~Aethelia~
The Lunareth pack never forgets its calendar.
Tonight, every unmarried woman stands in the Central Courtyard. Eighteen and older. No one is excused. Even prisoners are brought and bound.
We gather for the Unmated Ladies Ritual. It prepares us for the Mate-Bond Revelation. If the moon decides, Kael's fated mate will be named. The ceremony must happen within three days.
Everyone whispers the same sacred line like a prayer. "What a joy if the Moon chooses me."
I say nothing. I am here because the law demands it of me. I don't think the Moon will ever choose me. Not after what lives inside me.
A waxing gibbous moon hangs over the square. We form a wide circle around the statue of Luna Seraphine. She kneels in stone, hands lifted to the sky, a circular hollow carved through her neck. Ash rings her base. Candles burn at her feet. Bones lie arranged in neat patterns.
A great fire throws orange light across the statue. Scented leaves crackle. Smoke coils up. The smell turns my stomach. I swallow it down.
Ardis stands at my right. Evra, my orphan cousin, stands at my left. It is our first time in this ritual. Others move with practiced steps. This is not new to them.
Saria watches me. Her eyes never wander. She insulted me before we gathered. I did not answer.
Senior warriors hold the perimeter. They stand like dark stones, alert.
Across the circle Kael stands with the council near where the pack watches. Firelight crosses his face. His posture is calm. His jaw stays tight. For a moment, I think he wants to stop this. I look away before our gaze meets.
Three elders step into the center. High Elder Zepharion. Vice-High Elder Dravion. Moon-seer Thandros.
Dravion carries wet ash in his hand. He marks each forehead. Gray across skin.
When he reaches me he pauses. His jaw tightens. His face folds.
He leans close. I smell smoke on his breath.
"You think the Moon Goddess would choose a cursed one like you?" he hisses, low enough so only I can hear. "You don't belong here. You waste our time."
The insult burns. I feel it under my ribs. My fists clench as if I might leap and tear him down.
He has always hated me. Still, the sting is fresh.
He presses the ash to my forehead and moves on with a wicked smile.
Kora shifts beneath my skin. A low hum trembles in my chest. Not a growl. Not fear. Awareness.
Dravion raises his staff.
"Silence," he says. "We need more focus. Let us give our souls and spirits to the Moon Goddess."
The crowd is silent. Everyone respects and fears this moment more than any other. All gaze fixed on the three elders.
My chest slams once. Pain, quick and bright.
They remind us of the ritual line. We repeat it seven times.
"The moon gives power. The firmament restrains it."
Zepharion bows to Luna Seraphine. He praises the Moon. He speaks of the prophecy. How long Lunareth has waited for Luna. The elders begin to chant.
A drum strikes.
The sound moves through stone and into my bones.
Kora stiffens. A sharp pulse flickers through me.
The drum beats again.
Pain builds behind my eyes. It spreads outward like hands pushing from inside my skull.
I freeze.
This is not the new moon.
Cold threads crawl between my ribs. My breath thins.
The tiny circle at my throat flares. Heat stabs up my spine. I press my hand to it. It pulses—one hard beat, then another.
Kora goes silent.
The chanting dulls. My vision blurs at the edges. I feel a patient pull, like something waiting for permission.
"No," I whisper. "Impossible. The thing inside me only wakes at the new moon."
I turn to Ardis and Evra. They already stare at me. Their eyes sharpen. They see something wrong.
Across the circle Kael presses a hand to his chest. He curls his fingers into his tunic as if he feels the same pull.
The drum beats again.
White floods my sight.
The statue bends. The fire thins. My body snaps forward. My hands twist. A sound tears from my throat.
Ardis steps back first. "Aethelia! Are you okay?"
I scream. The sound tears out without permission.
Gasps cut the circle.
The tiny circle burns hotter. The cold in my chest turns hungry.
I reach for Kora. I push. Nothing answers.
The tug becomes a force.
People near me step away. Fear moves them back. The ritual breaks around them.
Evra stays. Her fingers squeeze mine like a lifeline.
For a moment the mark cools. I think maybe the thing inside me dislikes this ritual, and it can never reach me outside the new moon. I let myself hope.
Evra leans close. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," I say. "Cousin."
The lie dies in my mouth.
Without warning the thing inside me surges like a blade driven into my ribs. Pressure unlike any other floods me.
I try to shout. To warn Evra.
Too late.
My fingers curl. They close like claws.
"Blood," comes from my lips.
I grab Evra. Her eyes widened in shock.
My palm slams into her shoulder.
Her cry is small.
Where my touch lands, her skin pales. Cracks spiders outward. Flesh goes gray. Dust falls. Sand.
She collapses at my feet.
Ardis screams her name.
Something fractures inside me completely.
I fight. I push the darkness back with everything I have.
Anyone I encounter is thrown away. A warrior grabs my arm. His sleeve smokes. He screams and stumbles.
Another warrior charges. I swing. He slams into stone. His leg bends wrong. He cries out.
Candles gutter. Ash lifts like gray rain.
A mother drags her child back. A man stares at his injured hand. Someone sobs by the statue.
Chaos breaks loose.
Elders shout orders. The words fall apart in my ears.
Through the smoke I see Kael run. He does not draw his blade. He does not shout.
He drops to his knees before me.
"Aethelia."
He says my name as if it still belongs to me.
The thing inside me lunges for him.
His voice pushes back. Steady. Deep. It fits into the bones of the world.
The burning at my throat eases. Dark threads pull from my chest in thin strands. It feels like smoke dragged from my lungs.
Kora whimpers faintly.
Kael jerks. He coughs. Red blooms across his tunic. He presses both hands to his ribs.
The pull between us tightens.
He collapses.
I fall beside him. Limbs shake. Dust coats my palms.
The ritual collapses. People run for the gates. Warriors clash trying to hold the panic.
Boots scrape stone. Metal rings.
Faces turn toward me.
"Kill her!" a voice shrieks.
"Stone her!" another cries.
"A daughter of the dark," a mother moans.
The sky makes a sound that is not thunder at all.
For one breath everything stills.
Then they close around me.
A guard kneels and lifts Kael. Elders call for healers.
"Monster," someone spits.
"Beast."
"Sacrilege."
"Traitor."
A stone hits my shoulder. Another strikes my back.
Across the courtyard Kael convulses.
When another stone slams into me he clutches his chest and coughs blood.
He tries to speak but no sound comes.
His eyes blur. Watching him break hurts more than the stones ever could.
Blood mixes with dust beneath my hands.
I press my forehead to the cold stone.
"Continue," I whisper. My voice shakes. "End it."
The moon above us splits with a thin silver line.
I see it before anyone else.
The ground trembles. My chest tightens. My body trembles with it.
Warriors stagger. Even elders sway.
Someone looks up. "Is the Moon against us?"
The tremor fades.
A cane lifts above me. The man holding it aims for my skull.
"Stop!" Orla's voice cuts the square.
She rushes forward with her warriors. Metal rings as they move.
"She is under my protection," Orla declares. Her words land like law.
Dravion steps forward, jaw working. "You defend her because she is your sister," he snaps. "You think we did not see your plans?"
The crowd surges.
"Tonight she dies!" they roar. "This monster dies!"
Behind them Kael forces himself upright. Blood runs down his chin. He sways but does not fall.
"Enough."
His voice is low. Final.
"No one touches her."
Silence spreads outward from him like a shockwave.
Then Kael lifts his head and says something that changes everything.