When the Luna Walked Away novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Twins

The envoy was sitting at the head of my mother's kitchen table with his long coat on and a cup of the cook's coffee in front of him.

He hadn't touched it.

The twins' basket was on the floor by the stove, on the far side of the room from him.

The old cook stood in front of it with her cast iron pan.

Both laundry girls stood behind her with rolling pins.

The envoy looked very relieved to see me.

"Your Majesty," he said, and stood up. "Your staff are very loyal."

"They're not staff."

"So I've been told. Several times."

Thane came in behind me and filled the doorway.

He didn't say anything.

The envoy sat back down, slower.

I went to the basket.

The twins were awake, both of them, staring up at the ceiling with their newborn gray eyes.

The bigger one had kicked his blanket off.

I tucked it back in.

"You've come for them," I said.

"I've come to take my Alpha's heirs home." The envoy spread his hands on the table. "With respect. Their sire is dead. Their mother is cast out. The Blood Moon has no Alpha, and these are the only two with the blood. They belong in the north."

"In the north with who?"

"With us. We'll raise them."

"To do what?"

He didn't answer that.

"To grow up big," I said, "and come south one night with wolfsbane on their claws, like their father. To come for my son. To take this valley back. Isn't that what you'll raise them for?"

"They'll be raised as Blood Moon."

"They'll be raised here."

The envoy looked at me for a long moment.

"Here," he said.

"In this kitchen. At this table. With a cook who'll smack them with a spoon and fourteen people who'll love them whether their eyes go red or not."

The cook sniffed loudly.

"They'll learn to walk on this floor," I said. "They'll learn to swim in that lake. They'll learn their mother's name and their father's, and what both of them did, from me, when they're old enough to hear it."

"And then?"

"And then when they're grown, they can go north if they want. Both of them, or one, or neither. And if one of them sits your Alpha's seat someday, he'll sit it knowing how to kneel to the King."

I looked over my shoulder at Thane in the doorway.

"And the Queen," I said.

← Chapter 22 · All chapters · Chapter 24 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend