Reclaiming My Broken Luna by Selene Souchon

Chapter 396: The Return

Astrid's POV

The forest was dark, the faint light of dawn barely piercing through the dense canopy above.

The weight of what had happened pressed down on us, so heavy it felt as though the air itself had thickened, making it hard to breathe.

No one spoke as we began the journey back to the Shadowfang Pack. Even the sounds of the forest seemed muted, as though nature itself understood the gravity of what had occurred.

Killian walked a few paces ahead of us, his posture stiff, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. The faint tremor in his shoulders betrayed the storm raging within him.

I wanted to reach out to him, to offer some kind of comfort, but the words wouldn't come.

What could I possibly say to ease the loss of a mother who had both scarred and saved us?

Nova walked beside me, her arms wrapped around herself despite the warmth of the night. Her usual fire was gone, replaced by a quiet stillness that unnerved me.

Drystan, ever vigilant, kept close to her, his expression hard, unreadable.

I glanced back, half expecting to see Rowena striding along behind us with that sharp, knowing look she always wore. But there was only empty space, and the memory of her lifeless eyes staring into the sky stabbed at my heart.

The silence between us was deafening. Every step we took seemed louder than it should have been, the crunch of leaves underfoot a cruel reminder that we were still here, still moving, while Rowena was not.

I couldn't stop replaying the moment in my mind-the look in her eyes as she shoved me aside, the quiet resignation as she accepted her fate.

Rowena, who had always been selfish, calculating, and cold, had done the unthinkable. She had saved us. She had saved me.

sacrifice had been so sudden, so unexpected,

the pain she had caused, for all the mistakes she had made, in the end, she had given us the chance to keep

king's words echoed in my mind as I think of Rowena's

She

would do even the most despicable thing just

to sacrifice her life for us, then that would mean that Killian and I had read her

pace slowed slightly, his head lowering as

word since we left the clearing. His silence felt like a living thing, heavy and suffocating,

my steps, closing the distance between us. "Killian..." I hesitated, unsure of what to

at me. With his back turned on me, I could feel the

have his space, though my chest ached at

like a shadow, dark and unyielding. None of us had expected it. None of us

She had always seemed

Qu

and ruthless nature making her appear invincible. And

sw novel

was capable of

loomed ahead, tall and foreboding against the backdrop of the faintly

relief, but the weight in my chest

of it could erase the ache

flanked by warriors, her sharp eyes scanning us with the precision of someone who'd

and dread as she took in blood, the exhaustion, and

that clung to us like a second

of the warriors exclaimed, the tension in his voice breaking into a