*Maddy*I’m not sure what else there is to say between us right now. Everything seems to have been set into motion already–our marriage, his departure to war, the fact I’m being left here to act like a Luna when only weeks ago I was scrubbing floors. Any residual feelings from our intimate moment in the astronomy tower had vanished during the tense family meeting in the sitting room after dinner. The tension in the family is thick, and I feel like I’m in the middle of it. I follow Isaac to his office through the surprisingly quiet house. There are so many people here tucked in the bedrooms and suites, but it feels like we're totally and utterly alone. As he closes his office door behind me, and motions for me to sit on the red leather sofa in front of his desk, I fight the urge to immediately ask the questions burning little holes in my mind. He leans against his desk and crosses his arms over his chest, looking withdrawn and exhausted. “I’m sorry to have dragged you into all of t
*Isaac*I pick her up in one swift motion, clutching her body to my chest. I’m not doing this on the couch in my office like she’s someone I brought home after a rowdy night at one of the bars downtown, no. This woman is going to be my wife in a few days. She’s different. She means much more to me that I’m even willing to admit. Unlooking the office door, I quickly move through the second floor of the house. “Isaac,” she pants, gripping my shoulders. “I can walk–”I turn a shadowed corner and walk down the hallway that leads to my room–soon to be our chambers. The full bedroom suit and adjoining sitting room. I do my best not to kick down the door in my haste to get inside, driven mad by the feel of her in my arms. Her scent is everything I love and everything I find hard to explain. Like a fresh, clean spring day mingled with a warmth that reminds me of sitting by a fire with a drink in hand after being outside in the cold for hours. Her touch sends ripples of heat through me tha
*Maddy*I might be dreaming. The distant echoes of a scream flicker through the room. I look down at the moonlight dusted arm of Isaac, who is still holding me against his chest as he sleeps. He doesn’t wake to the sound, and it’s gone in an instant, replaced by total silence. But every fine hair on my body is standing on end. Something isn’t right. I feel it deep in my bones but second guess myself. Isaac would have woken up if the scream had been real, right? I close my eyes and breathe deeply. Our scents mingle. The bed smells like us, together. Everything is right in the world right now. Nothing but this moment matters. At least, I tell myself that, because internally I’m on the verge of losing my Goddess damned mind at the idea that there’s a ghost walking the walls and screaming at the top of his or her lungs. When another ear piercing howl sends a tremor through the castle, I’m up out of bed, sprinting toward the door, naked as the day I was born. I look back at the bed. Is
*Isla*The Temple of the Moon Goddess rises above the city like a silver fortress, glinting in the soft spring sunlight. It’s a gorgeous day, not a single cloud in the sky. A warm breeze rustles the wildflowers that are just starting to bloom on the sloping green hills surrounding the temple. I stand with Madeline on the marble steps, looking out over the kingdom. Our kingdom, me, and my soon to be daughter-in-law, the future Luna. The heir to my title. Standing beside me with her hair pulled back away from her face and wearing a sleeveless shirt, I notice little scars along her shoulder and arms, and feel a sudden urge to reach out and touch her. Guilt washes over me as I take her in, the slightness of her body, the way her eyes always seem lined with grief–and suspicion. I don’t know all of what she’s been through, but I feel like it’s partly my fault. “She’s ready for you.” A temple attendant in a white and silver robe appears behind us. I turn to the woman, who is not even si
*Maddy*I hadn’t realized what changes had taken place in the city outside the castle since I first came to stay there. Even during my last trip into town to be fitted for a wedding dress with Ella, Rosie, and Hannah, there hadn’t been this many… people. Warriors, all of them. Some are so young they look barely old enough to be leaving their mothers, let alone going to war. Isla sits between me and Ella in the backseat of the car as we drive toward the castle through the city center. She holds our hands and stares blankly out at the window at the armies gathered in camps in what looks to be a stadium of some kind with a wide, grassy plain out front now covered in tents. Even Ella’s in shock, her eyes glued to the window and her mouth slightly parted. “There’s so many of them,” she whispers, turning to her mother. “Your father and brother have been busy the last few days,” Isla murmurs with a hint of annoyance, but her eyes betray her casual demeanor. “These warriors are from the ne
*Isaac*I’m skipping three steps at a time as I chase after Maddy. She’s remarkably fast for someone who’s doesn’t even have a wolf, which grates my nerves to the point I’m gritting my teeth and needing to grip the walls, the banisters, or side tables to keep my footing as her tiny feet kick up carpet runners in her haste to get away from me. “Why are you running?” I shout, but she disappears around another corner, her speed sending a whoosh of air in my direction that causes the paintings on the wall to rattle in their frames. This is insane. Me chasing her through the castle is insane. Her thinking my feelings for her don’t go farther than a business friendship-one reliant on occasionally closeness and intimacy–is particularly insane. “Maddy!”“Leave me alone!” she cries, her voice hollow and echoing down the chamber nearing her bedroom. Her tone gives me pause, and I come to a screeching stop, my sneakers squealing on the freshly waxed tile. Her room is at the very end of a long h
*Maddy*There isn’t much to say about the grand dinner thrown in honor of the Alphas who’ve brought their warriors to slaughter. Dressed in finery, they grovele at the feet of the Alpha King, praising the strength of his royal army that now numbers in the tens of thousands. I sit in a gown of red silk that flows over the new curves several weeks of food have afforded. I eat the extravagant food and sip the expensive wine without tasting it, and once dinner is over, I allow Isaac to help me from my seat. The Alphas boweto their future queen, and I watch from the second floor balcony as Isaac and his subjects walk into a sitting room to talk more about the impending war over glasses of whiskey, the door shutting behind them. I remain on the balcony overlooking the grand foyer. I watch the silent guards by the door as they do their best to remain alert and awake. Other then Isaac, the only other royal family member to be at dinner tonight was Maddox. I’d been told by Hannah that the w
*Maddy*When I was a child, my father came home from one of his mysterious merchant trips with a large, fabric bound book. It was large enough to cover my entire lap, and so heavy I couldn’t lift it on my own. The cover was embroidered with whirls and swirls of silver and gold thread, the outer edges detailed with delicate symbols and lettering none of us could read. “It’s very old, Starling,” he’d said to me, laying the book carefully in my lap as I trembled with childlike excitement. “You must be extremely careful. You never know what kind of magic may be inside, and what gods we’ll upset if any pages are torn.” He’d said it in jest, of course. At least I thought so at the time. But he’d been right to be careful with the massive text. Inside were stories of a land lost to time, each page illustrated with great care and skill. Myths and legends of the old gods and goddesses and their trials, stories of their people, their subjects, their heroes and enemies. And their beasts. They