The Moon's Chosen

TRAINING UNDER THE MOON

The snow bit my feet.

"Again," Kael said.

I was standing in the middle of the clearing behind the cabin. Shirtless. Freezing. My wrist glowing so bright it lit the snow.

"Again," he repeated. "Don’t think. Just pull."

I threw my hands out. Silver light shot forward and shattered a tree stump.

"Better."

"Better isn’t good enough if we have two days," I snapped.

Kael stopped. He looked at me. Really looked.

"You’re angry."

"I’m terrified."

"Good. Use it."

He walked up behind me. Close. I could feel his heat even through the cold.

"Your problem is you’re fighting the mark. Stop fighting it."

His hands covered mine. His fingers were warm.

"Breathe," he whispered in my ear. "Feel the moon. It’s not inside you. You’re inside it."

My heart was pounding. From the magic. From him.

The mark stopped burning. The light steadied.

A ball of silver formed between our hands. Perfect. Controlled.

"Like that," he said. "Hold it."

We stood there for a full minute, the light between us.

Then it faded.

Kael let go and stepped back like he’d been shocked.

"Good," he said gruffly. "Again."

We trained until dawn.

Ice shields. Light daggers. Healing burns.

By the time the sun came up, I could hold a shield for ten seconds without collapsing.

By noon, I passed out.

I woke up on his cot. Kael was asleep in the chair next to me, sword across his lap.

The fire was low.

My wrist didn’t hurt.

I watched him sleep. The scar through his eyebrow. The way his jaw clenched even in sleep.

He looked younger like this. Less like a weapon.

"Stop staring," he said without opening his eyes.

I jumped. "You’re awake."

"Barely." He stretched. "How’s the wrist?"

"Better."

"Good. Because we’re not done."

That afternoon he made me run.

"Through the forest. Dodge trees. While holding a light ball."

"I’ll fall."

"Then you’ll learn to fall without dropping it."

I fell. A lot.

But by sunset I could run a mile without the light going out.

When we got back, Lyra was waiting outside the cabin.

"Luna!" She ran to me and hugged me hard. "I’ve been looking everywhere! Sister Miriam is going to kill you!"

"Lyra, you can’t be here. It’s dangerous."

"So is disappearing for days!" She pulled back. "Who is he?"

Kael stepped out from behind me.

"Kael Nightshade," he said.

Lyra looked him up and down. "You look like trouble."

"I am," he said flatly.

"Lyra, please," I begged. "You have to go home. And you have to tell Sister Miriam to get everyone out of Ashvale. Tonight."

"Why? What’s going on?"

"I can’t explain. Just please. Trust me."

Lyra looked between us. Then nodded. "Fine. But I’m telling her you’re safe. And that this guy is scary."

She left, glancing back at Kael twice.

That night we didn’t sleep.

"One more thing," Kael said. He pulled out a dagger. The blade was silver.

"This is moonsteel. It can hurt the King’s generals. The Knight you saw."

He held it out. "It responds to the mark."

I took it. The moment it touched my skin, the blade lit up.

"Whoa."

"It chose you too."

I practiced with it. Throwing. Catching.

Every time I missed, Kael caught it before it hit the ground.

"Focus," he said. "In a fight, there are no second chances."

At midnight, the crows came back.

Hundreds of them. Sitting in the trees around the cabin. Watching.

"They’re counting us," Kael said. "Counting how many times you use magic. How tired you are."

"Let them watch."

I walked outside. Alone.

The crows didn’t move.

I raised my wrist. The mark glowed.

"Tell your King," I said out loud. "I’m coming. And I’m not alone."

The crows scattered.

When I went back inside, Kael was staring at me.

"What?"

"Nothing." He shook his head. "You sounded like a Chosen."

We sat by the fire. Neither of us spoke for a long time.

"Kael?"

"Hmm?"

"That prophecy. `Save the world, or save the one she loves.`"

"Don’t."

"Who do you think it means?"

"I don’t know."

"Liar."

He looked at me. "It means the King will put you in a position where you have to choose. Between everyone, or one person."

"And if that one person is you?"

The room went quiet. Only the fire crackled.

Kael stood abruptly. "We should sleep."

"Kael—"

"I said sleep, Luna."

But he didn’t go to his chair. He sat on the floor by the fire.

I laid on the cot.

"Kael?"

"What."

"Thank you. For not leaving."

He didn’t answer.

But 10 minutes later I felt a blanket get pulled over me.

I woke up to screaming.

Kael was already at the door, sword out.

"What—"

"Stay here."

He opened the door.

Outside in the snow were three more Shadow Beasts.

But they weren’t attacking the cabin.

They were dragging something.

A body.

Kael went still.

"Lyra?"

I shoved past him.

It was her. Lyra. Unconscious. Blood on her temple.

One of the beasts had her by the ankle.

"Let. Her. Go."

The words came out of me before I could think.

The mark exploded.

Silver light shot out in a wave and hit all three beasts. They dissolved instantly.

Lyra fell to the snow.

I ran to her. "Lyra! Lyra, wake up!"

Kael was beside me, checking her pulse. "She’s alive. Just hit her head."

He picked her up.

"We have to move. Now. They know where we are."

He carried her inside and laid her on the cot.

I bandaged her head with shaking hands.

"Will she be okay?"

"Yes."

"Kael, they took her because of me."

"They took her to get to you."

He knelt in front of me.

"Luna. Listen to me. This is what the King does. He hurts the people you love to make you come to him."

"So what do I do?"

"You don’t go. Not alone."

"But the note said—"

"I don’t care what the note said."

He took my face in his hands. His thumbs brushed under my eyes.

"I’m not losing you. And I’m not losing her."

For a second I thought he was going to kiss me.

Then he dropped his hands.

"We leave at dawn. All three of us. For the Moon Altar."

"To fight him?"

"To end this."

Outside, the crows were gone.

But the moon was red.