The Vampire's Luna

Luna turned, the smile still fixed on her lips but dulled in her eyes. "You and I know he won’t be. He wanted me to be queen of the Werewolf Kingdom. Not... Blood City."

"He came to respect Damien, and he would give anything to see you safe," Ravena said, her voice trembling with the weight of memories too sacred to speak of aloud. "Being with Damien meant you would be safe and alive. Nothing else mattered. He was a good father."

Luna touched her arm gently.

"I know you miss him, Mum. I miss him too." Her father’s death was a wound that hadn’t scabbed over yet. It never would. "If you want, you could stay here some more after the coronation."

Ravena laughed softly, but there was no real mirth in it. "I miss real sun more," she replied, her smile touched with longing. "I miss the woods. I miss letting my wolf out. I’d rather be home...The only thing about home that isn’t appealing is Kyllian’s Luna."

Luna groaned. "Mum... you are supposed to encourage him to get closer to his wife."

Ravena arched an elegant brow. "Encourage him? The maids come to my quarters to hide from her, Luna."

Luna crossed her arms, lips twitching in exasperation. "He can sense that you do not like her. And Kyllian respects you almost as much as he did Father. Could you at least pretend that you like her?"

"I try," Ravena said, raising both hands in a gesture of mock surrender. "But she makes it difficult. The way she stares down everyone like they’re beneath her... it’s not fitting of a Luna much less a queen...Although... gossip around before we left is that Kyllian finally did his husband duties."

Ravena smiled knowingly.