Chapter 24
Logan stepped in, shielding her. His voice was steady. “Meghan, stop. There’s no going back.”
I raised my blade. “Good. I didn’t come to go back. I came to make you both pay.”
Then a voice boomed from the stairs.
“Enough.”
All eyes turned to the top of the stone path. An old man descended, his silver robe shimmering faintly in the firelight.
Elder Kael.
High arbiter of the Neutral Council. He hadn’t been seen in public in years.
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“Felicity Simons,” he said, voice sharp. “You are of the Fallen Clan. Touching the Moon Core violates three foundational decrees.”
Felicity didn’t flinch. “I carry Holloway blood. I have a right to contest the Luna title.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed. “You are not on the inheritance scroll. You were never recognized by the Temple.”
“She never received the ritual baptism either!” Felicity snapped. “She’s only first because she was born first!”
“No,” Kael said. “She is Luna because the moon chose her”
I stepped forward.
“If she completes this blood rite,” I said
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ur neutrality ends. You’ll be
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elder stepped out from the crowd
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ad lou smiled grimly. “I speak for the Goddess.”
erla
erek scoffed. “Don’t sanctify your
olitics. With Felicity’s rise, we gain Fallen lliance. Three times the warriors. Triple the resources.”
Kael roared back, “And if she fails, we lose everything. We become oath–breakers.”
My hands tightened around my blade.
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The Pack… is already cracking.
Felicity stepped closer, breath ragged.
“You know the first time I saw you?” she said. “You were standing on a podium, perfect little uniform, talking about Luna honor. The whole school said you looked like the Moon herself.”
She laughed–bitter and bright.
“And I had no name. No family crest. Nothing.”
I stared at her. “That’s why you want the throne?”
“I want it because I never had anything!” she screamed. “And you were born with it all!”
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Rwhispered, “You’re still unworthy.”
We clashed again–magic and steel. She fought with fury, but it wasn’t enough.
I slashed the Moonchain from her waist, pinned her to the altar.
“You lived in my shadow?” I whispered. “Then burn in it.”
I raised my blade to strike-
Logan stepped in front of her.
Blood poured from a gash on his shoulder. He didn’t flinch.
“Stop” he said softly. “I gave her my word.”
I stared at him. “You’re going to die for her?”
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“She believes in me,” he said. “That’s more than you ever did.”
I laughed, but it cracked. “I gave you a title. A name. I broke myself in half to keep you safe. And you still chose her?”
“You never really saw me,” he whispered.
“And you never earned me.”
The moon burst through the clouds above, its light blinding.
My Moonmark seared. My blood howled. The Awakening had begun.
Felicity screamed and charged, dagger raised. Logan moved to flank me.
I countered–just as the altar exploded in white fire.
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Time froze.
I heard Lunara’s voice, soft but full of thunder.
“Choose, Meghan. Rise as Queen… or fall with them.”
My vision swam.
“Meghan!” Elias’s voice cut through the storm he was charging through flames, arm outstretched-
But it was too late.
A black vine whipped from below the altar, wrapping around my ankle.
The oathstone beneath my feet split in two.
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Kael lunged, trying to catch me, but the shockwave sent him flying back.
Felicity, bloodied and smiling, watched me fall.
“Goodbye, sister,” she whispered.
Blood rain poured from the sky.
I clutched the altar’s edge, breath ragged.
“You can’t die,” I told myself. “You haven’t finished what you started.”
But the earth gave way, and I tumbled into the pit.
Into the dark.
