“It’s okay,” Dani whispered, “this is just one big adventure, okay? I’ll be back to see you first thing in the morning.”
Aurelia nodded, glancing at Layla with wary eyes. Layla smiled softly, reaching a hand out to Aurelia, slow, respectful, careful.
“Nice to meet you, Aurelia,” she said gently. “You look very brave.”
Aurelia ducked shyly. “Mom says bravery is just doing the hard thing even when you’re scared.”
Layla’s smile softened. “She’s right.”
Dani swallowed around the sudden knot in her throat.
“Come,” Layla murmured. “It’s time to go.”
***
The room Layla took them to was warm, filled with quilts and soft lantern light. The door closed firmly behind them, sealing out the noise. They had chatted lightly on the way to the compound, both ignoring the small battalion of guards flanking them and the weight of everything that had happened hovering over them.
Dani was grateful for it. She didn’t think she’d manage a serious conversation without crying.
But now they were inside, led through familiar hallways and blessedly empty halls, and Dani knew she could not keep herself together for long. She sat stiffly on the bed, trembling.
Layla moved around the room with practiced ease, lighting candles, setting out clothes, pulling a trunk from the wall.
“You don’t have to help me,” Dani whispered.
“Yes,” Layla said, “I do.”
That answer startled her.
Layla sat beside her. “I know what it feels like to walk into something like this alone. To have every eye on you. To be…hunted by expectation. I was in a Volkhov pack meeting when Dominic announced I was to be his mate. I wanted to kill him.”
Dani looked at her in surprise, mouth opening. “Really? But…but you…”
Layla shrugged, hands cradling her pregnant belly with a soft smile. “Dominic’s like a dragon. Vicious to everybody he comes across, including me, once upon a time. Until he decided I was a treasure he wanted to hoard.”
Dani wrinkled her nose. “That doesn’t sound very…”
With a sigh, Layla sat down next to her, tucking her hair behind her ear. “They’re shifters, Dani. Alpha males. But that doesn’t mean they’re cruel.”
“Dominic didn’t seem cruel.”
“Yes, well,” Layla said, “we’ve been working on that.”
They sat in silence for a while, Dani picking the side of her nail, her heart rate increasing with every breath.
In a matter of hours, she would be married and mated to Arthur. She would be Luna of the Nordan.
“How the hell did I get here?” she breathed, clenching her hands together so hard that her knuckles shone white.
Layla laid a hand over them. “I asked myself the same thing. But Lunarion works in mysterious ways, Dani. I know you have a past with Arthur, and that can’t be easy, but…something brought you here. Maybe it would be best to trust it?”
“Lunarion?” Dani asked, turning to her, eyebrows drawing together. “You worship Lunarion?”
Layla raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure worship is the right word.”
“No, I mean…not Gaia?”
Layla paused. “I’ve lived my whole life as a member of the Volkhov. We follow Lunarion’s ways.”
