Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Luna
N othing good ever comes from getting involved with the condemned.
Luna knew this deep down, right down to his brittle bones aged by war and childhood illnesses that made him a skilled medic. And yet, he couldn’t help but turn on his heels towards the captives’ collective cage.
Night had fallen, and dusk was near. He could already smell the ending of Carnevale in the air. The intoxicating scents of fresh meat, sweet wine, and the sweat of sex clung to Luna’s robes as he crossed to the other end of the imperial palace.
Sleep had eluded him, and his heart still felt heavy. He knew Fernando del Fenix Shadowrin V more than he knew himself. The alpha was proud, strong, and true. But he was also greedy, stubborn, and woefully short-sighted. Finding Rikisha was like finding a needle in a haystack. Promising her safe return? Foolish. And now Luna was stuck making good on that lie that they could find her before the end of the Lunar Carnevale.
Stopping just in front of the bars of the cage, Luna scratched his chin and gazed up at the stars. It was the first night in weeks the sky wasn’t obscured by thousands of birdkin flocking to the month-long festival. The sliver of moonlight infused him with strength, a disciple of Lulana despite being a flame dragonkin.
“Alpha!” a guard greeted him suddenly, the same guard who slipped a secret message into his tent that brought Luna to the cage, saying a girl matching Rikisha’s sister was near this end of the slave barracks, protected by some human who could wield magic. A rarity.
Luna turned the guard’s way, eyes filled with contempt.
“Kneel!” he barked, and the much younger alpha did just that, trembling under the onslaught of bitterly cold wind despite his armor.
It was unseasonably cold, supernaturally so, and Luna was going to get to the bottom of it one way or another after he settled the present matter. Rolling his shoulders, Luna’s majestic gaze swept over the dying and dead naked humans huddle behind the rusted bars, and then to the corner where two clung to each other like lost werewolf pups without a pack to turn to.
One was an older girl, no more than nineteen, maybe in her early twenties in human years if he were being generous. Then there was the man with piercing eyes and beautiful, willowy body, with a mop of dark hair and full lips twisted in a snake.
The latter caught his attention, his milky skin peeking out of the dirt covering him, and delicate features underneath all his cuts and bruises arousing. And those moss green eyes… He was a stunning beauty, and it shocked Luna.
Luna growled, and the living humans present in the cage in fear. Lusting after a human beta? How low could he sink.
“Are these them?” Luna demanded, in his element, giving orders and having them received rather than playing manservant.
“Y-yes,” the guard kneeled lower, head pressed to the ground.
“Enough groveling. Give me the key,” and he did, crawling away. Luna opened the gate and walked inside, the other humans too weak and scared to try and escape.
“No need to play strong. I think I’m here for you, to sabe you,” Luna whispered to the girl who didn’t respond, glaring with shockingly familiar blue-gray eyes.
“What is your name?” he demanded.
When she didn’t answer, Luna asked once more, taking a knee in the filth so they were eye level with each other, “What is your name girl?” he whispered, voice gentler, trying to cox it out of her.
He couldn’t help her if she didn’t trust him. Not that she should trust a conquer complicit in her slavery in a vague sense by serving the empire, but Luna was the only reason she might live.
“What is your name?” he murmured, ignoring the way the humans tensed, looking ready to kill but knowing they’d be cut down in an instant. “At least tell me your guardians.”
“I speak for myself,” the beta gritted out. “I am Ramón. She is under my care, to protect her from those heretics who do not serve the true God, just his demented shadow.”
Luna blinked, a troubling sensation coming over him. There was something alluring and charming about his angry eyes and hornless head. Ridiculous.
“You have bespelled her?” he asked, wondering if that’s why he couldn’t sense her dragon blood, though the tips of carefully mutilated white horns flashed from his snow shite hair.
“To protect her from that demon.”
Oh, Nocturnos. Fenix had brought Luna up to speed. Something about a world-ending serpent and yadda yadda nonsense. Two cults with opposing missions were good enough for him. Ramón had shielded her from them, so Luna supposed he’d allow him to live.
“Name, girl,” he asked, needing to confirm, her scent useless. Either Akhtar lied and this was not his half-sister, or something had happened to break the natural link between them. A spell shouldn’t have masked kin ties, though maybe the beta was just that powerful a wizard. And in that case, he would most certainly live because he would be useful.
“Rikisha...” she finally whispered before bursting into tears, magic suddenly radiant even held back by seals, her body racked with sobs as she collapsed into the beta’s arms.
Luna stroked her white locks that fell past her waist. Thick and healthy, it was the only thing not ravaged by war on her body.
“TO THE CASTLE! FOR THE EMPIRE!” Luna whipped around, terror clouding his regal features as shouts sounded from outside the cage.
As if possessed, the humans alive got their nerve and fled. Luna held his charges, as they were knocked back and forth by the surge of human escapees. Then, Luna’s eyes widened in horror as the main palace was lit on fire, visible even at the back end. Bitter and metallic magic spread through the air, and he roared, a wave of fire burning the bars near Rikisha’s and Ramón’s head.
“Stay ready. Stay close!” Luna roared, spewing commands at a rapid clip as the castle guards tried to find some semblance of order, abandoning their human captives. He’d dragged Akhtar’s sister out and held Ramón by the wrist.
“It’s time for you to reunite with your brother. And you,” he demanded, as Ramón grunted his thanks, chains melted to pools of silver magma on the ground. “You will help me do just that.”