The Luna’s Coronation
Sera was up before the sun. Couldn’t sleep, couldn’t sit still, couldn’t do much of anything except pace her room in socked feet until Tessa finally arrived with the veil.
The dress was gold. Pale gold, three weeks in the making. Everytime she caught her reflection in it, the same ridiculous grin spread across her face, impossible to hide. Tonight she’d be crowned Luna of Crimson Moon Pack. Damian standing next to her, the whole territory watching, the elders saying her name like it had always belonged there.
A year ago she would’ve laughed if someone told her this was coming.
“You’re gonna wear a hole in that floor.” Tessa stood in the doorway, veil bunched up in her arms, still not pinned right. “Sit down. You’re pregnant, not made of stone.”
“I’m fine.” She put a hand over her stomach barely showing yet, you’d only notice if you knew to look and something in her just went soft. A baby. Hers and Damian’s. Some mornings she still woke up and had to remind herself it was real and not something she’d made up. “Some mornings i still wake up convinced i’ve dreamed of all of this.” Sera admitted, resting a hand over the gentle curve of her stomach. “Then I remember’m carrying Damian’s baby, and tonight i’m becoming his Luna.” She laughed softly. “It still doesn’t feel like it belongs to someone like me.”
“Someone like you?” Tessa’s mouth twisted a little.
“You know. “I lost my parents when i was twelve. After that, I spent years moving between relatives who never really wanted me. Some days i still expect all of this to disappear.”
“It’s real.” Tessa got behind her, finally pinned the veil where it was supposed to go, fingers quick in her hair. “You earned it. Whatever the Goddess had to do with any of it you’re the one who showed up for him. Every day. That part’s yours.”
Sera looked at herself in the mirror and, just for a second, let herself believe that.
Downstairs the hall was already packed. Laughing, goblets clinking, some kid somebody’s cousin, she didn’t even know whose shrieking over the honey cakes like it was Christmas. The whole place felt alive in a way she hadn’t seen before. Banners everywhere. Flowers she didn’t even recognize, shipped in from three territories over because apparently Damian wanted it perfect, every detail, no exceptions.
He found her before she found him. He always did. Hands on her waist from behind, mouth right at her ear.
“You’re looking around like you still don’t believe any of this is for you,” he said, quiet enough that it was just for her.
“I don’t, really.”
“Get used to it.” He turned her around. He looked good tonight, sharp, hair combed back, that same confidence that made a room go a little quieter whenever he walked into it. “By midnight you’re my Luna. Officially. No more waiting on it.”
“By midnight I’ll be exhausted and my feet will hate me.”
He laughed at that, real and warm, and she leaned into him a second before the elders started waving people toward the center of the hall.
Cassandra was already watching them from across the room.
Sera waved her over, didn’t even think about it Cassandra was basically family at this point, had been since they were kids tearing through the same orchards, way before either of them had heard of a mate bond. Cassandra smiled back, same easy smile Sera had known her whole life, and pushed through the crowd toward them.
“You look like you’re about to cry,” she said, grabbing both of Sera’s hands.
“Might.”
“Don’t you dare, you’ll wreck your face before the ceremony.” She was smiling too wide for the scolding to actually land. “I’m happy for you. Really.”
“I know.” And Sera did know it, had never once doubted it in all these years. “Couldn’t do tonight without you here.”
Something crossed Cassandra’s face for half a second gone so fast Sera almost missed it and then she was just Cassandra again, tugging her toward the wine table, laughing about something one of the younger warriors had said. It passed. Sera didn’t think twice about it.
An hour before the crowning, one of the Omegas came through with a tray. Single glass of water, set dead center like it was more important than every goblet of wine in the room.
“For you, Luna.” The girl’s voice came out wrong somehow. Quiet, too fast, eyes stuck to the floor. “Elders said with the baby no wine tonight.”
Made sense. Thoughtful, even. Sera thanked her and the girl was already gone, swallowed back into the crowd like she couldn’t get away fast enough.
Sera drank it without a second thought.
It hit her maybe ten minutes later. Not all at once more like the floor tilting a half inch and staying there, the noise of the party going muffled and far off, her own pulse suddenly loud in her ears. She grabbed the edge of a table and breathed through it, counted the way Tessa taught her years back for whenever nerves got bad.
Don’t panic. Don’t make a scene. Not tonight, not over feeling a little lightheaded.
She looked for Damian, found him across the hall deep in conversation with two elders, laughing, completely fine, completely happy. Didn’t want to bother him with this. Probably nothing anyway pregnant, tired, hadn’t eaten enough all day, that was probably all it was.
She drew in a slow breath and forced herself to stay where she was.
Damian was still surrounded by the elders, their voices rising and falling as they discussed the final details of the coronation. Maps, scrolls, and ceremonial records covered the table between them. He looked completely absorbed in the conversation, laughing at something one of the elders had said.
Don’t interrupt him, she thought. It’s probably nothing.
The dizziness would pass.
It had to.
She slipped quietly out of the hall instead.
The heavy doors closed behind her, muffling the music and laughter until they became little more than a distant hum. The cool air in the corridor brushed against her flushed face, but it did little to settle the sickness twisting inside her.
Another wave hit.
She caught herself against the wall before her knees gave out.
The stone beneath her palm felt cold enough to keep her standing.
“Easy,” she whispered to herself, taking another careful breath.
The nausea rose so suddenly that she barely reached the nearest washroom before dropping to her knees.
Nothing came except bitter water and painful dry heaves.
By the time it finally eased, tears blurred her vision and her entire body trembled with exhaustion.
She remained there for several minutes, breathing slowly until the room stopped spinning.
Cold water splashed over her face once.
Then again.
When she finally looked up, the woman staring back from the mirror seemed strangely pale.
“You’ve barely eaten all day,” she murmured to herself. “That’s all this is.”
She wasn’t completely convinced.
Stepping back into the corridor, she realized how quiet it had become away from the celebration.
A young servant carrying folded linens hurried past.
“Excuse me,” Sera called softly.
The girl stopped at once.
“Have you seen Cassandra?”
“Yes, Miss Voss. I saw her heading toward her room a little while ago.”
“Thank you.”
Sera made her way toward the east wing.
The stairs felt steeper than usual.
Twice she had to stop and steady herself against the wall before climbing the last few steps.
By the time she reached Cassandra’s door, several long minutes had passed.
It stood slightly open.
Warm light spilled into the silent hallway.
She frowned.
“Cass?”
She rested one hand against the door and slowly pushed it open.
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