"Hey," he murmured.
She didn't move. Didn't even turn. And that was when he felt it. The anguish rolling off her.
His chest constricted. He closed the distance in two strides, spinning her gently but firmly to face him. His heart split open at the sight.
Her face was streaked with tears, her eyes swollen and red, and she looked so heartbreakingly fragile he nearly roared at the universe. "Moonlight?" His hands cupped her cheeks, thumbs brushing over wet skin as if he could erase the evidence of her pain.
"Babe? What the hell happened?"
Luna merely gazed up at him, her lashes wet, her lips trembling. What was she supposed to say to him? That a lowly maid had dared to threaten her place, her crown, her love? How petty it sounded, even in her head.
She swallowed, straightening her spine in defiance of her own fragility. "I'm fine," she whispered, the lie tasting bitter on her tongue.
