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Chapter 158: Caught In the Trap
Last Updated:
2022-12-02 13:02:49Related chapters
The Returned Luna Chapter 159: The Hidden Door
Adolph turned to look at Eden down the hall, seated in an open window high above Adolph’s head, silent and still. He hadn’t even noticed Eden there. How had he gotten up there? Could he fly?How had he been so silent? It was as if he was dead with no heartbeat to mark his presence or the whoosh of his breathing. Unnerving and dangerous. He eyed Eden. “Oh?”“When she was a girl, there was a garden down there,” he pointed out to where Adolph had assumed a garden had been. “The flowers were the first to die… then the trees… Then the rock turned black and the canals of blood began to dry up.”Adolph shuddered, “Canals of blood?”Eden nodded, “They feed the base of the protections on the castle. I think in Crystal Castle the protections were fed by the people who lived there.”Adolph frowned, “The living werewolves?”Eden nodded and his lips twitched, “Morrigan’s plan to rot the werewolf kingdom from the inside started long before Delia arrived.”“... is this a part of those memories you
Last Updated : 2022-12-02The Returned Luna Chapter 160: Curse Lifted
Adolph stood aside as Eden walked to the center of the room. A stone platform lifted him into the air. The air stirred as Adolph watched the thick, black pool ripple and flow through the cracks in the stone platform. “What is he doing?”“It’s a blood cleansing ritual,” Caedan said mistily. “It will release every spirit trapped in the pools and cleanse the reservoirs.”Adolph looked at the man, “Including you?”He smiled and nodded, “Including me.”His voice turned to a whisper and his form vanished into a swirl of light that broke against the dark stone, clearing the darkness. More streaks of light jumped from the flowing liquid, blasting the darkness out of the stone until it turned a glowing silver like moonlight. Adolph watched stone turn silver beneath his feet. The door gleamed behind him and opened. He followed the rushing light and silver back up the stairs until he reached a window and saw that dawn was breaking over the citadel. Had they been down there that long? It hadn’t
Last Updated : 2022-12-02The Returned Luna Chapter 161: Death Penalty
It took longer than he anticipated to get back to the capital city. The escort didn’t tell him anything and as he entered the city, he only grew more nervous. What could Laurel possibly want from him? The knights escorted him into the castle with little fuss and straight to the throne room. Laurel was seated on her throne and practically glowing. Her stomach was larger than it had been when he’d left. For a moment, he regretted the sight of her. Laura could have been glowing and pregnant with his child if he had been a good man. His wolf growled, *Laura was not our mate.*He still wasn’t sold that they had found their mate either, but he didn’t want to get into the argument with his wolf right now. After all, they’d had a marked mate bond with Laura. Then, there was Delia who was barely a marked mate, and now, his wolf was making such a fuss about a woman he barely knew. His wolf grumbled, *If you had listened to me before, you wouldn’t be so wary about the possibility now.* He c
Last Updated : 2022-12-02The Returned Luna Chapter 162: Cleaning Up Treason
Basil went with the search team and went around the house revealing all the telltale signs of a hidden safe. There were several hidden throughout the mansion and with a few looks at the logbooks, he gave them every code he could. He had the servants detained and opened every hidden door and passageway with burning red eyes. The knights who had gone with him reported back that it was a bit like working with a less frightening, though far more angry, version of Adolph. Adolph wasn’t surprised that Basil was taking the lead in the investigation. It was probably a deeper wound than he realized yet to know that his family members had been stabbing him in the back all these years. After all, Basil was a Mirabelle, but above that, he was the heir to the throne. Every act of treachery could have jeopardized that. “Will he be okay?” Raven asked over lunch. Laurel grimaced and swirled her tea as Adolph shook his head, “I can only let him prove what he needs to within reason… But no. I don’t
Last Updated : 2022-12-02The Returned Luna Chapter 163: The End of Mirabelle
Basil was packed to leave before breakfast the next morning. As promised, Adolph only had him stay long enough to eat breakfast and say goodbye. He was surprised that Irene hugged him close. “You’ve grown so much,” she said before drawing back and grinning, “Looks like there’s some Raymond in there after all.”He gave her a phantom smile before taking the bag of food from Raven and another hug. Henry clapped him on the shoulder. “See you soon, Basil.”Basil didn’t agree, but he accepted their well-wishes and placed the food in his saddlebag. Adolph was the last to bid him goodbye. He pulled him into a tight hug and whispered the same prayer his father had said over him when he went to the border. Basil looked up at him a bit dazed and Adolph grinned. “This in no way makes you any less my son,” Adolph said, pulling back and cupping his face. “You have come far, and I am proud of you. I’ll see you soon.”Basil nodded shakily before mounting his horse and leaving with the escort. Ad
Last Updated : 2022-12-02The Returned Luna Chapter 164: The Darkness and Blood
A few days after the executions, there was a minor lull in the torrent of things that needed to be done. Laurel threw up her hands and started stripping just after breakfast. Adolph chuckled, heading into the bathroom ahead of her to run her a cold bath as she struggled out of her gown. “I told you to just wear the simple gowns.”“But it’s not queenly!” Laurel huffed and growled. “Stupid ribbons!”Adolph left the bath to run and returned to save his young wife from her queenly gowns. “I’m so young barely anyone takes me seriously even now.”Adolph shook his head and caught her hands before she ripped the ribbons. He kissed her pouting lips and began to work the ribbons free. “You caught a treasonous noble and made it possible to clean up the kingdom in one fail swoop. Plenty of people take you seriously,” Adolph soothed, undoing the knots and pulling her dress apart. “I certainly take you seriously.”Laurel flushed and worried her lip, stroking a hand over his chest and he licked
Last Updated : 2022-12-02The Returned Luna Chapter 165: Visions
Adolph sighed into the open air as the carriages were prepared. Laurel tottered out of the castle towards him and he led her down the steps. She pouted and Adolph knew she was going to protest his care for her again. She was so stubborn lately though it was clear that she couldn’t move around the way she was used to.He had always been under the impression that a pregnant woman would appreciate being doted on and spoiled, but Laurel had always managed to surprise him.“I am just fine,” Laurel said. “I can walk on my own, you know?”“I let you walk from the stairs to out here on your own,” Adolph teased, “From our bed to the bathroom… the bathroom to the parlor—”“Enough,” she stuck out her tongue at him. “You’re not funny.”“I think you are just not in the mood to find me humorous,” Adolph said and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Let’s get going, hm?”She allowed him to help her into the carriage and he climbed in after her. He still wasn’t completely used to riding in a carriage after
Last Updated : 2022-12-02The 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?
Last Updated : 2022-12-02
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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?
