Lyra's POV
"Will I survive it?"
The words escape before I can stop them, and the blind oracle's smile widens.
"That, child, depends entirely on you." She tilts her head, those white eyes somehow seeing straight through me. "Elder Moira, at your service. And to answer your question—yes, you will survive. The real question is: will you thrive?"
"I don't understand any of this." My voice cracks. "An hour ago, I was being rejected at my mating ceremony. Now I'm in some impossible realm with marks on my skin and a stranger claiming I'm his queen. None of this makes sense!"
The Moon King moves closer, and I instinctively back away until my spine hits the cold silver wall.
"Stop running," he says, his tone commanding but not harsh. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"You kidnapped me!"
"I saved you." His silver eyes flash. "There's a difference."
"Azriel," Elder Moira says gently, using his name like it's normal. Like he's not a terrifying immortal king. "Perhaps give the girl some space. She's been through a trauma tonight."
Azriel. So that's his name.
He stares at me for a long moment, then steps back. "Fine. But we need to talk about what happens next."
"What happens next," I say bitterly, "is you explain everything. Starting with why you think I'm this Moon-Born Queen, because I've been weak my entire life. Everyone's always said so."
"Everyone was blind." Azriel's voice is flat. "The seal your mother placed on you was designed to make you appear ordinary. Unremarkable. Forgettable. It worked perfectly—too perfectly. Even you believed the lie."
The marks on my skin pulse with soft light, as if agreeing with him.
"My mother died when I was born," I whisper. "I never knew her."
"She died protecting you." Elder Moira steps closer, her blind gaze somehow finding mine. "Celestia—yes, that was her name, the same as Azriel's first mate, they were sisters—she knew dark forces were hunting the celestial bloodline. She fled to the mortal realm, married your father, and sealed her power to hide. When you were born, she used the last of her life force to place an even stronger seal on you."
My chest tightens. "She died because of me."
"She died because she loved you," Azriel corrects, and there's something in his voice—old grief, carefully controlled. "Your mother was my mate's younger sister. Which means you're family to me, even without the prophecy."
I stare at him. "You were mated to my aunt?"
"Three hundred years ago, yes." His expression hardens. "She was murdered. Our daughter disappeared. I've spent three centuries hunting the ones responsible."
The pain in those words is carefully hidden, but I hear it anyway. Suddenly, his coldness makes more sense. He's not just an immortal king—he's a father who lost everything.
"I'm sorry," I say softly.
His eyes snap to mine, surprised. Like no one's said that to him in a very long time.
"Don't be sorry. Be ready." He straightens his shoulders. "The marks appearing tonight means your seal is broken. Your power will start awakening—slowly at first, then faster. You need training before it consumes you."
"Consumes me?"
"Celestial power without control is deadly," Elder Moira explains. "It will burn through you like wildfire if you don't learn to channel it. That's why you're here. That's why Azriel brought you to the one place where you can be taught safely."
I look down at the glowing marks on my arms. They're beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.
"What if I can't control it?" I whisper. "What if I'm not strong enough?"
"You are." Azriel's certainty is absolute. "The marks wouldn't have appeared if you weren't ready. The Moon Goddess doesn't make mistakes."
"She made one tonight," I say bitterly. "She gave me Kael as a mate."
"No." Azriel moves closer again, and this time I don't back away. "Kael was a test. A painful one, yes. But necessary. If you'd completed that bond, your seal would never have broken. You'd have lived your entire life thinking you were weak, never knowing your true power. The rejection—" He pauses. "—as cruel as it was, it freed you."
The words hit hard because part of me knows he's right. But it doesn't make the pain any less real.
"I lost my wolf," I say, my voice breaking. "She's gone silent. I can't feel her anymore."
"She's not gone." Azriel reaches out slowly, giving me time to pull away. When I don't, his hand settles over my heart, where the empty wolf-space aches. "I can feel her. Right here. Sleeping, wounded, but alive. When your power fully awakens, so will she. And when she does—" His eyes burn silver. "—you'll discover she was never small or weak. That was the seal talking, not reality."
Hope flares in my chest, fragile but real. "You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
His hand is still over my heart, and I realize I can feel it too—the bond between us, thrumming with energy. It's so different from what I felt with Kael. That was comfortable, familiar, safe. This is wild, dangerous, absolutely overwhelming.
"The bond," I whisper. "Can it be broken?"
Something flashes in Azriel's eyes—is it hurt? Anger? Both?
"No," he says flatly. "Celestial bonds are eternal. Once formed, they can't be severed. Not by rejection, not by death, not by anything."
"So I'm trapped."
