The forest breathed.
Silver leaves rustled above Aria as she moved deeper into the heart of the forgotten woodland. Moonlight filtered through twisted branches like shards of glass. Her red hair glimmered under the pale glow, but her eyes were darker now—guarded, hollowed, older.
She hadn't eaten in days. The voice still whispered in the back of her mind, but she had begun to resist it. Barely.
Every step she took led her further from the people she once called home—and closer to the origin of the curse inside her.
She followed a dream. A vision. Something Raekon once warned her about: the Forest of Mirrors, where the veil between reality and illusion thinned until one forgot which was which.
To find the truth, you must face your reflection, he had said.
Now, she was here. Alone. Determined.
---
Back at the stronghold, Kael was spiraling.
The council was in disarray. Raekon and Lyra argued constantly. Nyla had taken to patrolling non-stop, refusing to sleep.
But Kael? He trained.
Every day, he pushed himself beyond exhaustion. His once golden eyes had become dim with guilt, ringed with red. He spoke little. Ate less. His wolf form—now nearly always lurking beneath his skin—took on a more aggressive, primal edge.
"She's alive," he said one night.
Raekon sighed. "You keep saying that."
"Because I'd feel it if she wasn't."
Raekon hesitated. "The Whisperer is moving again. Celene's gone. Vanished from the dungeons."
Kael's head snapped up. "What?"
"She left a message. Said she had a deal to make with the vampire king."
"She'll lead him to Aria."
---
Aria stood before a lake so still it reflected the stars. As she stepped closer, her reflection stared back—not herself, but Lunaria.
The version of her born from pain, from blood, from destiny.
"You are not strong enough," the reflection whispered.
"I will be."
"You were always meant to be alone."
"No. I chose solitude. That's not the same."
The water rippled. Shadows reached for her ankles. She stepped back. Her runes burned.
Then a voice called out—no, echoed through the trees.
"Aria."
She turned. A figure emerged. A woman.
Beautiful. Tall. Familiar eyes.
"Mircella?"
But it wasn't her stepmother. Not exactly. This woman wore a crown of bone. Her skin shimmered with dark light.
"I am the First Moonbound," the woman said. "The first of your blood to bear the curse. I died screaming beneath this moon."
Aria's breath hitched. "Why are you here?"
"To offer you a choice. Let the shadow take you—and live as its queen. Or destroy it—and die."
"I'll find a third path."
"There isn't one."
"But if I die, it wins anyway."
"You don't understand. The Whisperer is using the curse to evolve. To become something new."
"Then I'll evolve faster."
---
Kael and his pack arrived at the forest's edge days later. The path into the Forest of Mirrors shimmered like oil. Raekon paled.
"We must enter together or lose each other forever."
Nyla drew her blades. "Then we go together."
Inside the forest, illusions came fast. Nyla saw her brother alive. Lyra saw her lost love. Raekon relived a betrayal. Kael… Kael saw Aria walking away from him. Again. And again.
Until he screamed her name—and the illusion broke.
"Kael!" Raekon shouted. "We found something!"
A blood sigil carved into a tree. Her scent. Her rune.
She was close.
The path twisted, narrowed, darkened. Trees whispered in languages long dead. Nyla's skin broke into gooseflesh. Even Raekon looked afraid.
Then the whisper came again.
You're too late.
---
Aria stood in the center of an ancient stone circle. Runes blazed around her. The First Moonbound's voice rang out:
"You cannot kill it. You are bound. The moment the blood moon rises, the Whisperer will own you."
"Then I'll make sure it never rises."
She raised her hands—and the runes exploded with white fire.
The forest around the circle screamed. Trees cracked. Light and darkness clashed above her.
"Lunaria, stop!" the First Moonbound cried. "This will destroy you!"
"I don't care!"
---
Kael and the others burst into the clearing just as a shockwave of moonlight tore through the forest. Aria stood in the center, her red hair blazing like a comet.
"Aria!" he shouted.
She turned. Her eyes were glowing. But behind her—emerging from the shadows—was Celene.
And behind her, something ancient, cloaked in mist. The Whisperer.
"You came," the vampire lord said, smiling. "Just as I knew you would."
Aria screamed as the final rune flared and shattered.
And then everything went dark.
---
When she woke, Aria was alone in a prison of obsidian.
Chains made of moonlight bound her wrists. Her red hair clung to her face, damp with blood and sweat.
"You tried to break fate," said a voice. "Now fate will break you."
The Whisperer stepped into the light.
"You will kneel. You will rise. As mine."
Her heart pounded. But deep inside her, something ancient stirred. A fire. A howl.
Lunaria wasn't finished yet.