Rain still fell when Aria returned to the healer’s quarters the following night. The storm had not ceased since her discovery—it felt as though the skies themselves were caught in mourning, each drop a tear from the Moon Goddess.
The corridors were nearly empty, echoing only with the soft rhythm of water against stone. The keep slept under a restless moon. Aria’s cloak clung to her shoulders, heavy with damp, but she barely noticed. She had not slept since learning of the three heartbeats. The knowledge thrummed beneath her skin, a rhythm both wondrous and terrifying.
When she entered, the scent of herbs and crushed petals filled the air. Sister Naeva stood by the fire, grinding resin into a bowl. Her pale hair glowed in the dim light, giving her the look of an old spirit rather than a woman.
“You came,” the healer said softly, not turning. “I was expecting you. The Moon rarely lets those she marks rest.”
Aria stepped closer. “Tell me everything,” she said. Her voice was steady, but her fingers clenched at her sides. “The truth, not the kind the council teaches. I need to know what my children are.”
Naeva’s hands stilled. For a long moment, the only sound was the crackle of the hearth. Then the healer reached for a scroll from a shelf and unrolled it across the table. The parchment was old, edges singed, the ink faded but legible. At its center were three interlocked crescents drawn in silver ink.
“The Triple Moons,” Naeva murmured. “The goddess’s most dangerous gift.”
Aria leaned over the parchment. “Dangerous? They’re children, not omens.”
Naeva’s gaze met hers, pitying and grave. “And yet the prophecy does not see them as children. Listen, my lady.”
Her voice dropped into the cadence of the old tongue, reciting words older than any pack.
“When darkness devours the light and the red moon bleeds anew,
three hearts shall beat as one beneath the chosen womb.
From their cries the world shall tremble; from their breath, the balance bends.
Where they walk, thrones shall crumble, and Alphas shall fall.”
The words hung between them like smoke.
Aria’s pulse quickened. “Thrones shall crumble…” She looked up sharply. “The prophecy says they bring ruin?”
“Or renewal,” Naeva replied. “The seers never agreed. Some believed the Triple Moons would restore harmony to the packs; others that they’d usher in an age of blood. But all agreed on one thing—no Alpha who fathered them ever lived to see their first cry.”
Silence fell.
Aria felt the world tilt slightly, her breath catching. “No Alpha survives…” she repeated.
“It is said the goddess claims her due,” Naeva continued. “For the gift of three lives, she takes one bound by oath. The mate’s blood feeds the balance. The first mother of the Triple Moons lost her Alpha on the eve of their birth. Every record since ends the same.”
Aria’s throat went dry. In another life—another love—she might have mourned such a fate. But now, standing beneath the weight of betrayal, the prophecy struck her differently. Kieran would die if the goddess’s word proved true. Once, that thought would have broken her. Tonight, it felt like justice.
Still, the danger was not his death—it was what he would do to prevent it.
“Kieran would never accept this,” she said quietly. “If he learned, he’d call it treason against the Moon herself.”
Naeva nodded. “He’d try to end it before the prophecy could take root. You know the Alpha creed—if something threatens his rule, it must be destroyed.”
Aria pressed a hand to her stomach, feeling the faintest flutter beneath her palm. “Then he cannot know. Not until it’s too late for him to stop it.”
“Not until you’re far from here,” the healer corrected.
The words struck with finality. Far from here. Away from the stone walls she had called home, the keep she had bled for, the kingdom she had been bound to by love and illusion. A home built on her own undoing.
A flicker of lightning flashed through the narrow window, bathing the room in white light. For an instant, the silver crescents on the parchment seemed to move, alive under the Moon’s power.
Aria straightened, her voice firm. “You said the goddess rarely lets those she marks rest. Then she must also guide them. Tell me how to leave unseen.”
Naeva hesitated. “Leaving Silvercrest means exile. The border patrols will smell your scent before you reach the river.”
“Then I’ll hide it,” Aria said. “You once told me scent can be masked with ashroot and wolfsbane.”
The healer’s eyes softened with sorrow and pride. “You remember well.”
They worked together in silence. Naeva crushed herbs into a bitter paste, mixing them with melted tallow. She instructed Aria to anoint her wrists and neck, erasing the scent that marked her as Luna. The smell was acrid, biting, but necessary.
When the mixture was done, Naeva pressed a small vial into Aria’s hand. “Keep this close. It will hide your trail for three nights. After that, the Moon will decide.”
Aria tucked it into the folds of her cloak. “Three nights will be enough.”
The healer studied her for a long moment. “You are not the same woman who came to me yesterday.”
“I can’t afford to be,” Aria said.
Outside, thunder rumbled again. The firelight danced across her face, catching the glint of the Moon’s Tear pendant at her throat.
Naeva spoke again, softer now. “There’s more. The prophecy mentions another line—one I did not read aloud.” She hesitated, then recited, voice low as a secret:
“Guard them in shadow, raise them in flame;
the Luna who runs shall rise again.”
Aria’s breath caught. Runs. The word felt like an order.
“The goddess doesn’t command, my lady,” Naeva said gently. “She warns. When the Blood Moon rises, you must already be beyond these walls. The Triple Moons must be born under no Alpha’s name.”
Aria’s heart pounded. She imagined the path through the forest, the cold river crossing, the uncertain wilderness beyond Silvercrest’s borders. Fear clawed at her throat, but beneath it burned something fiercer—a spark of defiance, perhaps even hope.
She bowed her head to the healer. “Thank you, Sister. If the goddess is merciful, we’ll meet again.”
“Mercy rarely takes the form we expect,” Naeva replied. “Go with her light, child.”
Aria turned toward the door, but the healer’s voice followed her, trembling with both warning and reverence. “Remember, Luna—when you carry three hearts, you carry three fates. The world will follow your choice.”
Aria paused at the threshold. For a heartbeat, she looked back—at the healer, the parchment, the glow of the embers—and felt the weight of destiny settle over her shoulders like a cloak.
“I’ll make sure they live,” she said quietly. “Even if the world ends for it.”
Then she stepped into the corridor, where the storm’s roar met her like a challenge.
As she walked, lightning illuminated her path, guiding her toward the grand stairwell that led to the upper halls. Each flash seemed to echo a heartbeat—one, two, three—steady, defiant.
By the time she reached her chamber again, dawn was a smear of gray over the mountains. The rain had slowed, but the wind still howled. She stood by the window, watching the horizon.
The next full moon would come in seven nights.
Seven nights to disappear.
Seven nights before the prophecy demanded its due.
Aria pressed her palm to the glass, watching the first fragile rays of light pierce the storm. “They’ll call me cursed,” she whispered. “But curses are only blessings the wrong hearts fear.”
Behind her, the Moon’s Tear pendant shimmered once, brighter than before, as though the goddess herself had heard.
And somewhere deep in the mountains, far beyond Silvercrest’s reach, the wind carried a promise through the dark:
The Luna who runs shall rise again.
