LOGINShare
Chapter 135: The Necklace
Last Updated:
2022-12-01 17:55:47Related chapters
The Returned Luna Chapter 136: Ambition & Fear
After the Wiccans were gone, Delia had no choice but to stop putting off working with Maria on the orchard expansion. It burned her pride to even consider working in the orchard, Laura's pride and joy, but until she was sure she was completely safe, she had no choice.The sun was oppressive overhead, making Delia sweat before she had even managed to reach where the old gates had been. She sneered at the ruptured earth where the gate had been anchored. It had been so easy to get Basil to put the gate up. She hadn’t even had to whisper much in his ear for him to think it would please her. Now, he rarely even looked at her, let alone sought to please her. She marched past the entrance and further into the orchard towards where people were congregating. As she walked, it seemed that every stray speck of dirt attacked her silk gown, turning her beautiful gown into a filthy mess around the hem before she had made it to where Maria was directing people.Maria turned to her and gave her a h
Last Updated : 2022-12-01The Returned Luna Chapter 137: Old Covenants and Ruthlessness
Adolph walked into the room where Chasel had corralled the leader of the group of rogues they’d caught near the borders and wasn’t surprised to find them still kicking up a fuss. He sat in front of the two dirty-faced and angry-looking rogues and observed them as they snarled and ranted about being captured. The others had been a bit more reserved, near quiet as they were teetering on the edge of madness. These two were different. They were mated for one and very cognizant. It seemed these were banished werewolves. Perhaps the others were as well, but the call of madness that made true rogues had worn them down too far."Who are you? Why were you skulking around the border? And what have you to do with the vampire queen, Morrigan."The man snarled, "That wench always short-changed us. And what does it matter who we are?"Adolph lifted an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected any real answer, but the answer was intriguing. "Short-changed you in what way?""She only ever paid six of ten for any
Last Updated : 2022-12-01The Returned Luna Chapter 138: So It Seems
Delia closed the room behind her and sighed. Lady Helena’s lessons were getting easier with Laurel teaching her to read and write at the level of a noblewoman, but they were still grating. She’d barely had enough time to plot how to get rid of Laurel, but it had come to her in a flash. Simplicity was always best. She could figure out a way to orchestrate an accident the same way she had killed Laura, but she would need to garner some manner of rapport with Laurel. To that end, she’d shown up at the orchard to make sure Maria and the rest reported that she was helping. She’d avoided the servants who irritated her to make sure she would lose her temper. It had been working out well for now and today she’d been making her next move. She walked up the stairs to Laurel’s office and knocked, preparing to put on her best act. She had to convince Laurel that she meant the best when she invited her out to have dinner in a few days. It was the start of her plan to get closer to Laurel. She
Last Updated : 2022-12-01The Returned Luna Chapter 139: Gavin Knows
Gavin paced his office with a slow gait. The room had once been a meeting room for all of the ministers so he could watch them carefully, but now he was alone in the room to contemplate the path forward and relatively powerless. He held no sway with Adolph and even less with Laurel. Basil was so entrenched in pleasing his father and losing himself to drink that he was useless to his plans. Even if he wasn’t, Basil was better left untainted by the things that Gavin planned.If Basil was ever considered entangled with a treasonous plot, the Mirabelle name would never be the same, Olivia’s memory in the eyes of the people would forever be tarnished and he needed what little was left of her and Adolph’s love story to help put Basil on the throne whether Laurel’s child was a boy or a girl. Especially if she birthed a boy. He cursed. If only he had kept a closer eye on the staff of the castle before and after Laurel had cleaned out the palace. He could have snuck a few sleeper agents amon
Last Updated : 2022-12-01The Returned Luna Chapter 140: By Any Other Name
