question everything she had told me. I found the document while sorting through her belongings. She kept her important papers in a wooden box beneath her bed. I was looking for documents I needed to settle her affairs when I found a damaged page with a heading that caught my attention. Bloodmoon Royal Administrative Office. Below it was a reference number and an entry containing a name I recognized. Evelyne. My mother's name was Evelyne. I sat on the edge of the bed and read the entry again. The paper was old, and part of it had been torn away. I could make out only a few lines, but one mentioned the Bloodmoon palace. I had never known my mother had any connection to the royal household. Mara had always told me that my parents died during a border raid when I was nine. She took me to Thornmere afterward and raised me herself. Whenever I asked about my family, she said the past would only bring me pain. I had believed her because she was the only person who could tell me about my parents. Now I wondered whether she had been protecting me or keeping something from me. The Bloodmoon palace m******e had happened fifteen years earlier. The royal family was killed or went missing, and the kingdom fell into chaos. I remembered very little about those days. Most of what I knew came from history books and stories told by people who had lived through the tragedy. The document didn't prove that my mother had died in the palace. It only connected her name to the old royal office. I turned the page over and noticed a small symbol beside the reference number. It was a crescent moon crossed by three narrow lines. I recognized it from history books. It was the old seal of the Bloodmoon royal household. Then I remembered the brass pendant Mara had kept in the same box. She had always stored her few valuable belongings together. I took the pendant out and examined it. The same symbol was engraved on its surface. Mara had told me the pendant belonged to someone in her family. She had never explained who. I placed it beside the document. Neither item proved anything about my mother, but together they gave me a reason to investigate. The following morning, I visited Mr. Ekanem, a records specialist in Thornmere. He helped people trace old documents and damaged public records. I hoped he could explain the reference number. He was checking a stack of papers when I entered his office. "I need help identifying an old document," I said. He pointed to the chair opposite his desk. "Let me see it." I handed him the page. He read the heading and examined the reference number. "Where did you get this?" he asked. "It belonged to my guardian. She died three months ago." He studied the page again. "This appears to come from the old Bloodmoon Royal Administrative Office," he said. "The reference number may help you locate the original record." "Can you tell me what the entry means?" "Not from this page. Too much of the writing is missing." I took the pendant from my pocket and placed it on his desk. "Do you recognize this symbol?" He examined it before looking back at the document. "It's the old Bloodmoon seal." "Does that mean the document is genuine?" "The symbol matches the seal used by the old royal household, but that doesn't prove when this page was made or whether its contents are accurate." "Can the reference number help me find the original?" "Possibly. Some surviving records were transferred to the Royal Archive in the capital after the m******e. You should start there." "Will they let me see it?" "That depends on the collection. Some records are open to the public. Others require special permission, especially those connected to the royal family." I thanked him and returned home with the document. I spent the rest of the day thinking about what I had found. I wanted to remember Mara as the woman who had cared for me, not as someone who had hidden my past. But she was gone, and I couldn't ask her why she had kept the record or the pendant. The damaged page was my only lead. That evening, I copied the reference number onto a separate sheet of paper, packed a few clothes, and counted my savings. I placed the document and pendant inside a small leather pouch. The capital was several days away. I had never travelled there alone, and I didn't know whether the Royal Archive would let me see the record. Still, it was my best chance to learn something about my mother. Before going to bed, I checked the document one last time. The torn edge had hidden part of the final entry, but a few words near the bottom remained readable. Transferred by order of the Royal Household. Beneath the statement was a date. Three days after the Bloodmoon palace m******e. I stared at the date. Why had someone transferred a record connected to my mother so soon after the royal family was attacked? Then I noticed a name beside the transfer order. The ink around it had faded, but the name itself was clear. King Edric Blackthorn. I knew who he was. Edric had ruled the kingdom when the Bloodmoon palace fell. He was the father of Draven Blackthorn, the king who ruled now. I read the entry again. King Edric had ordered my mother's record to be transferred three days after the m******e. At the bottom of the page, I found another line. It appeared to be an archival note added after the transfer. Original record: destroyed. I read the words twice. The note didn't say who had destroyed the original or why. It only told me that the record I needed might no longer exist. I folded the page and placed it inside my pouch. I would leave for the capital the following morning, even if the archive staff turned me away. I had spent fifteen years believing my parents died in a border raid. Now I had a royal record, a hidden pendant, and the name of a king connected to my mother's past. One question remained. If the original record had been destroyed, why had King Edric ordered it transferred in the first place?