The Old Ruins
Day
town feel cabin fever settling in after being stuck inside the castle
A long. Being confined to my foor doesn’t help as there are only so many books to read and card games to be played. Even castle gossip is growing stagnant. I’m getting ready to climb the walls when my mother and maids finally agree to let me have lunch outside
Summer is giving way to autumn, and it’s beginning to get cold, so Nellie and Helga dress me in warmer clothes. The pregnancy makes me feel overheated more than anything, so I concede on a brown cardigan over a pale green sundress. I slip on a pair of brown sandals before quickly making my way out of my room and eventually out of the castle onto the grounds. Helga and Nellie follow with a large picnic basket.
My mother catches up to me before I can get far, chiding me for practically running down the hallways. “The doctor said light walks, not sprinting through the castle like the building is on fire.”
I smile sheepishly, too happy at being able to be outside and breathe in fresh air. I close my eyes and breathe in deeply. The midday sun warms my face, and I open my arms to soak in the light. This is what I had been missing. The forest grounds me like nothing else, settling something deeply inherent in my being.
I open my emerald eyes and glance over to my mother. She is smiling fondly.
“This reminds me of that time you broke your leg falling from that tree, and you couldn’t go outside for a week,” she says. “I had to
practically restrain you so you don’t try to cim out of the window
was egte” reply And Cormorans were playing withoUT THE It wasn’t far. I was bred”
18 let you you would have lived offsde of canently You and your brother were constantly getting outs and bruises from running through the woods
1 shrug. “We healed”
“Your father” she stops, he expression cortices. Her face always looks so forlom and tom whenever Bernard is menores He never cared what his children were doing. He was always s0 busy”
“Busy starting wars with our negntors“
My mother gives me a reproachful look. “Emory”
“What?” I return. “Why are you still trying to defend him? He forced our pack into one useless battle after another.”
“He’s always been ambitious. Ever since he was young, he wanted to make something of himself. He wanted more for our pack.”
“He didn’t do any of it for the pack. He only wanted the best for himself. He was proud. An arrogant asshole who never listens to anyone, not even you.”
My mother sighs, yielding, “Bernard could be his own worst enemy at times.”
“More like all the time.” I take my mom’s hand. “It’s a nice day. Let’s not spoil it talking about Bernard.”
My mother agrees, and we make our way to the picnic spot Lola had chosen weeks ago. Nellie and Helga arrive behind us and set up the large blanket before taking out the food and drinks from the basket. They have been trying their best to make my mother feel welcome in the castle. They ask the cooks to make her favorite foods and ensure her room smells lik ses. My mother is living a more pampered life than when she was the Luna of the Moonraker
pack
We take a seat on the blanket as the maids serve us our food and pour us glasses of freshly squeezed lemonade.
“Kane told me there’s a ruin of an old church on the grounds,” I say to Helga and Nellie. “Do you know where it is exactly?”
Nellie nods. “It’s by the gamekeeper’s cottage.”
Helga looks at me warily. “Are you planning on going there, Princess? The ruins aren’t the safest place for you to be exploring in your condition.”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Everyone is treating me like I’m made of glass. I’m a pregnant woman, not a china doll that will shatter if not handled carefully. If I’d let them, Dr. Martin, Kane, and everyone else would roll me up in bubble wrap and force me to stay in bed till I went into labor.
I just want to take a look around,” I reassure Helga. “I’m not going to try and climb the ruins.”
“Why do you want to be running around the ruins anyway, Emory?” my mother asks, “What’s so fascinating about an old church?”
It’s a church that was for worshiping Selene. The vampires used
to revere the Moon Goddess like we do.”
My mother looks genuinely surprised. “The vampires prayed to the Moon Goddess?”
I look at Nellie, who nods and explains. “A long time ago. It was before King Michael was even born. His gra. .ather used to worship the Moon Goddess. I don’t know why we stopped honoring her.”
My mother stabs into a piece of asparagus with her fork. “Is it because you didn’t want to be associated with a Goddess wolf shifters worship?”
“…I wouldn’t know,” Nellie answers, uncomfortably. “All I know is what I’ve heard in passing from the older vampires in the castle. They used to worship Selene but stopped.”
“When it was no longer convenient?”
“Mom,” I admonish her, “we shouldn’t be questioning anyone’s
beliefs.”
She doesn’t say anything and focuses on eating her lunch. Lola and Willow join us. It’s apparent Lola’s been to the library because she’s got a new book tucked under her arm.
My mother has been trying to be kinder to Lola. My sister is not unhappy with the change but is conflicted. It will take some time to
heal old wounds.