The name was familiar and horrifying all at once. She clutched her fist and fixed her expression to one of confusion. Stella was a poor, ragged rogue with no hope to do better, alone. She was Delia, princess of the werewolf kingdom, wife of the crowned prince, and future luna. The guards looked at Delia and then her parents. “Where the hell have you been, Stella?” Her father asked. “Cozying up to these land-stealers and half-breeds?”“Who are you talking about?” Delia asked with as much confusion as she could manage. Her heart was racing. “What’s going on?” She flinched at Adolph’s voice behind her. “Sir, we’ve just returned from the border with these rogues… They have been calling Lady Delia by another name.”“I don’t know a Stella,” Delia said stiffly, “W-Where is Basil?”“His grandfather has taken him to the Mirabelle estate to help with preparations for MInister Mirabelle’s upcoming birthday,” Adolph said calmly. “I can only imagine that he will send for you soon.”Delia nodde
Last Updated : 2022-12-01The Returned Luna Chapter 141: Still Parenting
The ride was quiet. Basil was slumped against the door, painfully sober and refusing to look at anyone in the carriage. To Laurel’s knowledge, he hadn’t wanted to come back to be with Delia to escort her to the estate, but Adolph ordered him to return on principle. Despite their appearances, they were still married. It was a bit sad and embarrassing for them in Laurel’s mind. Basil knew she had been Laura in her past life. To have thrown her out based on his undeniable love for Delia then not being able to even look at her had to be adding to his guilt and regret. She didn’t even feel smug about it, just almost feeling sorry for him as if he were a stranger that had been splattered with dirty street water at the passing of a carriage. Delia was tense and looking out the other window. The commotion with her parents had taken all the usual bite out of her it seemed. Laurel wondered if they had spoken about her past and that was adding to the tension between them. It hadn’t taken lon
Last Updated : 2022-12-01The Returned Luna Chapter 142: Panic
The words went through her with a startling shock of pain. He shouldn’t have been able to say that to her. He should have denied it before she had even managed to finish accusing him. “What… did you say?”Basil shook his head with a groan of annoyance, “Even if we are mates, she didn’t deserve that from me. I should have never divorced her.”Delia’s eyes widened as a little wave of golden light flickered across his back. Her heart thundered in her chest in terror. Sweat slid down the back of her neck. Was that the light that Eden had warned her about?How much time did she have left?“And when Laurel showed up…” Basil groaned. “I should have seen it. I should have known and done something before we were married. We wouldn’t be here now if I had!”“Basil, what are you–”“Three years of marital abstinence and refusing her because of my pride, and now she’s married and mated to my father with a child on the way!” He huffed, “The goddess is truly cruel when she wishes.”Delia covered her
Last Updated : 2022-12-01The Returned Luna Chapter 143: Musings And Heat
Adolph and Laurel followed the attendant towards their rooms. chuckled as Laurel walked into their quarters and began to undress, fanning herself as she unbuttoned her traveling cloak and pouted. “I’m burning up and I’m hungry.”Adolph closed the door behind him as she started fumbling with the buttons on her dress.“All these laces! I can’t wait to go to the temple.”Adolph chuckled, approaching her and stilling her hands before she damaged the dress that she was so fond of. “Let me,” Adolph said, kissing her forehead. She practically purred before turning bright red. Adolph grinned at her, lifting an eyebrow at her as he began to unravel the mess she’d made of the fastening ribbons. She was no longer wearing gowns with corsets due to the baby. In its place, her gowns were cinched to her frame using a network of silk ribbons. He wasn’t surprised how sick of them she was already given how hot she could get, not even wanting to cuddle next to him in the night and soaking the sheets w
Last Updated : 2022-12-01
Latest chapter
The Returned Luna Chapter 174: Jack
