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Chapter 39: The Luna’s Office
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2022-11-29 15:32:45Related chapters
The Returned Luna Chapter 40: Luna Again
Laurel couldn’t breathe around her shock. Everything in her screamed that she would end up dead again if she agreed, but she held back her frantic response. “No,” she said calmly. Adolph’s eyes widened. “It is not appropriate, Your Majesty. What reason would I do that?”Adolph expected Laurel to refuse him, so he was prepared to convince her by any means necessary to agree. “But you've done a good job on dealing with the orphanage, the school, and the hospital...” She averted her gaze, seemingly uncomfortable. “I am asking you to at least preside over the castle. Lily just arrived. There are many things that are still unfamiliar to her. Please? Would you help her?”Lily stepped forward from the line of maids who had been serving their meal with a little smile. “It’s my request too, Miss Laurel. Although I have a lot of experience, I am not familiar with this castle, and it would be great if someone could help me.”Laurel hesitated. She could have refused Adolph once she got her min
Last Updated : 2022-11-29The Returned Luna Chapter 41: Bouquet
As Laurel began to eat lunch on the lawn with Lily, Sara, Lynn, and Sam, around the time the last group of maids and servants working in the kitchen came to report to her. As they began the third course, Chasel approached the table with a bright grin. “So good to see you out enjoying the weather!”Lily jumped to her feet and hugged him tightly, “Chasel!”He laughed, “I hope you’re behaving and settling in well.”She pouted, “Don’t be mean to me.”Chasel grinned and bowed a bit to Laurel, “Miss Laurel, a pleasure to see you back in the castle.”Laurel nodded, “Hello, Chasel. What are you doing out here?”“Running a few errands for His Majesty,” Chasel pushed Lily back up to the table. “The king knew it was your first day of taking over the management of the castle, so he wanted to come and see you, but he couldn't leave because he is meeting with the nobles.”The maids and servants from the kitchen came across the lawn to report and Laurel nodded at them in acknowledgment though they
Last Updated : 2022-11-29The Returned Luna Chapter 42: In Love
Laurel returned to her office with a deep sigh. The roses Adolph had given her the day before had wilted a bit. Her heart felt a bit wilted, worn down by time and realizations. She sighed and replaced the wilted roses with the new bouquet. How long would it take for these roses to wilt? “Ow!” She hissed and put her bleeding finger into her mouth before her blood could drip everywhere. She hadn’t realized the thorns hadn’t been removed from the roses. She rounded the table looking for bandages when the door burst open. She jumped, startled, and looked at the intruder to see Basil in the doorway, glaring at her and baring his teeth. He crossed the room quickly, raising his hands as if he was going to grab her neck. She stumbled back as he crossed the room. She’d never seen him so angry before. “How dare you!” He screeched. “How dare you use this room!”“What?” Laurel frowned. His words didn’t make any sense. She kind of expected him to be upset about Delia, but he was talking abou
Last Updated : 2022-11-29The Returned Luna Chapter 43: Heartbreak
Eden shrugged out of his coat as quickly as he could manage and wrapped it around Laurel before lifting her from the ground and hurrying back to his room at the inn. He didn’t know what had set her off and he wasn’t entirely sure that she could answer him. She wasn’t responding to anything he said, so he stopped asking. When he arrived at the inn, he went quickly up to his room and set her at the table in the center of the room. She seemed calmer, wrung out from sobbing as she sat with her head bowed, staring out into nothing. He poured a glass of water and sat it beside her as she sniffled and waited for her to come back to the world. “I'm sorry...” Laurel gasped. “I stained your clothes...”Eden frowned before looking down and chuckled. There was a bit of dirt on his clothes, but he wouldn’t call them stained.“You didn't do anything wrong.” Eden shook his head. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”Laurel worried her lip, averting her gaze as she pulled his jacket closer ar
Last Updated : 2022-11-29The Returned Luna Chapter 44: Yes, My Love
“Those people aren’t worthy of the title!”Adolph sat on his throne, impatiently. The nobles had been bickering for the better part of the meeting about what should and shouldn’t be done, who did, and who didn’t deserve to be noblemen. Adolph had a list of brave soldiers, alive and dead, and alphas of packs who had contributed to the war efforts. All of them, he planned to make noblemen, but the ministers refused. They were nobles, and they did not want more people to share their honor and power.Gavin lifted his nose with the little superior sneer Adolph had seen far too often, “How could we allow those uncouth people to become nobles? Imagine all those hicks pouring into our city... What a mess!” “I need useful courtiers, Gavin,” Adolph gave him a pointed look. “If you and the rest of you were adequate, maybe I wouldn't need to look for others.”Gavin was speechless. The other ministers trembled and quaked with shock, looking to Gavin to say something in retort, but Adolph had end
Last Updated : 2022-11-29The Returned Luna Chapter 45: Running
His voice was so gentle. For a moment, Laurel thought she was dreaming, but she soon realized that it was not a dream. She tightened her grip on the frame against her chest and pulled the quilt over her head, hiding from Adolph’s gaze. Anger bloomed in her heart at the realization.What was he doing here?Adolph frowned, looking down at her as she vanished beneath the blanket. His stomach turned with discomfort. What had he done now?“What are you doing here?” Laurel asked, tense and angry.“I heard them say that you followed a man out of the castle after being yelled at by Basil, and I thought—”“It’s not of your business, Your Majesty.” Laurel grit her teeth trying to keep her jaw from trembling and the little gasping sob from escaping. Of course, he was only there to see if she had run off with a man! Never mind her pain. Never mind what Basil called her or any of the other horrible things she’d learned. “Please leave. I’m going back to sleep.”“Laurel, my mate, we need to talk.”“
Last Updated : 2022-11-29The Returned Luna Chapter 46: Truth and Lies
Laurel gasped and stared at him. He couldn’t have said what she thought he said. “W-What?”Adolph’s face burned with embarrassment but he didn’t avert his gaze, holding her gaze and enduring the awkward quiet. “Will you… marry me?”Laurel couldn’t believe the gall of this man. Alice wailed in despair. *Don’t!*But what else could she do but reject him? Love or not, mate or not, she still had some manner of dignity! She drew back violently, “How could you be so cruel? I will not marry you to be your dead wife’s replacement!”Adolph looked as though he’d been slapped, shocked, and confused. “What?” He shook his head, his brown furrowing as he stared at her. “What does she have to do with us?”She scoffed, pushing free of him and wrapping her arms over her breast, curling into herself so her hair covered her partially, glaring at him and trying to forget the fact that she’d been curled up to his naked body. “You sent me your dead wife’s favorite flowers, and you made me move into y
Last Updated : 2022-11-29The Returned Luna Chapter 47: The Decision
Laurel woke up with a headache. She supposed she should have expected it after running around most of the night. She wanted to stay in bed, but she had work to do. She dragged herself out of bed and through getting ready before going downstairs to the dining room of the inn.“Laurel!” Eden called, waving at her. He stood from his table, “Care to join me for breakfast?”She smiled at him and nodded. She didn’t have much of an appetite, but she didn’t want him to worry. “You look a little better than you did yesterday.”She didn’t believe that for a second, “Really?”Eden hummed as she looked at the plate of food that was set before her and sighed. Her mind turned to Adolph’s proposal. He said it was all a lie, but he hadn’t explained anything more than that. How was she supposed to believe him?“I… wanted to say this yesterday,” Eden said, drawing her from her thoughts. His tone seemed a little hesitant and a little bitter. “If I were to leave the imperial city, would you like to come
Last Updated : 2022-11-29
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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?