I know my mother feels guilty for how she treated Lola in the past. She hadn’t been cruel to Lola and had elected to ignore her instead. When Bernard had tried to sell off Lola as a feeder to pay his debts, my mother had gone along with the plan, even been glad
finally see her husband’s illegitimate daughter be taken away. It’s a betrayal we all have to work through and try to move forward.
As much as I love my mother and I know she loves me, it’s hard for me to reconcile that she is capable of that of cruelty and direct it toward an innocent child. The entire tuation is ultimately
my father’s fault, but my mother has never made the effort to be kind toward my sister. Lola has been made to feel she’s an outsider in her own home. The damage that could do to such a young mind likely won’t even fully reveal itself until she’s older.
After we finish our meal, I insist that the maids take us to the ruins. The groundskeeper’s cottage is on the other side of the castle furthest from Queen Agatha’s rose gardens. We pass by the simple cottage and see the ruins nearby.
There isn’t much to see. The temple has fallen victim to the elements for a long time leaving only a few stone walls. The roof, glass windows, and floors are long gone. The front façade is half of an archway covered in ivy.
I walk through the ruins and try to imagine what grand building used to stand there. I grew up going to temple on Sundays and on special occasions to worship the Moon Goddess. The temple in Moon Grove is made of sandstone with high ceilings and stained glass windows. The stones of the ruins are the same shadow gray color of Castle Graystone, and I assume the two buildings might have had the same architect.
“What’s so important about the ruins, Emory?” Lola asks. “It looks like a giant went and stomped on this place. There’s nothing here.”
“This used to be a temple, Lo,” I clarify. “The vampires used to worship the Moon Goddess, just like us.”
are the Moon Rockless debut the them as much as she likes
Amen with us
wey hear Ahas Margaretold me we were the Maan
Look Twp. That’s why we have two forms, as we will always be able to protect ourselves and of loved ones from harm”
That might be at Willow cut in with a conspiring tone. “We were Asalous of the Moon Goddess‘ favoritism, and we turned on
Vampires don’t play second fiddle to anyone. We’re a proud
Lola purses her lips. “Who do vampires worship now?”
“We don’t,” Willow answers. “After King Aeneas died, the practice of religion slowly went out of fashion.”
“You don’t believe in any gods?”
“I know some vampires worship other gods, but the vast majority. of our kind have stopped praying to a monastic deity.”
“What’s monastic?”
“It means singular, only one.
Lola seems to accept that answer. She tries to climb the remaining stone façade of the church. Her little arms and legs cling to the rouge gray stones as she struggles to get her footing. I watch her
+25 BONUS
nervously, and so do the other women. The façade is at least twenty feet high, and if Lola is to reach the top and fall…
“Lolal” I call out. “Maybe you should come down!”
She doesn’t stop and grabs on the half arc f the façade to pull herself forward. “I’m almost there!”
“Be careful!”
My heart starts beating faster as her hand reaches for the stone above her, her feet perched on a ledge. I watch her fingers strain to grasp the ledge and miss. Her other hand slides off the stone, then her legs. Time slows down as she drops from high above us. Before I can even scream or move in that direction, I know Lola is going to hit the ground.
If she lands on her head, she might have a concussion or bash her skull on the hard ground. She could snap her neck. She could damage her spine and end up paralyzed. The best case is if she broke an arm or a leg because she can heal from those injuries.
I can only watch in horror as her little body flutters through the air.
Then she stops mid–air as if an invisible barrier is keeping her up. We all stare wide–eyed as Lola is slowly lowered to the ground by an invisible hand. Her feet touch grass, and she looks down at herself in surprise. She turns to me with wide gray eyes.
I run to her and grab her in a hug. I k*ss the top of her blonde head, relieved she’s in one piece before I pull away to check her for injuries and see there isn’t a scratch on her. Lola begins to squirm
in my grasp.
“Don’t you ever do that again,” I rebuke her. “You could have gotten
seriously hurt or worse.”
“But I didn’t,” she replies. T’m fine.
“It could have gone all wrong. I told you to be eful when climbing”
“Tm fine,” she repeats in a whine.
Miraculously, she is completely fine. This doesn’t make sense. There had been that invisible force that caught her, stopping her fall. It had looked like magic.
I spin around to see what might have caused it. Nellie, Helga, and my mother are standing wide–eyed and look as shocked as I am, I know it’s not me. Magic is beyond a wolf shifter’s capabilities.
Real magic like that hasn’t been seen in centuries. It’s only been heard of in old folk tales of witches.
Witches. Could it be?
look down at Lola and cup her face in my hands. “How did that happen?” I ask her, already feeling that I know the answer.
She points toward where Willow is standing. The female vampire’s face has gone completely white. She looks utterly terrified, like a deer frozen in the face of a predator.
“Willow is a witch,” Lola reminds me.
I turn to Willow, but she’s not even blinking. I guess Lola scared her
to death, too.
