Luna Everleigh's POV
***
The crimson moon lingered in the sky long after the battle had ended.
I stood at the edge of the ruined battlefield, watching as the last remnants of Seraphine's darkness faded into the cold wind. The kingdom was quiet, the weight of survival pressing into every breath, every heartbeat.
But beneath that quiet was something else. Something that coiled deep inside me, an unfamiliar hum beneath my skin.
I wasn't the same.
Not human. Not just a wolf. Not even a Lunar Guardian anymore.
Something else.
"Luna."
Rhydian's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
He stood a few feet away, bloodstained and bruised but alive. His golden eyes flickered in the dim light, searching my face like he could find all the answers there.
But I had none.
His brows furrowed. "You're too quiet."
I forced a smile, but it felt like a fragile thing, like glass ready to crack. "Just thinking."
"About what?"
Everything.
The battle. The power still simmering under my skin. The way my body no longer felt entirely mine.
Instead, I said, "What happens next?"
Rhydian exhaled, running a hand through his blood-matted hair. "We rebuild. We heal." Then, softer, "We go home."
I swallowed. "Home." The word felt foreign.
Because I wasn't sure I had one anymore.
—
***
To be continued...