"So you're protected." His tone hardens. "Do you have any idea how many wolves would kill to have a bond with the Moon King? How much power and status that gives you?"
"I don't want power or status!" The words burst out of me. "I wanted love. I wanted someone who chose me because of who I am, not because of some prophecy or bloodline or marks on my skin!"
Silence stretches between us.
Then Azriel does something unexpected—he pulls his hand back and steps away, giving me space.
"I understand," he says quietly. "Better than you think. My first mate bond was chosen by fate too, and it was—" He stops, his jaw tightening. "It was everything. Real. Deep. True. And when she was murdered, it nearly destroyed me. So I understand not wanting a forced bond. But this isn't about what either of us wants. It's about survival."
There's so much pain in his voice that my anger deflates.
"What now?" I ask tiredly.
"Now you rest," Elder Moira interjects gently. "Tomorrow, your training begins. But tonight, you need sleep. Your body has been through a trauma—both the rejection and the awakening. Come, I'll show you to your chambers."
She turns toward another doorway I hadn't noticed, and I follow because I don't know what else to do.
"Lyra." Azriel's voice stops me at the threshold.
I turn back.
He's standing in the center of that massive chamber, looking somehow lonely despite his power. The silver light catches in his dark hair, making him look like something carved from moonlight and shadows.
"I know you hate this," he says. "Hate me, probably. But I meant what I said—I will protect you. With everything I have. That's not an empty promise."
I want to throw his words back at him. Want to scream that I don't need another man making promises. But the sincerity in his voice stops me.
"Why?" I ask. "If this bond is just about the prophecy, why do you care if I hate you?"
His silver eyes hold mine for a long moment. Then he says something I don't expect:
"Because you deserve better than what you've been given. And because—" He stops, as if catching himself. "Get some rest. We'll talk more tomorrow."
He turns away, dismissing me, and I follow Elder Moira through corridors that seem to shift and change as we walk.
My chambers are beyond beautiful—a bedroom that looks like it's made of starlight and dreams. But I barely see it. I collapse onto the massive bed, my body finally giving out.
As I drift toward sleep, I feel it again—that flutter in my chest. My wolf, still there, still alive.
And something else. The bond with Azriel, humming softly, connecting us across whatever distance now separates us.
I should hate it. Should hate him for forcing this.
But all I feel is exhausted. Empty. Lost.
Tomorrow I'll figure out how to survive this new world.
Tonight, I just need to sleep.
I close my eyes, and my last thought before darkness takes me is: What have I become?
Miles away in the mortal realm, in the Thornwood Pack territory, Kael stands in his private chambers, staring at his hands.
They're still shaking. Have been since the Moon King appeared.
"She's gone," he whispers to the empty room. "I rejected her, and now she's gone."
Seraphina enters without knocking, her face tight with barely controlled rage. "Are you serious right now? You're mourning her? After everything we planned—"
"Shut up." Kael's Alpha command makes her mouth snap closed. "Just... shut up."
He can't feel the bond anymore. That connection to Lyra that's been part of him for four years—gone. Severed completely. And in its place is just... emptiness.
But worse than the emptiness is the memory of those marks appearing on her skin. The way the Moon King looked at her. The power that radiated from her once the seal broke.
"She was never weak," he says, the realization hitting him like a physical blow. "The whole time, she was never weak. She was the most powerful wolf in existence, and I—" His voice breaks. "I threw her away."
"You made the right choice," Seraphina insists. "She was pathetic. I'm stronger, better—"
"You're nothing compared to what she is." The words are out before Kael can stop them.
Seraphina's face goes white. "What?"
But Kael isn't listening anymore. He's already moving toward the door, a desperate plan forming in his mind.
"Where are you going?" Seraphina demands.
"To fix this," Kael says. "To find a way to get her back. The Moon King took what's mine, and I'm going to—"
He stops dead.
Because standing in his doorway, blocking his path, is a figure dressed in black robes. The stranger's face is hidden in shadow, but their voice is smooth as silk and twice as dangerous.
"Looking for the Moon-Born Queen?" the figure asks. "I can help you reach her. For a price."
Kael should refuse. Should slam the door. Should run.
Instead, he hears himself say: "What kind of price?"
The figure smiles—Kael can't see it, but he can hear it in their voice.
"Your soul, Alpha. But what's a soul compared to getting back your fated mate?"
And as Kael stands there, torn between sense and desperation, he doesn't notice the black magic seeping into his shadow.
Doesn't notice that he's already fallen into the trap.
The hunt for the Moon-Born Queen has begun.
And everyone wants her for themselves.