Chapter 7 Lunara's Cry

The chamber breathed smoke and silence. Sage crackled in the shadows, its scent thick as prophecy. The mark on Sasha's arm had blazed again last night, silver-blue fire, alive and violent. Mama Liana had seen it. She hadn't spoken, only tilted her head to the unseen and whispered to something that answered with silence.

Now they stood beneath the temple vault, deep in the sanctum where no lie could survive and no truth came without blood.

Ryan. Derick. Mama Liana. And Sasha.

Dust clung to the air. A stone pedestal sat in the center, carved with runes so old they pulsed faintly when Sasha stepped near.

"Open it," Mama Liana said, voice low.

Ryan hesitated but obeyed. The seal cracked open with a groan like the earth mourning. Inside was a thick, ancient tome bound in what looked like moon-touched leather. Faded silver letters danced across the cover.

"The Book of Bloodlines," Mama Liana whispered. "No one has touched it in over two hundred years."

Ryan opened it slowly. The pages shimmered under his fingers. A symbol burned into view a crescent moon wrapped in flame. Beneath it, written in forgotten ink, was a name.

Lunara Valerieth.

Ryan's voice trembled. "Born under the twin eclipse. Blood of the Moon Line. Daughter of the Last King..."

Sasha stumbled back, clutching her chest. "What... what is this?"

Mama Liana's eyes were wet with something between reverence and fear. "Your real name, child. You are Lunara, daughter of King Alaric Valerieth. The last ruler of the Moon Court."

The silence cracked. Sasha's breath grew shallow.

Mama Liana explained the truth with solemnity in her voice.

"Years ago, there was a war between the Moon Court and the dark packs who feared the prophecy. They feared you. It was said, 'She will return as flame and quake. The Earth will answer her sorrow.'"

"They wanted you dead. Your father knew he wouldn't survive. He took you to the human realm himself. He laid you at the steps of an orphanage. You were a baby swaddled in runes. He blessed you with a seal of power and whispered his last prayer..."

Mama Liana stepped forward. "Fate, find her. Hide her until the moon calls her name again."

Sasha dropped to her knees. Her chest rose in short, shallow breaths. "No... no. I suffered for a man who wasn't even my father. I was never loved. I was never protected. Why do they want me now?"

No one answered.

She turned and fled.

"Sasha, wait!" Ryan's voice chased after her, raw and urgent.

But Mama Liana raised a hand, her eyes never leaving Sasha's.

"She needs time," she murmured, voice low, almost reverent. "Let her go. Thirty minutes. Then follow."

She didn't know how far she ran. She didn't feel the branches scraping her arms or the cold biting her toes. She ran until she reached the edge of the woods-until the trees parted and revealed the river, wide and moonlit, quiet and ancient.

She collapsed to the ground near the water, sobbing. Her tears fell into the current.

"Why me?" she screamed. "Why do they want me dead? Why does pain follow me everywhere?"

The wind howled through the trees. The surface of the river began to shimmer, not ripple, shimmer. As though light danced just beneath it.

Sasha's cries stilled.

Something was moving in the water.

From the depths rose a shape graceful, terrible, and wrong.

A woman emerged, barely human . Her long silver hair trailed behind her like a river itself. Her skin gleamed pale violet, her eyes glowing opalescent. Where legs should be, there was a massive tail black with hints of obsidian blue, adorned with ancient pearls that pulsed with a life of their own. Beautiful, yes. But deadly. She is a mermaid. Mermaids are real.

Sasha froze, unable to move.

The mermaid hovered above the water's surface, her voice a smooth whisper.

"Lunara... you've grown."

Sasha stood slowly, her legs trembling. "Who are you? What do you want from me."

"I am Seraphine. I loved your father once. More than you could understand."

Seraphine's smile was cruel and cold. "He chose to give the moon's legacy to you. A child. A mistake. But the moon isn't for the weak."

Sasha backed away. "You're dead."

"I am... almost dead. I need your power to come alive again. Once I have it, I'll rise again-queen of sea and moon. But if you keep it, you will suffer. The prophecy will kill you... or your child."

Sasha clutched her stomach. "What did you say?"

"You don't want to risk that, do you?" Seraphine floated closer, her voice soft, seductive. "Give it to me. The bracelet, child."

Sasha's eyes widened. "How do you know about the bracelet?"

Seraphine's smile widened. "Because I am powerful. I see everything."

Sasha's hand trembled as it moved to her wrist, where the charm bracelet her father left her glinted faintly.

Behind her, twigs snapped.

Ryan burst into the clearing. "Sasha?"

She spun around.

To him, she was alone.

Ryan stepped forward, eyes wide. "Who are you talking to?"

She turned back to Seraphine.

But the mermaid was gone.

The air felt colder. The river had stilled.

"She was right there," Sasha whispered. "Didn't you see her?"

Ryan held her face gently. "There's no one here. Sasha, are you-?"

"No," she said. "No. She was here. She knew about the bracelet. She... she said the moon would kill me. Or my baby, I don't want our baby dead Ryan."

Ryan's eyes darkened. "She's trying to break you."

Sasha stepped back. Her body began to glow again-gold, silver, blue. Her mark flared. The trees around them creaked. The river bubbled.

Seraphine's voice whispered in the wind.

"I am so close... I will not be denied."

Mama Liana arrived moments later, breathless. "Get her away from the water!"

Ryan didn't hesitate. He scooped Sasha into his arms. She was shaking, whispering things about Seraphine's voice, about dying, about fate.

Back at the temple, they began the rite.

An incantation. Ancient words. A flame circle. Symbols drawn in ash and bloodroot.

They called on the ancestors. On the old gods of moon and tide.

They spoke the Binding.

As the final word was spoken, a scream ripped through the air inhuman and furious. The windows shattered. The river near the woods exploded into mist.

Seraphine was banished.

But not destroyed.

Sasha collapsed into Ryan's arms.

He held her, even as the mark on her arm glowed like fire against his skin.

"I am Lunara," she whispered, breathless and broken. "And I am done hiding."