Chapter 6 - Run Before Moonrise
Mara did not remember reaching the horses.
She remembered fire.
She remembered Rowan shouting.
She remembered Selene’s blood on her hands.
Then she was riding through a hidden gate beneath the west wall, Elara strapped to her chest, Lucan beside her, and the palace burning behind them.
“Your mother?” Lucan asked.
Mara could not answer.
He understood anyway.
Behind them, bells rang without rhythm.
Ahead lay the frozen Blackwood.
“We need the abbey,” Mara said.
Lucan glanced at her. “Why?”
“My mother said the child has until moonrise. The abbey has old records. Real ones. Not palace lies.”
“And the king?”
Mara stared forward.
“Rowan made his choice.”
She hated how much saying it hurt.
They rode until the city vanished behind trees.
At dusk, Elara became restless.
Small flames fluttered between her lips.
Mara stopped beneath a ruined stone bridge.
“Easy,” she whispered.
Elara’s wings flexed.
Lucan looked away politely while Mara tried to feed her.
The baby refused milk.
Instead, she reached toward Lucan’s belt.
Toward his steel dagger.
“No,” Mara murmured.
Elara grabbed the blade.
Lucan swore and reached for it.
The metal glowed red.
Then softened.
Elara bit the edge.
Mara stared.
“She’s eating it.”
Lucan looked offended. “That was a good dagger.”
Despite everything, Mara laughed.
It was the first laugh since the birth.
Then an arrow struck the stone beside her head.
Lucan shoved her down.
Riders burst from the trees wearing white masks.
“Priests,” Lucan said.
“How did they find us?”
A second arrow hit his horse.
The animal screamed and fell.
Lucan rolled clear.
Mara kicked her mare forward.
Masked riders closed from both sides.
One reached for Elara.
Mara slashed his face with Lucan’s half-melted dagger.
He fell.
Another rider grabbed Mara’s reins.
Then the forest roared.
Not a dragon.
Men.
Dozens of them.
Archers appeared among the trees and fired on the priests.
Within seconds, the attackers scattered.
A tall woman stepped from the shadows wearing wolf fur over black armor.
A scar crossed her mouth.
She looked at Mara.
Then at Elara.
The woman dropped to one knee.
“So it’s true.”
Mara tightened her grip on the baby.
“Who are you?”
The woman smiled.
“Someone your mother told you never existed.”
She lifted her head.
“My name is Tessa Vey.”
Lucan went white.
Mara looked between them.
May you like
Tessa’s smile disappeared.
“And I’m your captain’s sister.”
