The Luna Trials by Marissa Gilbert

Northern Blood

Kai had seconds to collect himself as his sister reminded him of his place, letting go of the girl in front of him.

He was the King, and he had a role to play. Especially with all the cameras pointed in his direction.

He would be thinking about Savannah Stormhold later. Savannah. F*cking. Stormhold.

It was unbelievable that out of all the people here, he was drawn to her. His guilty pleasure, his little maid, turned out to be the woman he tried to avoid marrying in the first place. Moreover, she was the little sister of the guy whose guts he hated the most.

His head was buzzing with a million questions, so he just waved for the event to start, ignoring Elene’s displeased gaze at him and his earlier promise to deliver a short speech. She would have to figure all of this out on her own since she was the one who started this mess in the

first place. Which she did just perfectly.

Of course, her bestie Penelope was the first, and he didn’t even listen to how she solved an old northern riddle for five-year-olds. Elene could have at least given her something a bit more challenging, so as not to make it too obvious that she was helping her. Penelope wasn’t an idi.ot.

Neither was Princess Savannah. His eyes were searching for her at every opportunity, and each time she averted his gaze. Apparently, everyone and everything in this room was more interesting to her than he was – the lamps, the walls, the floor, the people…

He gritted his teeth, focusing on the women before him. A witch just passed the test. A witch… Elene must have been crazy to invite her. Witches should have been avoided at all costs.

“Salome Gray from the White Tree Coven”, she introduced herself and gave him a seductive glance with her onyx eyes, which he did not return as he was staring at Savannah again. Her delicate shoulders were poking out of her feathery dress, bringing sinful thoughts into his mind.

She looked nothing like the last pictures of her that he had seen. Then again, the last time he was interested to see her was years ago, when she was just a cute teen with freckles. Interested wasn’t even the right word. He wanted to make sure she was nowhere near ready to get married to piss off Gideon with his offer after he humiliated his sister.

That was stupid, and he knew that now. But back then, it seemed like a good idea after he saw Elene crying for hours. Both he and Gideon were young Alphas back then and it was a given that his elders would try to persuade him to accept such a marriage.

Now the joke was on him. Because Savannah grew up. And the woman she had become was… really something.

It all made sense now. Her destroying the bushes, her looking guilty for kissing him back…

She was no maid indeed.’

The next girl was another werecat, Mikaela something. That meant that now there were two werecats in the game. Two too many. This kind was free and not cut for a traditional marriage.

It was almost Savannah’s turn, and he couldn’t wait. As soon as this farce was done, he would drag her away, and they would talk about.. everything

He didn’t know what that ‘everything’ meant precisely, but they had to clear the air. Judging by her reaction, she thought that he had been purposefully messing with her all this time on purpose. And although he was initially guilty of creating this whole situation in the first place, he wanted her to know that he wasn’t playing with her when he kissed her. It was an honest mistake that he would never repeat again.

That thought felt sour to him, but he had to push it deeper into his mind. This had to be the end of them. He would never allow himself anything with her. After all, they weren’t mates, and they were too different. This could never work…

Some girl he didn’t know got’her riddle that for some reason, seemed to be harder than what the other contenders got. She managed to solve it, and when she introduced herself as Astrid, a daughter of some eastern Alpha, it became clear to him that Elene was playing a game of her own, trying to eliminate the ones she disliked the most first. He wanted her to find a way to stop the Trials, but she also had to understand that they had to keep their face in all of this. Showing favouritism was against everything the North believed in.

He grunted at the thought that they would have to have a conversation about all this again. And although he loved his sibling with all his heart, he had had enough of her for the past two days already

It was Savannah’s turn now, and she stepped forward. The defiance and determination on her face was admirable. But then the props arrived and he realised that she wasn’t getting a riddle like everyone else. He felt anger rising at the bottom of his chest.

“There are nine coins on the table,” Elene smirked, “but one of them is fake. The fake coin is slightly lighter than the rest. Our contender can weigh the coins two times and no more. Then, she has to tell us which coin is fake. Good luck!”

their eyes meeting for the first time during

via the mind-link. “Everyone got

she shrugged it off and stood next to him. “You wanted her out. Here is your chance. She fails

of this. The Northern King was so afraid of the little western princess that

it‘s not that hard.

her anymore. His eyes were glued to Savannah who was slowly counting the coins in her palm with her delicate fingers. The same

in his hair.

He heard himself saying and standing up. He would give her any other riddle and make up something about his sister pranking the other only other princess present. Elene asked for it anyway. Kai knew that he

wore on her face. Her brows were knitted on her forehead, and there was a dangerous glint in her eyes warning him that if he took

changed to a fake smile, and she turned back to

“I love this test, and these ancient northern coins are exquisite. I have never held one in my hand before, and however this ends, this was already worth it. To touch the history of the North… It really means a lot to me. You see, a long time ago, a member of my family married a northern noble lycaness. It’s a long and beautiful story, but to

and showed respect for his culture was unbelievable. She even mentioned having northern blood, which he wasn’t aware of. He gave his Beta a quick order to check this information and concentrated on Savannah, who bent slightly in front of him to have a better look

find a fake coin by weighing them.” The woman smirked at the audience and took one of the coins into her fingers. “If I had to choose by just looking at them, I’d pick this one. It’s scratched

at Elene, who was turning as white as a sheet of paper and returned her sneer from

quickly separated coins into three groups and then demonstrated to everyone the one she

hand and carefully put them

have the same weight,” she announced with the tone of a teacher. “If the fake coin was in any of the two groups, the scales wouldn’t be even. So, we can forget about

cleaned the scales and took another two coins from the third

two coins will have the same weight, meaning

golden cups,

she bet was the fake one from the very beginning. “And here is the one we’ve been

gracefully before

growled, trying to end this fast and hurried to their side. “You were

calmly so that others couldn’t hear them, “And I wasn’t lucky. I just have a talent for seeing

less than a war

yourself!” Elene walked back to the throne, not even

slight problem locating the

simple motion made them both freeze, and he felt his breathing getting ragged. Absent-mindedly, he brushed his thumb over hers,

were, he pulled one of the ties and helped her to get rid of the mask, announcing her himself. “Princess Savannah Stormhold of the Western Kingdom. Our honourable guest and

the crowd while Savannah walked to the centre of the line of the contenders. This was where he was supposed to

he stood right next to the Western Princess, trying

to have such wonderful, strong and beautiful women come to our palace to honour our traditions

The words came out dry, and he could

this if he was honest with

shocked him when she slid her

Majesty,” Savannah beamed at the cameras. “I think it’s time

confusion. What was she doing? That dangerous glint was

it off and lead her out of the ceremony hall. But she turned

I have already told you, I love history, and I am especially fascinated with the history of the North. One of the ancient rules of The Luna Trials was that it wasn’t just the King making

continued, “During each test, when contenders are eliminated, the

all a part of this! Up until the final

started buzzing

something else at him with a curt smile and then gestured