Luna was gone.Out there, alone, in a place surrounded by fae territory where she could easily fall into one of their miserable traps. Hell. She’d almost been lured off the path earlier, and if he hadn’t been there to snap her out of it . . . he didn’t even want to think about what would’ve happened.
Panic rose inside him, coiling around every muscle. He forced himself to breathe, to not spiral. His brilliant, stubborn little starlight, who survived above all else, surely would be smarter than to walk the forest path, right?
Dread sank into his bones.
Because the thing he loved about her—how she refused to see how dangerous the world was—also made her reckless. And maybe naïve enough to believe that simply knowing about the fae and their danger meant she could safely walk the forest path alone . . . and that would cost her everything.
“You just let her leave . . . ?” His voice came out rougher than intended, his shadows gathering at his hooves like attack dogs sensing their master’s rage. “You can’t possibly bethatignorant. In case you forgot, we’re surrounded by the fae.”
“Screw you.” Corey grabbed the ball of dough and hurled it with impressive accuracy. It hit him square in the chest before thudding to the floor, leaving a white mark on his black shirt. “She’s a grown woman, and last I checked, we weren’t her keepers.”
No, but if that’s what she needs to stay safe,he thought to himself.I’ll happily accept that role.
Temper barely contained, Damien brushed flour from his shirt. “That doesn’t mean you let her wander into danger.”
“She’s smarter than you give her credit for,” Corey shot back. “She knows what happened to Ella. And I told her to stay close and not go wandering into the trees.”
Marion, always the voice of reason, calmly said, “Give her some space, Damien. She probably needs time alone to process everything. She’ll come back. Don’t worry.”
Don’t worry? He wanted to laugh . . . or break something. Maybe both.
He wasn’t just worried—he was going out of his goddamn mind with need. Need to find her, to run his hands over every inch of her to make sure she was whole, to hear her call him overbearing for hovering.
Because those eyes . . . Nina’s wild blues had stared him down from that carriage with such longing it had made his very bones shiver. For that brief second, he could’ve sworn he was staring at Luna. His Luna.
But that was impossible . . . insane, even.
Clearly, Nina’s words were getting to him—making him doubt himself, and he knew better than to do that. Her insistence that she was Luna was a mere ploy; a desperate attempt to avoid returning to the enemy she’d once cursed. After all, Nina was not someone to be underestimated, and the tales of her cunning ways had so far held true.
“Oh, I forgot.” Corey wiped her hands on her apron. “She said there’s a note for you in the bedroom. Wanted you to read it once everything was done.”
His pulse kicked up, and he crossed the room in three long strides, heading down the hall to Luna’s quarters.
His hands shook, actually shook, as he reached for the door handle.
“Luna?” His knuckles brushed against the wood. “You in there?” Despite the sheer adrenaline pumping through his veins, making his hands shake, it felt wrong to enter without knocking first.
No one answered.
Which of course, no one did. He swung the door open and stepped inside.
It was empty. The bed was neat—untouched—the blanket smoothed flat and the pillow still fluffed, as if no one had slept there at all.
His heart stumbled once, then dropped.
A small folded scrap of paper lay in the center of the mattress.
He crossed the room, the floorboards suddenly too loud, and picked it up. The paper crackled under his fingers.
Dear Damien,
I have left. Do not come searching for me.
Luna
Well, at least this time, she’d left a note. That was progress.
Last time she’d run, she’d vanished without a trace, and he found her surrounded by humans, half dead. He hadn’t blamed her for running then—trust was a luxury, and he should’ve been more honest given all she was dealing with . . . But he thought they were past all that . . . thought she was beginning to see him as more than just a monster who happened to save her.
