Chapter 93: The sky was bleeding
Rhett sat tall atop his midnight-black steed, Stormbringer, the beast pawing the dirt as if it too sensed what was coming. His cloak billowed behind him, the insignia of his bloodline, a twin-headed wolf entwined in flame, etched into the back in silver thread. Every muscle in his body was wound tight with awareness, his pulse thundering like a war drum.
Beside him, Magnolia’s silver wolf eyes glowed faintly in the shadow of her hood. Her armor, dark lunarsteel trimmed with bone-white accents, molded to her body like a second skin. She didn’t speak, didn’t glance his way. But he felt her.
Felt her through the bond that had grown stronger with every encounter, every moment of shared pain, every night they didn’t sleep because the memories wouldn’t let them. Now it hummed between them like a live wire, sparking in his chest and pooling in his palms.
She finally turned. "If we die tonight, "
"We won’t," Rhett cut in, his voice low, rough.
"But if we do," she persisted, "know that it was never a curse. What we share... I’d choose it again."
He met her gaze. The world shrank until it was just her. Her messy braid tangled with bone charms. The scar above her lip from the first battle she won. The bite mark he’d left on her shoulder that she never healed. A thousand words unsaid passed between them.
Then Camille stepped from the tree line, cloaked in black, face pale as chalk.
Her lips barely moved. "They’re coming. Sterling sent scouts. You’ve got an hour."
Magnolia dismounted. "You shouldn’t be here."
"I had to see it," Camille replied, her voice distant. "I had to see the prophecy unfold. The blood moon. The Alpha pair. The last Luna daughter walking toward the gate of her death."