TWENTY-EIGHT LUNARIA
TWENTY-EIGHT
LUNARIA
She told them everything. This was the full truth, laid out in all its terrible detail.
The Hollow King.
The Holt curse.
Cornelius Marsh. The man who’d made the deal, who’d volunteered his wife’s family as the anchor for a binding that should have been impossible.
Who’d killed Deia Tullio when she discovered the truth, silenced Georgia Gentry and Isandro Holt to protect his secret, and left behind a fragment of himself that still stalked Haven Shores from beyond the grave.
The Convergence. The moment when celestial alignments would thin the barriers between realms and give the Hollow King—fed on stolen futures for over a century—the power to cross over fully.
When it manifested, it would consume every fated bond in Haven Shores—including the five couples who’d formed during the mating surge.
Including Avine and Theo. Junie and Leo. Cassia and Aero. Narla and Wyatt. Dahlia and Cal.
When she finished, the silence was absolute.
Then Junie’s hand tightened on hers—hard enough to hurt, hard enough to ground her.
“We’re going to destroy this thing.”
Her cousin’s voice was steady, certain, without a hint of the fear Lunaria had expected. Junie’s other hand came up, flames of chaos magic dancing across her knuckles like restless fireflies.
“I’ve been brewing things. So many things.
Leo keeps tripping over boxes of potions every time he walks through the house.
” The flames brightened. “My chaos magic should be very effective against void creatures. They exist in the spaces between moments, right? Chaos disrupts patterns. I can make those spaces very uncomfortable for them.”
“The Convergence will affect weather patterns.” Cassia’s storm energy crackled louder, lightning flickering behind her dark eyes.
“All that celestial realignment—it’s going to mess with atmospheric pressure, electromagnetic fields, the whole system.
I might be able to use that. Channel the disturbance into something useful instead of letting it just... happen.”
“I can coordinate the defense.” Avine was already producing a notebook, scribbling what looked like a battle plan.
“The Siren’s Rest can be a staging ground—it’s central, it’s warded, and I’ve hosted enough community gatherings to know how to manage a crowd.
And my sea magic...” She looked up, meeting Lunaria’s eyes.
“If you need more power for the gardens, I can help channel it.”
“Beck Driscoll’s already reached out,” Avine added.
“He and Rosemary came to the Siren’s Rest earlier.
She’s a marine biologist—been tracking unusual tidal readings off the coast that line up exactly with the Convergence timeline.
She spread her charts across my dining table, and Beck sat beside her, handing her things before she asked, the way you do when you know someone’s rhythms by heart.
If the void comes from the water, we’ll know. ”
“Truth magic.” Narla spoke for the first time, her voice soft but certain.
“The candles showed what was hidden before—the mates nobody could see, the bonds that hadn’t formed yet.
Maybe they can help reveal the Hollow King, strip away whatever’s protecting it.
You said it hides in the spaces between things.
What if we shine light into those spaces? ”
“Cal and I are coming back.” Dahlia’s voice cut through from the tablet screen, brooking no argument.
Behind her, Cal nodded—a single, decisive motion.
“Don’t argue. We’re already booking flights.
We’ve come back once. We can do it again.
Our family is in Haven Shores, and we’re not letting some void parasite eat our bonds because we were too stubborn to come home. ”
Lunaria stared at them—at these women she’d known for barely a month, who were already planning to fight an ancient evil because she’d asked them to. Because Haven Shores was their home. Because they’d chosen each other, built a prize worth protecting, and refused to let anything take it away.
Years of handling everything alone.
And now...
“I don’t—” Her voice cracked. She cleared her throat, tried again. “I didn’t expect this.”
“What did you expect?” Junie’s hand was still locked around hers.
“That we’d run? That we’d pack up and leave town before the scary void thing showed up?
” She snorted. “Luna. We fought a Devourer. We survived a siren attack. Cassia’s mated to an eight-hundred-year-old dragon, and Avine lives with a wolf alpha who can bench-press a car.
A little interdimensional entity isn’t going to scare us off. ”
“It should.” Lunaria looked around the room, at each of their faces. “This thing has been feeding for over a century. It’s stronger than anything we’ve faced. If it crosses over fully—”
“Then we stop it before it does.” Avine’s voice was calm, certain. “That’s what you’re building the weapon for, right? The orrery in the gardens. Deia’s final project.”
“Yes, but—”
“Then we help you finish it. We show up, we fight, and we win.” Avine reached across the coffee table and took Lunaria’s free hand. “You came to Haven Shores expecting to leave. We’re not going to let you.”
The words hit her somewhere deep—somewhere she’d tried very hard to keep protected.
“There’s more.” She tucked her hands against her chest. “Something I haven’t told anyone.”
The room went quiet. Waiting.
Then Narla moved—standing from the window seat, crossing to her bag, retrieving an object that glinted in the fairy-light glow.
A candle. One of her mate-revealing candles, the same kind that had caused so much chaos and heartache and eventual happiness across Haven Shores.
“When I light a candle,” Narla said quietly, “I see Wyatt. Every time. The flame shows me my fated mate.” She held the candle out. “What do you see when you light one?”
Lunaria’s stomach dropped. “I haven’t tried. I’ve been avoiding—”
“Try now.” Narla pressed the candle into her hands. “Let’s see what the truth shows you.”