His stomach churned but he nodded, walking into the room. Fear filled him, but as he entered the room he started to relax. “You’re so beautiful… you take after your father.”Laurel lay among the sheets, dressed in a loose gown and cradling the baby to her chest.At the distance, he could only see a tuft of honey blonde hair in the swaddling blanket. The wetnurses bowed and stepped aside as he approached. Laurel smiled up at him, “Want to meet him?”“Him?”Laurel beamed at him, “Him… Nimue told me before, but I wanted it to still be a surprise for you.”Another boy. Adolph sunk onto the bed beside her, kissing her cheek before looking down into her arms. He had Laurel’s nose and hair pattern though the coloring was all his. Maybe when he grew up he’d take after his grandfathers, but he wouldn’t be able to tell that for a while.“Can I hold him?”Laurel nodded, offering the child to him. He smelled like fresh water and clean skin as Adolph took him, and held him close. He was so smal
The Returned Luna Chapter 173: Defense and Not
Nimue took a deep calming breath as Basil let out a mournful sob. The air began to warm slowly around them as the path between their world and the afterlife closed. She should have known when her first evocation yielded nothing that Olivia was going to be another troublesome spirit.She hoped Basil would be able to recover and accept the truth in time.“No… mother…” Nimue’s heart twisted with grief as she calmed her powers and Basil’s hand tightened on her ankle. “Why? She… She lifted it.”“She was prepared to sacrifice you,” she said solemnly.“She lifted the curse, Nimue! You didn’t have to!”Nimue looked down at him, “She only did so to save her existence, Basil. That was the test. It wasn’t about remorse towards what she’d done to your father… it was about what she did to you.”His eyes welled with tears as she set her staff aside, allowing it to hover in the air. “She was never your mother.”She kneeled beside Basil, placing a glowing hand near the dagger in his chest as he fell
The Returned Luna Chapter 172: Oblivion
Adolph’s voice was sure and even, but Basil couldn’t believe what he was saying. Didn’t he understand that they had no way of knowing how long that would be? A few months? A few days? His father was the strongest man he knew, but he wasn’t indestructible!“But father—”“You’d let Basil be king?” Olivia scoffed and laughed, “You know he’s not ready. He won’t ever be ready!”The twinge of pain that went through him took his breath away. He pushed it aside. This wasn’t the mother he’d imagined his whole life. He expected his father to say those things, not the woman who died giving birth to him. He winced at the thought. She hadn’t died giving birth to him. She’d died giving birth to a curse. There was no other choice to make.“Nimue, end the séance.”Nimue said nothing. Whether that meant she couldn’t or wasn’t going to, he didn’t know.Adolph shook his head, “Your father tried to make that true, but it’s not. Basil isn’t an idiot. He’s young and inexperienced, but that’s fixable. He h
The Returned Luna Chapter 171: Love and Obsession
Adolph narrowed his eyes down at Olivia. She was just as pretty as she had been before, but he saw the wicked light in her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be greeting our son whom you’ve never met?” Adolph asked. She smiled at him, poisonous and vicious, “I would never put anyone before you dear husband.”“You are dead,” Adolph said, “Speak to Basil.”“… very well.”Olivia turned her head and looked at Basil. Adolph was about to retract his statement at the hopeful look on Basil’s face, but it was too late. “You asked them to kill the man who raised you,” Olivia said, “You asked for the death penalty.”“Mother, they—”“Don’t call me that!” Olivia hissed at him. “All of them. Murdered and for what? What of your loyalty to me?”Basil’s eyes widened, “To you…?”“After what your father did to me?” Olivia said, “What is a bit of money?”“You… You knew?” Basil asked. “But—”“I love your father,” she said, her eyes glimmering with tears. “But… that wasn’t good enough. My love was never good enough f
The Returned Luna Chapter 170: Olivia
Laurel didn’t expect Basil to come quickly, so when the door closed, she was grateful that Nimue made herself a cup of tea and smiled at her. “You were once someone else,” Nimue said. “I am glad that the moon saw fit to bring the white wolf back to us.”Laurel blinked and sat across from her, “You’re… not much like Eden.”Nimue chuckled, “Eden and I have different gifts… He is what we would call an elemental Wiccan. Lightning strikes, fire, flashy shows of power that most associate with real magic. I’m a spiritual mage.”Laurel blinked and made herself a cup of tea, “What… does that mean?”“It means I have a connection to the living and the dead. Hence, I know the body you’re in right now is one you were reborn into. I can only guess how you died, but I assume that Basil knew you in your past life.”Laurel winced, “This… isn’t how I expected this conversation to go.”Nimue shrugged, “You make plans and the spirits laugh, but I’m not concerned about your aura. It’s more than healthy a
