When The Moon Hides Her Crown novel Chapter 222

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIWE

“Healer Aran!”

William burst into Aran’s private chamber, his boots echoing sharply against the stone floor. “The trial has already begun, you said you wanted to witness it-” His words broke off as his breath caught in his throat.

The room before him looked nothing like a healer’s sanctum. The air shimmered with heat. Five white curtains floated midair, each one wreathed in fire that refused to consume them. The flames danced and twisted around the fabric as though defied by something far greater, something sinner.

“Healer Aran…what is this?” William’s voice trembled, his eyes widening as he recognized the bloodline marks glowing faintly across the burning cloth.

“Shhh…” Aran silenced him softly, eyes fixed unblinking on the floating curtains. The flickering fire seemed confused, repelled by the very bloodline marks woven into the fabric.

“H–how is that possible?” William stammered, taking a hesitant step forward. “Those bloodlines, they’re swallowing the fire!”

He turned to Aran in disbelief. “The other day you asked me to collect the bloodline–marked curtains after your ritual, the ones belonging to Alpha Ronan, Seth, Ryker, Asher, and Finn. And now…this? What are you doing, Healer Aran?”

“I am not doing anything,” Aran said at last, his voice low, deliberate. “I was simply confirming my suspicion.” His lips curved faintly, eyes glinting in the firelight. “And guess what, William?”

William swallowed hard, his pulse quickening. “Your suspicion about them…it was right?”

He didn’t know what the healer had suspected, only that Aran had grown strangely silent ever since studying those five bloodlines.

Aran’s smile deepened, slow and unsettling. “All of them,” he murmured, “Are not what they appear to be.”

The words sent a chill crawling down William’s spine. The curtains crackled louder, the fire twisting into shapes, claws, wings, shadows.

“What do you mean by that, Healer Aran?” he demanded, voice unsteady. “This–this isn’t natural.”

Aran stepped closer to the suspended fabrics, his gaze falling on one in particular. “This,” he whispered, brushing the edge of a curtain marked in deep crimson, “Is anything but the Darven bloodline.”

His eyes darted across the others, scanning the shifting sigils until he froze. One of the bloodlines, burning faintly, had begun absorbing the mark belonging to Seth Darven.

Aran’s expression changed instantly. His pupils dilated, heart thundering in his chest. “What is happening inside the trial?” he demanded sharply.

“I–I’ll find out!” William stammered, mind–linking one of his men in haste. A few moments later, his voice came out shaky. “The Eagle has arrived!”

Aran’s eyes snapped to the merging bloodlines with Seraphina’s, his entire body tensing.

“The Eagle…” he whispered, the flames roaring higher, as if the very castle itself had heard its name.

SERAPHINA

Eagle…

Chapter 222 The Eagle Has Arrived

Why did his smile…feel familiar?

My feet pounded against the cold stone as I sprinted along the fourth floor of the castle. The moment my eyes collided with his smile I had not once stopped running because not only did I have to get away from the Eagle but I also felt that on this floor the space around me was narrowing.

“It’s absurd!‘ Phina shook her head and growled, “Something seemed to play with our mind.”

The air was thick, alive with the distant howls of wolves, some furious, some agonized. The howls of wolves rose and fell like a storm in the distance, and I couldn’t tell how many Alphas the Eagle had already taken down. Every cry of a wolf felt like a warning, a countdown I didn’t want to reach the end of.

All I could think about was going up, to the crown of the castle, where the real trial waited. Fighting was pointless. I had to move fast, unseen as much as I could.

Earlier the corridors split into four directions, each leading to its own staircase spiraling upward. So that meant there were four different staircases going in different directions in this castle towards the crown!

The Alphas had scattered across them, their roars and snarls colliding from every direction. So I was not sure who was ahead of whom. The castle was a maze that seemed to twist with every turn, as if it didn’t want me to find my way out.

I made it to the fifth floor but then I pressed myself against the wall as a shadow lunged across the hall ahead, two Alphas crashing through the opposite corridor.

“Shit, they are in my way,” I clenched my fists. If they noticed me I would have to fight no matter what.

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