The Returned Luna Chapter 169: Mates and Fated Pairs
Adolph watched Basil leave. Nimue winced.“I… would like a moment to speak with my wife,” Adolph said slowly. Nimue nodded, “I’ll… go after him.”She left wincing. That had been a fucking disaster if she’d ever seen one. As she exited the room, she followed the trembling confusion, fear, and anger down the hall and around the corner. The thing about magical compatibility between fated matches was that it worked like a homing beacon. She found him in a parlor sitting on the couch with his head in his hand. He lifted his head and shot to his feet as she entered. “You—You can’t just say things like that!” Basil said, “You can’t just accuse her if you—You’re a healer! How would you know something like that anyway?”Nimue watched him, his shoulders heaving as he held himself still. “I am a healer,” she said. “But I am not just a healer. Sit down and calm yourself.”“Look me in the eye and tell me the truth,” Basil said, glaring at her. “Tell me you know for sure my mother did it. Tell
The Returned Luna Chapter 168: Lady Nimue
Basil had tried to keep his mind focused on the path ahead the next morning, no matter how Nimue’s scent had seemed to take over his senses and make him dizzy with need and desire. She smelled like fresh blooming flowers, fresh earth, and a hint of fresh sweet bread. It was a distracting, comforting, and maddening scent. His wolf growled in contentment and want whenever she grew near, so he took to riding further ahead to try and keep his mind clear. *I hate you*, his wolf huffed and growled. *You and your stupid pride and fear and…**Not now*, Basil thought, stubbornly. *Focus on getting back to the capital, okay?*He huffed, *And your need for distraction instead of facing the truth…*Basil sighed, tuning out his wolf’s whining. This wasn’t the time for thinking about such things. Adolph and Laurel were supposed to be staying at the temple until the baby was born. There was no reason they should have called him back unless the baby was early or something had happened to his father
The Returned Luna Chapter 167: Forgiveness
Taliesin sent the message off with a heavy heart. While his judgment was sound and he knew he wasn’t wrong, the likelihood that it would all go to plan was slim. Curses laid by the dying or the dead were harder to get rid of than living curses and he was not an expert in such dark magics. He had no affinity for creating or breaking them. His late brother and twin, Merlin, had no such limitations, but he had gone into Eternal Repose after his wife, Viviane, had been killed in the war against Morrigan. Merlin could not help them.Taliesin couldn’t blame him. The war had taken so much from all of them and raising the barrier had taxed them both greatly. There was little hope that he would ever wake up, and Taliesin had accepted that centuries ago, focusing on raising Merlin’s daughter as if she were his.“Nimue?” Taliesin called as he returned to the meeting hall. She was seated on the old stone bench, looking up through the canopy of the ancient oak trees that were always in bloom. Hi
The Returned Luna Chapter 166: Cursed Last Moments
Laurel woke up, frozen in terror in bed. The last time she’d had a vision of the moon goddess, she’d been pushed off a cliff. She wasn’t sure if hearing that her husband’s late wife put a curse on him was better or worse. How bad was the curse now? How much longer did they have? Could she break it? If she couldn’t, what would happen to him?Her stomach turned as she turned over to see Adolph sleeping peacefully beside her. The days of his insomnia seemed to have caught up with him all at once. The strain of the days seemed to be gone now as he slept.His scent was just as bloody and lovely as ever, but that blood that she had once found just a bit sexy seemed tainted with danger now. It wasn’t just the scent of someone who had seen a great deal of war, but it was affecting his mind. An alpha werewolf like Adolph could be dangerous if they lost control of their strength. She knew that Adolph was much stronger than the average wolf. Was it anything like going rogue? Would it kill him?
